I worked at the 400 Drive-In from February 1972 until 1992. When I started there, there was just one screen, the one shown in your photos of the theatre. There were 16 or 17 ramps with the snack bar or concession as we called it located about dead centre. The 2 projectors were of the older carbon arc type. I remember the cartons of carbon arcs in the booth and the projectionist changing them.
Around 1977 or 1978, it was decided to add two new screens. It was becoming more difficult to fill the theatre with just one show, and the trend was to go with multiple screens at the indoor theatres.
Theatre #2, the smallest of the three theatres with a capacity of 284 vehicles was the first to go with radio sound probably about a year after its construction. The radio sound at that time seems primitive by today’s standards. The “speaker” posts had two wires each which were wrapped around the vehicle antenna. The radio frequency signal was fed to the posts from the old underground audio wires dating from the days of speakers. A year or two later, the other two were converted to radio sound, theatre #1 with a capacity of 460 vehicles and theatre #3 with a capacity of around 550 cars. Eventually this system was scapped and transmitters with rooftop antennae were installed.
Over the years that I was there, we encountered many problems. The two that I remember most vividly were brought about by industrial development around the theatre property. Water was a big problem. We had a huge well and three pumps to fill our storage tanks. As the surrounding area was built up, the water table changed and we had to have water trucked in. And with the enlargement of 400 highway and the coming of highway 407, huge lamp standards were erected to the east and south of the theatre property. The light that they created at night was a real distraction behind the 2 new screens.
Although I was not employed at the 400 Drive-In at the end, I’m sure that the value of the land it was built on was the last nail in it’s coffin, and around 1995 it closed.
I worked at the 400 Drive-In from February 1972 until 1992. When I started there, there was just one screen, the one shown in your photos of the theatre. There were 16 or 17 ramps with the snack bar or concession as we called it located about dead centre. The 2 projectors were of the older carbon arc type. I remember the cartons of carbon arcs in the booth and the projectionist changing them.
Around 1977 or 1978, it was decided to add two new screens. It was becoming more difficult to fill the theatre with just one show, and the trend was to go with multiple screens at the indoor theatres.
Theatre #2, the smallest of the three theatres with a capacity of 284 vehicles was the first to go with radio sound probably about a year after its construction. The radio sound at that time seems primitive by today’s standards. The “speaker” posts had two wires each which were wrapped around the vehicle antenna. The radio frequency signal was fed to the posts from the old underground audio wires dating from the days of speakers. A year or two later, the other two were converted to radio sound, theatre #1 with a capacity of 460 vehicles and theatre #3 with a capacity of around 550 cars. Eventually this system was scapped and transmitters with rooftop antennae were installed.
Over the years that I was there, we encountered many problems. The two that I remember most vividly were brought about by industrial development around the theatre property. Water was a big problem. We had a huge well and three pumps to fill our storage tanks. As the surrounding area was built up, the water table changed and we had to have water trucked in. And with the enlargement of 400 highway and the coming of highway 407, huge lamp standards were erected to the east and south of the theatre property. The light that they created at night was a real distraction behind the 2 new screens.
Although I was not employed at the 400 Drive-In at the end, I’m sure that the value of the land it was built on was the last nail in it’s coffin, and around 1995 it closed.