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At the
DRIVE-IN
Tradition alive and thriving in Hartford, Dowagiac
HARTFORD
— In an age of Bluray, DVD, high-definition and streaming Internet
formats, going to the drive-in movie theater seems downright quaint – a
post-World War II-era relic that’s best left to history books or an aging
customer’s old high school yearbook.
Since 2003, however, the
tradition of loading up the car and seeing a movie from the comfort of
your own vehicle has been alive and thriving at the Sunset Auto Theater,
69017 Red Arrow Highway, Hartford, and its sister location, Five Mile
Drive-In Theatre, 28190 M-152,
Dowagiac. Both are run by Glenda and Neal Edwards of Paw Paw and are
mainly open during the summer season, into October.
On a recent Friday night,
Glenda was holding down the fort in Hartford, where “Despicable Me” and
“Salt” were double-billed, while her husband was overseeing the Dowagiac
location.
Ask Glenda Edwards about
what motivated the couple to enter the business, and she’ll respond with a
smile and a memory of her own. “We grew up out here – my
husband and I dated out here in the ’70s, at both locations, actually,”
she says. “Our two oldest sons grew up coming to the drive-in with us.”
Neal Edwards works for
Minute Maid in Paw Paw, while Glenda is a consultant for a management firm
that puts initiatives on the state
ballot.
“Originally we purchased
this thinking that our children would run it. They’ve kind of outgrown it,
and here we are,” she says, laughing.
Gates open at 7 p.m.
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at both locations, with the first movie
starting at dusk. Lately, that’s meant starting around 9:30 p.m., followed
by the second feature at 11:30 or so. The couple charges $14 per carload
no matter how many people happen to be
inside.
“The biggest attraction
is that we’re affordable, we’re family-oriented,” Edwards says. “You see a
lot more dads than you would typically see at a movie theater, and we kind
of gear our movies towards that – because, if we can get Dad to come in,
the whole family’s here.”
Grand Junction resident
Debra Kohl and her daughter, Tamica Smith, were among the half dozen or so
“early birds” showing up at 7 p.m. – drawn by the playground and the big
screen, to name two of the theater’s major amenities. Both attend about
four shows a year. “It’s really comfortable, outdoorsy – I like the
movie screen,” Kohl says. “It’s a giant screen. It’s good viewing. Plus
the food is good. It’s still fast food, but it’s good.” Smith,
who’d
brought her two daughters, nodded in agreement. “It’s just a family
outing – the kids like it,” she says.
Stevensville resident
Melissa Clarke expressed a simpler reason for bringing 9-year-old son
Stuart and 6-year-old daughter Maree to the Sunset grounds. “I just
wanted my kids to experience that, where you come early and play on the
playground – and you bring the pillows, blankets and all that stuff,”
Clarke says.
“Because it was something that I always enjoyed doing.”
Reflections of a
simpler time
The Sunset Auto Theater goes back to 1948, while Five Mile was built in
the ’50s and served as a dance hall at one time, according to Edwards.
Sunset’s 7.5 acres accommodate up to 300 cars, while the Five Mile site is
much larger, around 13 to 15 acres.
Both theaters are
reflective of a simpler time, when people’s entertainment and shopping
options focused largely on where they lived.
“Back in the days of the
’50s and ’60s, there was more mom-and-pop stores. People worked inside
their community, and they lived inside their community, and shopped,”
Edwards says.
Drive-ins remained
popular into the 1960s, when advances in regular film technology made them
less attractive to moviegoers, Edwards thinks. But things have swung back.
“Now you’re beginning to
see drive-ins come back a little bit, because we have so many regulations
for people who go to the movie theater,” Edwards says. “This allows for
people to bring their children. Their children can run around, their
children can be noisy. People can smoke – that’s a huge one. I think it
just gives them a little more freedom.”
Watervliet resident
Audrey Flowers, 21, who came with her boyfriend, Thomas Varney, 19, of
Covert, is among those patrons who have literally grown up with Sunset.
“I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. I think the first time I ever
came here was maybe when I was 6 or 7,” she says.
