My IMPAs suggest that the “mid-50s” opening estimate might be off a little. In my 1963 edition and going forward, they listed the Parkview (300) in Charlottetown along with the North River (450), but the Parkview wan’t there in the 1959 edition or earlier.
Note that the Cinema Treasures entry for the closed Madawaska Drive-In is under Upper Frenchville here.
Multiple sources say the Skylite opened in 1973, owned from its beginning by the Pelletier family, currently by Donna and Gary Pelletier. Here are my IMPA listings since then:
Historic Aerials shows a drive-in at 47.337 N, -68.376 W, now in Frenchville. That’s gotta be it. HA has a photo from 1981 and a topo map reference from 1986. (Also photos from 1996-97, then replaced by a building in 2007.) Oddly, it’s not on the 1973 topo map; that plus the IMPA hiatus make me wonder if we’re really talking about two different drive-ins.
The Google Street View from Sept. 2015 shows the site with a sign for CAN-AM Forest Products.
On the night of August 21 2010, thieves tied up an employee, stole the night’s proceeds and torched “the drive-in building” according to CTV News. No one was ever charged with that crime.
One year later to the day, fire broke out on a Sunday afternoon in the main building and burned through the roof (photo and story at Zone911.com).
A 2012 article in TVA Nouvelles said that Clément Longpré had owned the Mont-Saint-Hilaire for nearly eight years. André Monette was the co-owner during that time, at least.
Kevin Patenaude bought André Monette’s share of the drive-in in July 2017. (Or Monette had owned the whole thing at this point and Patenaude bought half ownership; I’m not sure.) There were nice articles about the change in ownership in L'Oeil Régional and Les Versants.
Mike Rivest makes the point elsewhere, but in case the reader starts on this page we should note that this is not the Ciné-Parc Boucherville that opened in 1970 and lived on the west side of the Boulevard de Montarville before closing in 1985.
Thanks for this map, showing the old ciné-parc’s location where Brasserie New Deal Brewing Co and several other buildings sit today. The current Ciné-Parc Boucherville is so close (3.6 km) to the old one, and uses the same highway exit, that it’s very easy to get confused.
The drive-in’s news page says it was opened in 1954, purchased by husband and wife Kevin Marshall and Kathy Lepine in 2014, and nothing in between. What do my Motion Picture Almanacs say?
1953-54: not listed.
1955: Drive-In, …, Twinex.
1959: Pembroke, 350, Twinex.
1963: Pembroke, 438, Twinex.
1969: Pembroke, 438.
1969: Skylight, … .
1972-76: Pembroke, 438. 1972-76: Skylight, 300.
Hmm! The MPAs aren’t perfect, but that would be a very long time to not notice a name change, plus there’s that discrepancy in capacity numbers.
Also, a January 2008 retrospective ramble in the Daily Observer included, “Pembroke’s first Drive-In Theatre afforded you the luxury of enjoying movies right in the comfort of the family car with a speaker slung from the window. … Residents of this area are now rediscovering this unique, outdoor movie adventure every summer at Matt McLaughlin’s Starlight Drive-In.” A 2016 Daily Observer article said the drive-in was built in 1954 on land “severed off farmland owned by the McLaughlin family,” and that Matt was the guy who sold it to the current owners.
Also, according to Cinema Treasures, Bryan Adams' Summer of 69 music video was shot at the about-to-be-demolished Chilliwack Drive-In in British Columbia. Sure, he was born in Kingston, but the Chilliwack sign in the video is pretty hard to miss.
The current Kingston Family FunWorld drive-in is unrelated to whatever was the Kingston.
Kingston’s first drive-in was the Gardiners Road Drive-In, as shown in this photo from November 1948. I could easily believe it became known as the Kingston Drive-In. There’s a strip mall on the site now.
A Kingston This Week article said, “Kingston used to be home to two (drive-ins), the Mustang and the Kingston Drive-in, now a shopping mall.”
A 50th anniversary article in The Whig-Standard, they provided a lot of details about the old Mustang. It “was built in 1965 and opened the following year under the name 66 Drive-In.” Opening night was Aug. 26, 1966 (why so late in the season?) with a double bill of A Big Hand for the Little Lady and Never Too Late. “In 1967, the owner, Famous Players, sold it to Premier Theatres, which owned and operated the Mustang Drive-In chain”.
