Sunset Drive-In Theatre [Review] Full Moon Rising

Full Moon Rising at the Sunset Drive-In Theatre Mansfield, Ohio
July 7, 2009


Running late [as usual] after a late running meeting of the NMCRC up in Brunswick, hammered down I-71 to Ontario, Ohio [just SW of Mansfield] to the Sunset Drive-In Movie Theatre to see Transformer 2 and the Jack Black “Caveman Comedy” Year One. With the days getting longer [fortunately] for the 70-odd mile trek and with no Smokies in sight [thank goodness they never did a remake of Smokey and the Bandit, although I’ve personally tried to get the starring role but have enough trouble not getting pulled over for a “chat” with the local constabulary as it is] and with the 18 wheelers now being allowed to legally go 65 mph on the highways [though always laugh when they pass me going 65 plus only for me to pass them on the “Big Hill” between exits 218 and 209 there in Medina – at least they now have 3 lanes for passing and not the two they had not so many years ago; looks like the I-71 / I-76 interchange is about to be completed, although in their redesign they took away my favorite off ramp / slalom coarse from I-76 westbound to I-71 North which I could cut off the corners and keep the throttle wide open then whipping around the on ramp and hitting the gas hard, and although the new interchange is better for the continuation of traffic [trucks able to make their way up to the east coast from the south without having to confront oncoming traffic trying to merge in one of what I consider to be what was one of the most dangerous crossovers with trucks trying to merge onto the bridge from southbound I-71 to get to I-76 / US 224 West with all of those continuous miles of semi’s crossing over to the I-76 East exit this new redesign [which after about 50 years and making Exit 209 the “Crossroads of America”, with the Truckstops of America (TA) rated one of the best truckstops in America as designated by the Travel Channel a few years ago (which was one of the first to have internet hookups in the truck parking yard, and where I still go for their awesome buffet!) now semis not going for to one of the other “Choke and Pukes” for gas, eats, etc. can exit directly from I-71 to I-76 and points east, and those trucks returning back down south can hit southbound I-71 and not have to worry about us “teeny-bop 4 wheelers” trying not to get squashed by a big rig in the brief 10 feet of onramp and on over to northbound I-71] so I motored on down I-71 and got off at US 30 Westbound [kinda an odd offramp / onramp system there, since US 30 becomes a limited access road between Mansfield and Wooster with many crossover intersections – just watch out on the onramp going southbound I-71 since I found out the hard way that 30 mph means 25 mph when going up the on ramp and around to the interstate – did another stupid thing one time heading down to CBus one rainy evening a few years ago which I might have taken the curve a little too hard and over cranked the steering wheel a wee bit much and thought out of the corner of my eye saw a car that had the same stickers on its rear quarter panel as I did, then I realized that it actually was my driver side rear quarter panel sliding out into the wild blue yonder so not wanting it to get ahead of me self let off the gas and cranked the steering wheel back the other way and after a few more fishtails got it all going back in the right direction – I figured I still had time to get there [although I missed out on the best spots, but with it being a weekday, I reckoned it wouldn’t be filled and was only 20 minutes away, passing the Springmill Road exit for the only other Mansfield area theatre still in existence (was one up on US 42 right near US 30 but that had been gone for quite a while, although like many, especially where one was on US 30 in Wayne County the old sign is still being used today for the local business, but all other traces are unfortunately plowed under and long gone as the land becomes too valuable for the owners to say no to since most were once built far from and literally in the middle nowhere or, like the Aut-O-Rama, they are built in land only usable for that usage, since that particular one in North Ridgeville is in kinda a “Wedge” area between the Ohio Turnpike and CSX tracks)] so after looking at my map of all of the Ohio Drive-In Theatres got off at the Route 309 exit and coasted my way on down to the Sunset Theatre for another evening of Fun Movie Entertainment!

