Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: HWY 411 Drive-In to reopen near Centre, AL

This is topic HWY 411 Drive-In to reopen near Centre, AL in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 06-20-2001, 04:47 PM:

On Friday, June 8, I talked to Jim Duncan, who operates Cinema Equipment and Supply Inc. in Decatur, AL, and while he was going over my historical information for theatres in Decatur, mentioned that a drive-in was opening in Centre, AL. I had driven by that old drive-in on Saturday, June 2, and noticed a bulldozer in front of the screen tower. It was a remarkable coincidence that Jim Duncan was the one whom the equipment was being bought from and he mentioned that Century equipment was on the way there. I lived in Cherokee County from 1972-1988, so I emailed the Chrerokee County Herald with the information I'd heard and got a reply back that they would do a story on the reopening.

The screen is 65 feet by 40 feet. (1.625:1 aspect ratio).

Quoted from the Cherokee County Herald online edition:
Link to article.

quote:
You may think that drive-in movies are on their way out, but they are definitely making a comeback according to one local veteran theater operator. And Cherokee County is no exception! Local citizens will want to get their popcorn, kids and vehicles ready for the re-opening of the Highway 411 Drive-In, tentatively scheduled for the end of June or the first of July. Emory Johnson of Centre owned and operated the 411 Drive-In for 30 years. He opened it in 1953 after returning home following service in the Korean War. The huge screen has remained in place since the facility closed in 1983. Johnson said his sons, Rex Johnson and Carl Johnson will be running the theater. Johnson feels the time is right to give it another try! "I didn't want to see it deteriorate any further," said Johnson. "So we're redoing it. We got our equipment from a gentleman in Decatur who sells theater equipment, Jim Duncan. We had to re-do the screen, re-do the snack bar and put in new projection equipment. It's all different nowadays. Before, we only used one projector. Now we're going to use a 4,000-watt bulb with lights. It should be a real good picture. It will be FM stereophonic sound that you can pick up in your automobile. When the machine is threaded up, you run the whole show and it rewinds itself. You just keep showing it and you don't have to change it like you did with the old way. You had to put a different reel on every 18 minutes and change it manually. With this one, you will just flip a switch and it will run and when the show ends, you cut it off and if it is going to run the next night, you put the switch on and it runs again." The Johnsons plan to run the facility seven nights a week, which could change.

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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 06-20-2001, 09:33 PM:

Check out the "before" photos at:
http://www.drive-ins.com/detail.php?code=al411_

Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 06-21-2001, 08:22 AM:

Makes me wonder if someone might be interested in re-opening the 78 drive-in in Jasper. That was another one that was open through the late 1980s. FWIW, the last drive-in in B'ham was the Mustang in Roebuck. The last year of operation someone chipped out the concrete blocks in the wall on the back side of the manager's office and stole the safe. I think that was a fairly unique theatre robbery.

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 06-21-2001, 09:52 AM:

The "Argo Drive-In Theatre" is really close to Birmingham (about 25 miles). Head out of Birmingham on 59 North towards Trussville and exit at Argo.

My wife and I were there several weeks ago and the place was packed!

They run a single Century projector, Christie lamphouse and AW3 platter. The picture quality is fantastic. Standard FM sound, but the concession stand and restrooms leave alot to be desired.

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Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Nashville, Tennessee
(Drive-In Theatre - Start-Up)

Posted by Randy Loy (Member # 112) on 06-21-2001, 12:50 PM:

Interestingly, Alabama has been a real hotbed of drive-in activity in the last several years. Not only has it seen a number of drive-in theatre reopenings, it has also seen several brand new builds. For instance, the Sand Mountain Twin Drive-In Theatre was built in 1996.

It's refreshing to see the owners of an outdoor theatre that has been closed so long want to bring it back rather than to take the easy way out and simply sell the land for redevelopment.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 06-21-2001, 01:23 PM:

Yes, Randy, we also had a new drive-in, the Cinemagic Drive-In in Athens, AL, which opened for its first season in 1997, but it did not reopen for the 2001 season because part fo the property was sold. The owners want to build an indoor theatre in Athens.

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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 06-22-2001, 11:11 AM:

I was at the Cinemagic Drive-In in Athens, Ala. over the Memorial day weekend. We took lots of video and photo's (as we do at every drive-in). If the owners would have put a little more effort into asthetics, it could have been a real showplace. Everyone knows the difference between "economical" and "cheap", and unfortunately IMHO, the Cinemagic is an example of the latter. The screen tower however is an excellent design and was built to last. The ticket booth is a portable "yard barn", and the concessions/projection/restroom building is some type of double-wide trailer looking thing.

I spoke with some people in town that weekend and they told me that the owners of the Cinemagic are petiioning the local zoning board to re-zone the entire property for "Apartments"!!

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Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Nashville, Tennessee
(Drive-In Theatre - Start-Up)

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 06-22-2001, 02:02 PM:

quote:

I was at the Cinemagic Drive-In in Athens, Ala. over the Memorial day weekend. We took lots of video and photo's (as we do at every drive-in). If the owners would have put a little more effort into asthetics, it could have been a real showplace. Everyone knows the difference between "economical" and "cheap", and unfortunately IMHO, the Cinemagic is an example of the latter. The screen tower however is an excellent design and was built to last. The ticket booth is a portable "yard barn", and the concessions/projection/restroom building is some type of double-wide trailer looking thing.

You never saw the second screen when the place was operation, did you? It was a small screen that was mounted on the side of a semi! I guess they could either adjust the projector aim, or just move the truck a bit if alignment got off. The owners wanted to build an indoor theatre to start with, but the cost was much greater than they anticipated, and I think they opened the drive-in with the idea of running it, attempting to sell the property from the start to finance the indoor theatre they wanted to build to begin with. This probably explains why things were the way they were at that drive-in. I know the guy that was heavily involved in operating it!

Barry, if you have good pictures of this drive-in, could I use a few for this historical section of my WWW site? I never managed to get pictures of the place while it was in operation and if it's soon going to be destroyed, I'd like to have a picture or two on my site.

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 06-22-2001, 03:03 PM:

Evans, I did get some fairly decent shots of the place.... I'll have to find them, scan them and send them your way.

If you hear they do decide to demolish the place... let me know, I'd be VERY interested in buying the main screen tower. I don't know how I'd expalain a 50' structure in the back yard to my wife though

I did see the remnants of the second screen.... it was pathetic!! It looked like a state highway road sign (probably not much bigger the 12' x 20'). It was lying face down in the gravel the day we were there. My one year old son was walking on top of it before I realized what it was.

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 06-22-2001, 03:33 PM:

I'm reminded of another drive-in where they've had to improvise (though this one is a beauty - Kingston Ont.). They are running their third (new) screen out of a city bus about 60 feet away from the snack bar!!!! I took my GPS out and plotted everything, and sure enough, the screen got installed wrong. The ramps seem to have been built first, and face the snack bar, dead centre. But the screen went in tilting away, so hence the "bus/booth". Too bad, it renders about 25% of the spaces unwatchable. Still haven't found out why, this place is fabulously clean, go-karts, mini-golf, batting cages, and a dizzying array of junk food. The very unique feature is that each of the 3 screens is serviced by a different booth (including the BUS!)...?