Sunset’s customer base
ranges from St. Joseph and Benton Harbor to Kalamazoo, Holland and
Zeeland, according to Edwards. “We’ve had people from Illinois and
Indiana. We’ve had people from Detroit, and movie buffs from California
stop in. Being a drive-in pulls a lot of people in,” she says.
While Sunset may have a
retro image, that doesn’t come out in its programming, which emphasizes
first-run movies. “Ninety percent of people see the movie in the
first two weeks,” Edwards says. “So when we put in the first-run movies,
we’ve seen a huge increase in our patronage. We put in top-of-the-line
equipment for our projectors – our projectors were new in 2005. Our
picture is much crisper and a lot cleaner.”
Not your parents’
drive-in
The
Sunset differs in other important ways from Mom’s and Dad’s experience.
During the drive-in’s heyday, the sound came through speakers on poles
next to each car. That’s no longer necessary these days, because the sound
can be transmitted through patrons’ car radios, tuned to an FM frequency.
As a result, the old
painted yellow poles now mainly exist to mark each car’s location – though
not everyone has gotten that idea. Edwards remembers driving into the lot
one night just as one of her regulars – a man in his 70s or 80s – was
pulling out. “When I got out to see what was
 going on with him, he
was mad because we didn’t have any speakers,” Edwards says. “He was very
livid that we didn’t have speakers that he could find, so we brought him
back in and showed him how to use the radio.”
Seven-year manager Steve
Wilson of Coloma learned a more basic lesson during his first week on the
job. “Not to put in a movie backwards! I had one reel that was
backwards, and it showed upside down. Then we had to spend the whole night
trying to figure it out and put it back together,” Wilson says.
When he’s not running the projector, Wilson has little problem finding
things to do – whether it’s taking tickets, making popcorn or even
serving as part-time security. “You start to learn the difference
between a two-hour movie and a two-and-halfhour movie – it’s just more
reels,” Wilson jokes. “If you get a bad movie, (and) it’s a
two-and-a-half-hour movie, it’s too much.”
Glenda’s son, Neal, who
shares his father’s name, helps behind the concession stand or on security
detail two or three times a month. “It’s just something different,
you know? They’re part of history. I tell people that we own drive-ins and
they say, ‘There’s drive-ins? That’s something my grandparents told me
about,’” he says.
‘We’ll get ’em
tomorrow’
The younger Edwards, of Portage, has experienced his share of odd moments
on the job, as well. “The silliest question that I get is, ‘What
time does the movie start?’ I get asked that all the time,” he says.
Security man Dave Cromer
of Coloma spends most of his time ensuring that people park in the right
spot and stopping them from sneaking in outside food, which would eat away
the concession stand earnings that are needed to offset the costs of
showing new releases, according to Edwards.
Cromer, who started
during Sunset’s second year, most appreciates the social aspect of a
drive-in environment, although he, too, has done his share of explaining.
“No one knows what a drive-in is, so when I tell people that (he works at
one), it’s amazing to them that they’re still here,” he says.
Back outside, Edwards
watches as Cromer, Wilson and the rest of her crew scanned the skies – or
mobile devices – for threatening weather.
“We’re worried about the
guys in Dowagiac – they’re having a hard time over there right now. The
weather is real bad over there, so we’re watching the weather for them,”
she says.
Earlier this summer,
Edwards recalls, the theater had just finished running its first movie
only to have a tornado threat force everyone to go home and forget about
the second one, she says. Still, a little eternal optimism doesn’t seem
misplaced for Edwards’ business, which she estimates has grown by about
300 percent since the couple bought it. “It’s a smaller business,
it’s a weekend business. If we had time, we could certainly be open a
couple (more) days a week and be successful,” she says.
For now, Edwards and her team were
focusing their attention on getting past Friday. “We’ve always
gotten a really good Sunday crowd. Lots of people come out on Sundays,
only Sundays,” Wilson says. Scanning the sky for the umpteenth time,
Edwards could only agree: “If we
don’t get ’em tonight, we’ll get ’em tomorrow.”
For more information, call the Sunset Auto Theater at 621-4194 or Five
Mile Drive-In at 782-7879. |
