making this a g-rated comment, visiting the site after a few years-
Still remember the owner’s son’s reaction after having a date with a girl who put a hole in the bottom of a popcorn tub…
The projection booth for the drive in was the same one for the main screen, just the machines where pointed to the rear. The drive in was closed when i worked for wometco, it’s former space was the lower parking lot for the Fireweed
Worked as projectionist there in the late ‘70s. Had Strong 135 amp arc lights and old Century heads running 20 minute reels. Still had the speaker pipes in field run off old bogen tube amp.The projection room floor was impossible to walk across from the concrete being broken.
It did a fair business as a weekend date place. The equipment was in tough shape. Previous people had just so over oiled the lamp housings the carbon rod advance motors were frozen from cooked oil debris.
Had a full concession stand- burgers fries and such.
I was a manager of the 4th avenue for the Wometco chain in the early eighties. It was a wild building to figure out. Art deco lighting hung from hand crank winches you had to crawl into the top level to lower and change the bulbs on, the main ceiling had tiny lights laid out in the shape of the big dipper, with a flashing one for the North Star. (see alaska state flag)
and the murals on either side of the screen.
the murals are hard to describe if not in front of them.
I’ve crawled around that building, it’s nice.
The chain’s owner had a penthouse on the roof.
The basement had his NBC tv station. Found old cardboard 55 gallon drums with civil defense labels poking around. The front outside sign is hollow to access the neon, can climb and exit at roof/penthouse level. The old candy storage room was behind a curved wood door that had curved bubbled glassed on the second story- could climb to second story from there (but there were exposed neon transformers)
making this a g-rated comment, visiting the site after a few years-
Still remember the owner’s son’s reaction after having a date with a girl who put a hole in the bottom of a popcorn tub…
The projection booth for the drive in was the same one for the main screen, just the machines where pointed to the rear. The drive in was closed when i worked for wometco, it’s former space was the lower parking lot for the Fireweed
Worked as projectionist there in the late ‘70s. Had Strong 135 amp arc lights and old Century heads running 20 minute reels. Still had the speaker pipes in field run off old bogen tube amp.The projection room floor was impossible to walk across from the concrete being broken.
It did a fair business as a weekend date place. The equipment was in tough shape. Previous people had just so over oiled the lamp housings the carbon rod advance motors were frozen from cooked oil debris.
Had a full concession stand- burgers fries and such.
I was a manager of the 4th avenue for the Wometco chain in the early eighties. It was a wild building to figure out. Art deco lighting hung from hand crank winches you had to crawl into the top level to lower and change the bulbs on, the main ceiling had tiny lights laid out in the shape of the big dipper, with a flashing one for the North Star. (see alaska state flag)
and the murals on either side of the screen.
the murals are hard to describe if not in front of them.
I’ve crawled around that building, it’s nice.
The chain’s owner had a penthouse on the roof.
The basement had his NBC tv station. Found old cardboard 55 gallon drums with civil defense labels poking around. The front outside sign is hollow to access the neon, can climb and exit at roof/penthouse level. The old candy storage room was behind a curved wood door that had curved bubbled glassed on the second story- could climb to second story from there (but there were exposed neon transformers)