Features Column

On the Rocks • Summer’s main attraction: drive-in

By anne marie distefano

The Portland Tribune, Jul 31, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

ANNE MARIE DiSTEFANO / TRIBUNE PHOTO

The 99W Drive-In Theatre in Newberg is one of only four drive-ins still operating in Oregon and 400 nationwide. Despite persistent rumors of its imminent demise, the 99W’s owners have no plans to pull the plug on the weekend summer shows.

I’ve never been to a drive-in before. This appalls most people my age, but like an increasing number of today’s teenagers, I grew up without a local drive-in.

Fortunately, the Web site of the 99W Drive-In Theatre (www.99w.com) contains lots of useful — and very funny — advice.

Bring cash, the site warns; they don’t take plastic and there’s no ATM on site. No alcohol, no glass containers and, no, you can’t spend the night.

One tip I could have used was to bring some glass cleaner and paper towels. That’s especially true if, like me, you’ve just gone down Interstate 5 and along a twisting country road to Newberg, where one of Oregon’s last remaining drive-ins is going strong.

The 99W is a holdout, one of only about 400 drive-ins remaining in the United States, and one of only four in Oregon. It does not appear, however, in any danger of fading away.

Brian Francis, who runs the place, says there’s a persistent but totally unfounded rumor that the drive-in is about to close.

“There’s always a rumor going around the high schools,” he says. “All the time: You’re closing! It’s your last night! It’s your last weekend! It’s going to be turned into a … God knows what they say.”

After doing great business in the 1950s and ’60s, the drive-in had to scrape through the 1980s and ’90s. During the late ’90s, especially, large numbers of drive-ins shut down across the country. Then things started to pick up, and tonight looks like a sellout. That’s 260 cars — right now they’re backed up onto the highway, waiting to get in.

In the little wooden ticket booth is Steve Swanson, who commutes from Eugene to work at the theater. “We call him the swami of drive-ins,” Francis says.

When the Starlite Drive-In in Swanson’s hometown of Roseburg closed in 1997, he realized he’d been taking it for granted. Since then, he’s been traveling the Northwest.

“I wanted to see as many drive-ins as I could before they were all gone,” he tells me later. “I’ve seen my share of drive-in graveyards as well.” Swanson has made a documentary and a miniseries about drive-ins for cable access.

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit