Wheel-In Motor Movie Drive-In

210 Theatre Road,
Port Townsend, WA 98368

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Showing 18 comments

KenLayton
KenLayton on May 24, 2020 at 12:15 am

The theater was finally allowed to reopen under Governor Jay Inslee’s “Phase 2” coronavirus guidelines. Foodservice only today, but movies will resume next weekend.

Archie1959
Archie1959 on December 20, 2017 at 1:35 pm

The drive in has a FaceBook page. https://www.facebook.com/WheelInMotorMovie/

KenLayton
KenLayton on December 20, 2017 at 12:42 pm

Website is still down and it’s been 4 months now that it has been down.

stevenj
stevenj on August 20, 2017 at 3:33 pm

According to the PTGuide.com website they are showing Cars 3 and Transformers: The Last Knight. Says their website is temporarily down.

PTGuide

Trolleyguy
Trolleyguy on August 20, 2017 at 10:40 am

I called their phone line and heard a long announcement about how they were now in their second week of being open. Also 2 different movies than what TomMc11 posted. I think they’re open.

KenLayton
KenLayton on August 20, 2017 at 1:46 am

Their website has vanished. This is all I get:

HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found.

As far as I know, they did not open.

TomMc11
TomMc11 on August 8, 2017 at 7:51 pm

According to their Facebook page they are opening up this Thursday, August 10th with a double feature of Guardians of the Galaxy and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

KenLayton
KenLayton on July 29, 2017 at 10:47 am

Still have not yet opened for the season.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on July 6, 2017 at 3:18 am

Interesting name!!

KenLayton
KenLayton on July 5, 2017 at 11:48 pm

I guess it’s taking longer than expected. They still have not opened yet for the season.

KenLayton
KenLayton on May 23, 2017 at 11:36 pm

Theater is temporarily closed until July 1 (approx) for installation of a new screen. Looks like it’ll be a very short season for them this year.

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on May 12, 2017 at 1:20 pm

The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog listed it with a capacity of 320, which can’t have been accurate. Could it be that it was including the seats in the Wheel-In’s indoor viewing area?

From its first listing in the IMPAs into the 1970s, the Wheel-In was given a capacity of 200. By 1982, it was down to 190.

KenLayton
KenLayton on October 12, 2014 at 1:08 pm

They are doing a Halloween triple feature of classic horror movies: Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

Chris1982
Chris1982 on October 12, 2014 at 3:41 am

Need to update their website The drive-in has made the conversion to digital projection.

SteveSwanson
SteveSwanson on September 30, 2012 at 2:38 pm

I made 2 visits for the 2012 season, still one of my favorite drive-ins. It is the smallest DI in the state, official capacity is 154 cars based off the speaker poles. The website is: ptwheelinmotormovie.com

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on March 19, 2011 at 9:07 am

And it is still open!!!!!!!

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on March 18, 2011 at 11:37 pm

I have it parking 200 cars and owned by E.E.Thompson in 1956.Pity there are no more comments after such a long time.

rodeojack
rodeojack on October 2, 2005 at 4:46 pm

The Wheel-In Motor Movie is truely one of the finest examples of a family-owned community drive-in. It was built in 1952 and is currently owned by the Daughter and Son In-Law of the founding family.

Since the theatre was built, little has changed. The concession stand was remodeled in 1970 to add counter space for pizza and sandwich sales. However, the original restaurant booths still sit under the large picture windows, the original popcorn machine is still in use (though on its 2nd kettle), the 30 seat viewing room is in service and the original dial telephone hangs on the wall.

The theatre’s projection room has been upgraded somewhat… the carbon arc lamps are gone, and a projector was installed that was better suited to run continuously through a double feature. The drive-in has FM stereo sound, which is common these days. However, the original 1952 RCA sound system is still fully functional, meticulously maintained and in operation every night.

Pictures of the Wheel-In are available at our web site,
www.rodeodrivein.com
You’ll find the Wheel-In’s link in the upper left-hand frame.