The Kingston Family FunWorld site agrees. “The Drive-In Theatre was founded in 1966 and was originally called the 66, in 1968 the mustang drive-in chain purchased and operated the drive-in under their name until 1993. The year 1995 brought a change to the drive-in Mr. (Dan) Wannemacher purchased the theatre and re-named it Kingston Family FunWorld.”
My Motion Picture Almanacs confirm that the two drive-ins operated in Kingston at the same time, although they overlooked the Mustang for a while.
Paul Peterson bought the Mustang, seemingly on a whim after driving past its For Sale sign, in the summer of 1988. He’s owned and operated it ever since.
In his book A Good Day’s Work: In Pursuit of a Disappearing Canada, John Demont wrote that the Mustang opened in April 1956. But actually, it opened as the Picton Drive-In and later changed its name, probably reflecting an ownership change. The only other clues I have for when that happened come from my incomplete set of Motion Picture Almanacs:
Muskoka is the name of the tourism region there. See http://www.discovermuskoka.ca/
Also, Larry Baxter’s LinkedIn page says that he owned the Muskoka during July 1973-2009, which would make him the guy who sold it to William Alexander. Baxter also owned the Port Bolster (1991-99) and the Lindsay Twin (Jun 2000-“present”, actually May 2015).
Some of these Canadian cities are so confusing to me. The Motion Picture Almanacs list drive-ins for Barrie and Shanty Bay, ending with both the Barrie and Shanty Bay drive-ins listed for the town of Barrie.
1953-54: Barrie – Huronia, H. L. Hagey & A. Winch, 400.
1959: Barrie – Huronia, A. Winch, 400.
1963: Barrie – Huronia, W. Dykeman, 400; Shanty Bay – Drive-In, B. S. Betts, 362.
1969: Barrie – Huronia, 400; Shanty Bay – Drive-In, 362.
1972-76: Barrie – Barrie, 400; Barrie – Shanty Bay, 400.
In 2008, the Barrie was owned by Stinson Theatres, founded by the late Bob Stinson and run by his sons, Henry and Tim.
Premier Operating Corporation bought the place in March 2011 and renamed it Sunset Barrie Drive-In.
William Alexander took it over in 2008, ran a failed online fundraiser in 2014, then bought the digital projector anyway. He was still cited as the owner in a June 2017 article.
Phew! Here’s the best I could find for the Midland, a July 25, 2008 article in the Midland Mirror, retrieved via The Internet Archive. It verified room for 400 cars.
Babcock brothers Dave and Paul bought Midland’s Odeon Theatre (later to become the Roxy) along with the drive-in in 1982. They already owned the Penetanguishene’s Pen Theatre, purchased in 1972 and expanded to the Pen Twin in 1979.
… In August it will be three years since Paul’s death and two years since Dave died doing what he loved – working at the drive-in. When Paul and Dave passed away the drive-in went to the brothers’ wives Teresa and Heather. They asked Dave’s children Mark and Stacey and their spouses to lend a hand with the operation.
… “We updated the sound this year,” Gord (Cox, Stacey’s husband) said. “The digital sound is now as good as your car stereo quality. We boosted our FM receiver and you can pick up the drive-in at the angels in Penetang.”
There’s a fresh Google Street View closeup from October 2016. It shows that between December 2003 and now, they added a second message board to the screen tower.
The Owen Sound Sun Times reported in 2012 that it was sold to a neighbor who mainly wanted the adjoining land, but who was going to lease the drive-in for five years to the previous owner.
The marquee has been improved, as seen in this 2016 YouTube video
In a 2014 article, the Waterloo Region Record cleared up the connection between the Guelph Drive-In and the Jem/Mustang. There wasn’t one.
“(T)he Guelph Drive-In Theatre … operated for more than 10 years on the north side of Speedvale, just east of Stevenson Street. It was cleared by owner A.I. (Al) Rosenberg of Kitchener in about 1958 to make way for a shopping plaza”.