Pulling up to the Sunset Drive-In [after looking at their website] which is located literally on the edge of town, and it felt like it was right in the middle of nowhere. I would guess by the simplicity of the structure [single screen, 10-12 feet high white fencing enclosing the entire complex, a house that I guess where the owners live and a small white cinder block building housing the concession and projection booth along with the usual white parking poles, many more than not missing the original speakers, which there were some still available but those that remained did actually work] that the Sunset was one of the earliest Drive-ins [although the Lynn Drive-In in Strassburg on US 250 is the oldest remaining in Ohio], I wouldn’t doubt that the Sunset was pretty close behind in age.

I have found through my going to now a third of the remaining Drive-In theatres [11 so far out of the 33 listed] that each has its own special, well, niche, charm, aura, etc. that is unique only to itself and to no other [would have liked to have started this trek earlier and have had the opportunity to have gone to even more of the now departed screens, especially the one here in Brunswick, or the Miles in Cleveland or even the one over in Ashland and Wayne, since each and everyone has its own niche and local flavor, and like a snowflake, no two are ever or will be the same, and thank goodness for the internet, which I can keep track of most of them and find out what is playing before I go (or have at least a phone number as in the case of Tiffin Drive-In to make sure they are still open) the uniqueness of something that is truly American that, with the age of the Internet and video games etc hopefully is something that will still remain for years to come, and when I see families in their carloads it gives me hope for the future, but know these are trying economic times that these are small businesses that, like the recent court case up in North Ridgeville with the lighting injunction against a new ball field that fortunately went the Aut-O-Rama’s favor, that after 60 + years in some instances it is often an uphill battle, but I am again hopeful since every experience so far has made me want to return and so far it has been tough to pick a favorite, so have chickened out and divided the drive-Ins into categories: Single screen, Double Screens and Triple Screens, although I could also do other subdivisions as well (since some single screens were converted into doubles and so on and so forth) and so far, of the 11 so far visited, the breakdown is as follows:

Single Screen:
1) Field Of Dreams Drive-In
Holiday Drive-In
3) Blue Sky Drive-In
4) Mayfield Road Drive-In
Sunset Drive-In
6) Skyway Warren

Double Screen Drive-In Theatres
1) Auto-O-Rama
Lynn Drive-In
3) Midway Drive-In
4) Springmill Drive-In
5) Sundance Kid Drive-In
6) South Drive-In

Triple Drive-In Theateres
Memphis Drive-In

As for the movies, Transformers 2 was so far [along with Star Trek, Ice Age 3, Fast and Furious 4] the best movies of the first half of 2009. Year One, unfortunately, I think the working title was Year Two, since the script must have been written by two year olds. Transformers 2 at least plays to the lowest common male denominator of smash ups and BIG explosions, while Jack Black [in what the writers were trying to go for was a remake of Mel Brook’s History of the World Part I, and if Year One was HOTW Part II, then Mel Brooks should have won an Oscar for his movie, since Year One, er Two writers should have their mouths scrubbed out with not only soap but every antiseptic detergent available as well] played his moron part extremely well, but as it was the second feature I had a more enjoyable time watching the full moon rise on a semi dark cloudy evening [had to park up closer than I wanted since I arrived late and after surveying the entire lot with a once around the lot finally settled on row two and not blocking anyone in kinda a sparse crowd for a Tuesday evening, but always enjoy reclining back and cranking up the “Surround Sound”, although most if not all drive-ins have at least one outside speaker, and some even have radios to “hand out”] slowly at first above the tall white picket fence like the theatre was located out in the middle of the prairie, with only an occasional semi hitting its air brakes [can’t say Jake Brake anymore since its trademarked -- oops, I just did, oh well]. At the end, heard the whiney sound of someone’s starter not starting, so got out the jumper cables for the assist [gotta clean off my terminals soon as well] and with the big giant super duty clamps trying to hitch on to the tiny nubs of a Pontiac’s battery, was a challenge but eventually got everyone on their way, and when I got back home and checked out the map, the Sunset is located on Route 430, part of the old time Lincoln Highway [at least one of the routes so designated that ran through Mansfield on to points East and West], so no wonder it felt so familiar, so when I’m done with going to all of the Drive-Ins, will be driving the Lincoln Highway [of the known routes and not just the bypass US 30 highway, but another topic for another day] and had another enjoyable evening cruising [albeit hurriedly again] to the Sunset Drive-In Theatre!