I know about the Skyline, and would like to make it there sometime, but for me the nearest Drive in is Valley, and it is 2 hours from home. So once it is gone my ability to go to the drive in will be severely reduced.
Update, despite what I have been told these news articles say that development may come sooner than later.
http://www.auburn-reporter.com/news/130750273.html
News from the Valley Drive-in, the theater will be closing for the season late in September depending on the weather. They are already planing the 2012 season, so the theater will be operating next year for sure. It is unknown if theaters 5 & 6 will be opening 2012, at this time but, 1, 2 ,3 will be for sure. I have been told that there is no budget for repairs so there will be no improvements over the winter, but it is good to know they will be operating next year.
I went down and saw Thor on screen one a couple of weeks ago and the sound was fine for us but I have had the same crackling, echoing thing happen sometimes. You have to keep in mind it is AM and more prone to interference than FM. The Cine-Fi AM sound system they use was top of the line in 1980 and is now 30 years old. You also have to keep in mind the drive-in has been slated to close any time since the 1990’s as such there on a very limited budget. Last year Valley operated screens 1-3 only, opting to lease out 5 and 6 as vehicle storage. However this year screen 5 and 6 will reopen on Memorial weekend. Screen 4 is still permanently closed. It has been confirmed that Valley will likely stay open for another 4 to 5 seasons. We do not go to indoor theaters(we don’t like them), we drive 30 miles one way to Valley, and it is now the last operating drive-in in the Puget sound area, this place needs to be saved. We can only hope that Pacific Theatres realizes the importance of Valley 6 to the area, and keeps it around long term, and catches the place up on maintenance, and upgrades that have been missed.
I stopped by Puget park today hoping to snap a few pictures before demolition…. Well it’s to late, there is now nothing left except some of the exterior fence and part of the ticket booth. A very sad end to a once great Drive-in, and it is also sad that SRO is now compleatly out of the theater business.
Went down to Valley 6 this last weekend to see Iron Man 2 and Dragon. The city of Auburn has put up a temporary flood dam that runs behind screen 3 and cuts though the middle of screen 4 (the one that was closed years ago due to storm damage). From talking to a security guard it looks like, Pacific Theatres would still like to develop the property sometime, but the temporary dam will be up for at least five years and they won’t develop it with a dam though the middle of the property. Interestingly enough they seem to be selling off the 3 acre open field in front of the drive-in. So maybe if it’s going to be around for at least five more years they will put a little into fixing the place up. We can hope since it’s the last Drive-in left in the Puget sound area that it’ll stay around.
Well, I went down to Valley 6 this past Sunday actually May 10th and saw Wolverine and Taken, played on screen one. Man just ten or so years ago that place was fairly nice, I’m always disappointed how deteriorated the place is. I know that the won’t put any real money into the place but cleaning all the years of green mold off the screens and fixing that nasty hiss in the AM sound system would make the movies a little more watchable. I know that screen 4 will most likely never get repaired, heck theres almost nothing left of it now. But I don’t understand why they can’t do a few little things or there going to loose the few people that still go there, or maybe thats what they want, a final excuse to close.
If you go to valley 6 drive-in you will find that the sign out front says Valley 6 Drive-in. Maybe Pacific Theaters should rename the drive-in to just Valley but it is Valley 6 Drive-in theater. And yes thier website and local newspaper ad only list movies for 5 screen but the theater does in fact have 6 screens though one of them is not currently in use… or useable. Just because thier not using one screen does not mean that it does not exist.
Screen number 5 was badly damaged a few years ago in a wind storm. It was the first screen and the smallest screen at valley 6. As I understand it from talking to people who work there they will most likely never fix it. The owners of the property would like to develope the land in the very near future. The company running the drive-in (pacific theaters or united drive-ins depending on who you ask) won’t put a dime into the place unless they know it will be staying around. It’s actually in horible shape I’m suprized the health department has not shut down the snack bar. Some of the 5 remaining screens are so dirty and in such bad shape it can be hard to see the movies. The AM sound is so scratchy the old speakers sounded better. The gravel lot is so worn that walking after a rain can be unpleasant. They do have security officers walking around however.
I was at Puget Park two weekends ago, I try to get out to Puget Park a couple times a year but Valley 6 is closer. All I can say is that place has done a 180 degree turn around since I first went there in the late 90s, back then the bathrooms barely worked, often toilets were over flowing, the screen was in horrible shape, bad enough to seriously detract from the movie and the snack bar was just as bad. The patrons would often flash their lights and blow their horn during the movie, it also was not uncommon to see very drunk people and very rowdy crowds. It was bad enough that I stopped going to that drive-in the last movie I saw there was in ’99. But then in 2004 or 2005 I think it was they had a pair of movies that I just had to see. And too my surprise when I first pulled in I noticed that the lot was repaved, the screen redone, the snack bar painted and a sheriff patrolling the place. Inside the snack bar had been fixed up, the food was better than most theaters and the restrooms remodeled!!! The crowds are no longer scary and the movies are a pleasure to watch. Also the sound is now broadcast on a static free FM station. WOW what a turn around. SRO has turned this drive-in 180 degrees into one of the nicest I’ve ever been in. I hope that it is like this for many, many more years. Buy the way the night I was there they had a line way out on to the main road, I got one of the last spots and that was nearly an hour before show time!! And it was on a Sunday.