… “(Rosenberg) also invested in several drive-in theatres, including the Parkway Drive-In in south Kitchener and the Sunset Drive-In outside Preston.”
… “The closing of the Guelph Drive-In created a business opportunity elsewhere. In 1959 Charles Jemmett built the JEM Drive-In on land south of Highway 7 to the east of Guelph.”
My IMPAs suggest that the “mid-50s” opening estimate might be off a little. In my 1963 edition and going forward, they listed the Parkview (300) in Charlottetown along with the North River (450), but the Parkview wan’t there in the 1959 edition or earlier.
1957-59: not listed (only the North River).
1963: 300, Parkview Tourist Corp. Ltd.
1969-76: 300.
Note that the Cinema Treasures entry for the closed Madawaska Drive-In is under Upper Frenchville here.
Multiple sources say the Skylite opened in 1973, owned from its beginning by the Pelletier family, currently by Donna and Gary Pelletier. Here are my IMPA listings since then:
1972-76: not listed.
1978-82: Skylit, Pelletier, 395.
1984-88: Skylite, R. Pelletier.
Historic Aerials shows a drive-in at 47.337 N, -68.376 W, now in Frenchville. That’s gotta be it. HA has a photo from 1981 and a topo map reference from 1986. (Also photos from 1996-97, then replaced by a building in 2007.) Oddly, it’s not on the 1973 topo map; that plus the IMPA hiatus make me wonder if we’re really talking about two different drive-ins.
The Google Street View from Sept. 2015 shows the site with a sign for CAN-AM Forest Products.
Every listing I’ve seen has it in Madawaska ME.
The 1952-56 Theatre Catalogs show the Madawaska DI, E. Micheaud and Herbert Higgins, 300. Not listed in the 1949-50 edition.
Here’s what the (I)MPAs show:
1953-54: Drive-In, 300, Emile Michaud.
1955-63: Drive-In, 300, Emile Michand.
1969: Drive-In, 300.
1972-76: not listed.
1978-88: Madawaska DI, PO Box 259, “Eldon Stcyr” or “Eldon, St. Cyr.”, 300.
On the night of August 21 2010, thieves tied up an employee, stole the night’s proceeds and torched “the drive-in building” according to CTV News. No one was ever charged with that crime.
One year later to the day, fire broke out on a Sunday afternoon in the main building and burned through the roof (photo and story at Zone911.com).
A 2012 article in TVA Nouvelles said that Clément Longpré had owned the Mont-Saint-Hilaire for nearly eight years. André Monette was the co-owner during that time, at least.
Kevin Patenaude bought André Monette’s share of the drive-in in July 2017. (Or Monette had owned the whole thing at this point and Patenaude bought half ownership; I’m not sure.) There were nice articles about the change in ownership in L'Oeil Régional and Les Versants.
Mike Rivest makes the point elsewhere, but in case the reader starts on this page we should note that this is not the Ciné-Parc Boucherville that opened in 1970 and lived on the west side of the Boulevard de Montarville before closing in 1985.
Thanks for this map, showing the old ciné-parc’s location where Brasserie New Deal Brewing Co and several other buildings sit today. The current Ciné-Parc Boucherville is so close (3.6 km) to the old one, and uses the same highway exit, that it’s very easy to get confused.
The notes under its YouTube advertisement say it’s been open since 1974.
The drive-in’s news page says it was opened in 1954, purchased by husband and wife Kevin Marshall and Kathy Lepine in 2014, and nothing in between. What do my Motion Picture Almanacs say?
1953-54: not listed.
1955: Drive-In, …, Twinex.
1959: Pembroke, 350, Twinex.
1963: Pembroke, 438, Twinex.
1969: Pembroke, 438. 1969: Skylight, … .
1972-76: Pembroke, 438.
1972-76: Skylight, 300.
Hmm! The MPAs aren’t perfect, but that would be a very long time to not notice a name change, plus there’s that discrepancy in capacity numbers.
Also, a January 2008 retrospective ramble in the Daily Observer included, “Pembroke’s first Drive-In Theatre afforded you the luxury of enjoying movies right in the comfort of the family car with a speaker slung from the window. … Residents of this area are now rediscovering this unique, outdoor movie adventure every summer at Matt McLaughlin’s Starlight Drive-In.” A 2016 Daily Observer article said the drive-in was built in 1954 on land “severed off farmland owned by the McLaughlin family,” and that Matt was the guy who sold it to the current owners.
Also, according to Cinema Treasures, Bryan Adams' Summer of 69 music video was shot at the about-to-be-demolished Chilliwack Drive-In in British Columbia. Sure, he was born in Kingston, but the Chilliwack sign in the video is pretty hard to miss.
The current Kingston Family FunWorld drive-in is unrelated to whatever was the Kingston.
Kingston’s first drive-in was the Gardiners Road Drive-In, as shown in this photo from November 1948. I could easily believe it became known as the Kingston Drive-In. There’s a strip mall on the site now.
A Kingston This Week article said, “Kingston used to be home to two (drive-ins), the Mustang and the Kingston Drive-in, now a shopping mall.”
A 50th anniversary article in The Whig-Standard, they provided a lot of details about the old Mustang. It “was built in 1965 and opened the following year under the name 66 Drive-In.” Opening night was Aug. 26, 1966 (why so late in the season?) with a double bill of A Big Hand for the Little Lady and Never Too Late. “In 1967, the owner, Famous Players, sold it to Premier Theatres, which owned and operated the Mustang Drive-In chain”.
The Kingston Family FunWorld site agrees. “The Drive-In Theatre was founded in 1966 and was originally called the 66, in 1968 the mustang drive-in chain purchased and operated the drive-in under their name until 1993. The year 1995 brought a change to the drive-in Mr. (Dan) Wannemacher purchased the theatre and re-named it Kingston Family FunWorld.”
My Motion Picture Almanacs confirm that the two drive-ins operated in Kingston at the same time, although they overlooked the Mustang for a while.
1953-55: Drive-In, 500, H. J. Ochs.
1959-63: Kingston Drive-In, 500, Regional Theatres Circuit.
1969: Kingston, 500.
1972-76: Kingston, 770.
1972-76: Mustang, 690.
Now I want to learn more about the actual Kingston Drive-In. Where was it? Was it the Gardiners Road? When did it close?
Paul Peterson bought the Mustang, seemingly on a whim after driving past its For Sale sign, in the summer of 1988. He’s owned and operated it ever since.
In his book A Good Day’s Work: In Pursuit of a Disappearing Canada, John Demont wrote that the Mustang opened in April 1956. But actually, it opened as the Picton Drive-In and later changed its name, probably reflecting an ownership change. The only other clues I have for when that happened come from my incomplete set of Motion Picture Almanacs:
1955: not listed.
1959: Drive-In, capacity …, owner A. Wincix.
1963: Drive-In, 350, F. G. Brown.
1969: Drive-In, 350.
1972-76: Mustang, 350.
Muskoka is the name of the tourism region there. See http://www.discovermuskoka.ca/
Also, Larry Baxter’s LinkedIn page says that he owned the Muskoka during July 1973-2009, which would make him the guy who sold it to William Alexander. Baxter also owned the Port Bolster (1991-99) and the Lindsay Twin (Jun 2000-“present”, actually May 2015).
Nibbles of info from my Motion Picture Almanacs:
1953-59: capacity 350, owner H. J. Ochs.
1963: 350, National Bkg. Co.
1969-76: 350.
Also, Larry Baxter owned the Lindsay from 2000 (according to his LinkedIn page) until Danny Zita bought it in 2015.
The drive-in was bought by Premier Theatres in 2013 and reopened with the new name Stardust Drive-In Newmarket. Here’s the new web site.
Newmarket notes from the Motion Picture Almanac:
1959: Newmarket Drive-In, …, C. E. Murrell.
1963: No. York Drive-In, 400, Assoc. Bkg. Service.
1969-76: No. York, 400.
Some of these Canadian cities are so confusing to me. The Motion Picture Almanacs list drive-ins for Barrie and Shanty Bay, ending with both the Barrie and Shanty Bay drive-ins listed for the town of Barrie.
1953-54: Barrie – Huronia, H. L. Hagey & A. Winch, 400.