I know about the Skyline, and would like to make it there sometime, but for me the nearest Drive in is Valley, and it is 2 hours from home. So once it is gone my ability to go to the drive in will be severely reduced.
Update, despite what I have been told these news articles say that development may come sooner than later. http://www.auburn-reporter.com/news/130750273.html
http://www.auburn-reporter.com/news/131639803.html
http://www.auburn-reporter.com/news/132209873.html
News from the Valley Drive-in, the theater will be closing for the season late in September depending on the weather. They are already planing the 2012 season, so the theater will be operating next year for sure. It is unknown if theaters 5 & 6 will be opening 2012, at this time but, 1, 2 ,3 will be for sure. I have been told that there is no budget for repairs so there will be no improvements over the winter, but it is good to know they will be operating next year.
I went down and saw Thor on screen one a couple of weeks ago and the sound was fine for us but I have had the same crackling, echoing thing happen sometimes. You have to keep in mind it is AM and more prone to interference than FM. The Cine-Fi AM sound system they use was top of the line in 1980 and is now 30 years old. You also have to keep in mind the drive-in has been slated to close any time since the 1990’s as such there on a very limited budget. Last year Valley operated screens 1-3 only, opting to lease out 5 and 6 as vehicle storage. However this year screen 5 and 6 will reopen on Memorial weekend. Screen 4 is still permanently closed. It has been confirmed that Valley will likely stay open for another 4 to 5 seasons. We do not go to indoor theaters(we don’t like them), we drive 30 miles one way to Valley, and it is now the last operating drive-in in the Puget sound area, this place needs to be saved. We can only hope that Pacific Theatres realizes the importance of Valley 6 to the area, and keeps it around long term, and catches the place up on maintenance, and upgrades that have been missed.
I stopped by Puget park today hoping to snap a few pictures before demolition…. Well it’s to late, there is now nothing left except some of the exterior fence and part of the ticket booth. A very sad end to a once great Drive-in, and it is also sad that SRO is now compleatly out of the theater business.
Went down to Valley 6 this last weekend to see Iron Man 2 and Dragon. The city of Auburn has put up a temporary flood dam that runs behind screen 3 and cuts though the middle of screen 4 (the one that was closed years ago due to storm damage). From talking to a security guard it looks like, Pacific Theatres would still like to develop the property sometime, but the temporary dam will be up for at least five years and they won’t develop it with a dam though the middle of the property. Interestingly enough they seem to be selling off the 3 acre open field in front of the drive-in. So maybe if it’s going to be around for at least five more years they will put a little into fixing the place up. We can hope since it’s the last Drive-in left in the Puget sound area that it’ll stay around.
Well, I went down to Valley 6 this past Sunday actually May 10th and saw Wolverine and Taken, played on screen one. Man just ten or so years ago that place was fairly nice, I’m always disappointed how deteriorated the place is. I know that the won’t put any real money into the place but cleaning all the years of green mold off the screens and fixing that nasty hiss in the AM sound system would make the movies a little more watchable. I know that screen 4 will most likely never get repaired, heck theres almost nothing left of it now. But I don’t understand why they can’t do a few little things or there going to loose the few people that still go there, or maybe thats what they want, a final excuse to close.
If you go to valley 6 drive-in you will find that the sign out front says Valley 6 Drive-in. Maybe Pacific Theaters should rename the drive-in to just Valley but it is Valley 6 Drive-in theater. And yes thier website and local newspaper ad only list movies for 5 screen but the theater does in fact have 6 screens though one of them is not currently in use… or useable. Just because thier not using one screen does not mean that it does not exist.
Screen number 5 was badly damaged a few years ago in a wind storm. It was the first screen and the smallest screen at valley 6. As I understand it from talking to people who work there they will most likely never fix it. The owners of the property would like to develope the land in the very near future. The company running the drive-in (pacific theaters or united drive-ins depending on who you ask) won’t put a dime into the place unless they know it will be staying around. It’s actually in horible shape I’m suprized the health department has not shut down the snack bar. Some of the 5 remaining screens are so dirty and in such bad shape it can be hard to see the movies. The AM sound is so scratchy the old speakers sounded better. The gravel lot is so worn that walking after a rain can be unpleasant. They do have security officers walking around however.
I was at Puget Park two weekends ago, I try to get out to Puget Park a couple times a year but Valley 6 is closer. All I can say is that place has done a 180 degree turn around since I first went there in the late 90s, back then the bathrooms barely worked, often toilets were over flowing, the screen was in horrible shape, bad enough to seriously detract from the movie and the snack bar was just as bad. The patrons would often flash their lights and blow their horn during the movie, it also was not uncommon to see very drunk people and very rowdy crowds. It was bad enough that I stopped going to that drive-in the last movie I saw there was in ’99. But then in 2004 or 2005 I think it was they had a pair of movies that I just had to see. And too my surprise when I first pulled in I noticed that the lot was repaved, the screen redone, the snack bar painted and a sheriff patrolling the place. Inside the snack bar had been fixed up, the food was better than most theaters and the restrooms remodeled!!! The crowds are no longer scary and the movies are a pleasure to watch. Also the sound is now broadcast on a static free FM station. WOW what a turn around. SRO has turned this drive-in 180 degrees into one of the nicest I’ve ever been in. I hope that it is like this for many, many more years. Buy the way the night I was there they had a line way out on to the main road, I got one of the last spots and that was nearly an hour before show time!! And it was on a Sunday.