1959: Barrie – Huronia, A. Winch, 400.
1963: Barrie – Huronia, W. Dykeman, 400; Shanty Bay – Drive-In, B. S. Betts, 362.
1969: Barrie – Huronia, 400; Shanty Bay – Drive-In, 362.
1972-76: Barrie – Barrie, 400; Barrie – Shanty Bay, 400.
In 2008, the Barrie was owned by Stinson Theatres, founded by the late Bob Stinson and run by his sons, Henry and Tim.
Premier Operating Corporation bought the place in March 2011 and renamed it Sunset Barrie Drive-In.
Here’s what my Motion Picture Almanacs tell me:
1953-54: Mushola (sic) Drive-In, owner Mushola Drive-In, no capacity number.
1959-63: Muskoka, owner Muskoka D-I Theas. Ltd., 300.
1969: Muskoka, 300.
1972-76: not listed.
William Alexander took it over in 2008, ran a failed online fundraiser in 2014, then bought the digital projector anyway. He was still cited as the owner in a June 2017 article.
Phew! Here’s the best I could find for the Midland, a July 25, 2008 article in the Midland Mirror, retrieved via The Internet Archive. It verified room for 400 cars.
Babcock brothers Dave and Paul bought Midland’s Odeon Theatre (later to become the Roxy) along with the drive-in in 1982. They already owned the Penetanguishene’s Pen Theatre, purchased in 1972 and expanded to the Pen Twin in 1979.
… In August it will be three years since Paul’s death and two years since Dave died doing what he loved – working at the drive-in. When Paul and Dave passed away the drive-in went to the brothers’ wives Teresa and Heather. They asked Dave’s children Mark and Stacey and their spouses to lend a hand with the operation.
… “We updated the sound this year,” Gord (Cox, Stacey’s husband) said. “The digital sound is now as good as your car stereo quality. We boosted our FM receiver and you can pick up the drive-in at the angels in Penetang.”
For much more, click that link at the top.
There’s a fresh Google Street View closeup from October 2016. It shows that between December 2003 and now, they added a second message board to the screen tower.
The Midland appears to have been around for quite a while. Here’s the Motion Picture Almanac data.
1953-54: Theatre Amuse., capacity 300.
1959: Thea. Amuse. Co., 300.
1963: Regional, 300.
1969: 300.
1972-76: 404.
After going dark for the entire 2016 season, it’s back with digital projection.
http://www.pressherald.com/2017/08/23/prides-corner-aglow-again-as-drive-ins-back-in-business/
A TripAdvisor photo shows “Since 1950” written on the wall there.
A very brief data dump from the Motion Picture Almanacs:
1953-63: owner Waite & Warwick Ltd., capacity 300.
1969-76: 300.
The Owen Sound Sun Times reported in 2012 that it was sold to a neighbor who mainly wanted the adjoining land, but who was going to lease the drive-in for five years to the previous owner.
The marquee has been improved, as seen in this 2016 YouTube video
In a 2014 article, the Waterloo Region Record cleared up the connection between the Guelph Drive-In and the Jem/Mustang. There wasn’t one.
“(T)he Guelph Drive-In Theatre … operated for more than 10 years on the north side of Speedvale, just east of Stevenson Street. It was cleared by owner A.I. (Al) Rosenberg of Kitchener in about 1958 to make way for a shopping plaza”.
… “(Rosenberg) also invested in several drive-in theatres, including the Parkway Drive-In in south Kitchener and the Sunset Drive-In outside Preston.”
… “The closing of the Guelph Drive-In created a business opportunity elsewhere. In 1959 Charles Jemmett built the JEM Drive-In on land south of Highway 7 to the east of Guelph.”
The Motion Picture Almanac data dump for Guelph drive-ins:
1953-54: Guelph, capacity 400, owner J. A. Campbell.
1959-63: Guelph, 400, A. Rosenberg.
1969: Jem, 400.
1972-76: Mustang, 400.
When The Docks opened in 2001, owned by Jerry Sprackman, it showed movies seven days a week. Now it’s just weekends.
For an update on its complicated, muddy ownership timeline, read this January 30, 2017 article in the Toronto Star.