Tri-City Drive-In
129 N. State Road,
Forest City,
NC
28043
129 N. State Road,
Forest City,
NC
28043
2 people
favorited this theater
This drive-in parked 200 cars in the late-1950’s, and was owned by Jerry Mundy. I never got a pay-check here but worked a week or so helping out my cousin Ray Rogers. I guess my pay for a 16-year-old were hamburgers out of the concessions and cokes. Really a love of theatres and movies was the main reason.
I enjoyed changing the marquee, working the box-office, and getting to make a changeover when Norman the projectionist had to rush to the toilet. That will be explained later in this interview with Ray Rogers who gave CT a great interview on his Four Seasons Cinemas!
Mike: Well, Ray, you sorta ran the Joy Drive-In in Hendersonville. How was it on your own?
Ray: Well, having heard the history of Tri-City Drive-In, I sorta wanted to stay at the Carolina. I took over a theatre where the booth and snack bar burned down previously. So as theatre owners will do, an old building on the lot was used for the concession.
Mike: I remember those “out houses”.
Ray: Yep, tacky, but the restrooms were in a small building between the concession and box office.
Mike: And the booth.
Ray: Like you said the booth had no toilet nearby making it hard on a projectionist.
Mike: Lucky they were non-union!
Ray: You made a changeover there you said.
Mike: The movie was “Hombre” the 2nd or 3rd feature, and Norman yells up, “Mike, I gotta go ‘bleep’ real bad…come here and let me show you about a changeover!”
Ray: Wonder where I was at?
Mike: Don’t know. But he explains the cue marks. At least I knew what he was talking about. So off he runs and I’m watching. Cue mark-hit it-cue mark-hit it! Picture hit the screen and I gave myself an 80 for it. I did have to frame the picture. But not bad for a rookie!
Ray: Like the Joy Drive-In; the old Tri-City booth and snack bar had the booth on top of the concession. They talked like they do about rebuilding and even moving the box office but never did while I was there.
Mike: I remember a small booth.
Roy: It might have been a trailer, I can’t remember. It was just big enough to hold two projectors, amplifier, a rewind table and 20 minute reels. The rectifiers for carbon arc made changeovers fun.
Mike: I remember one weekend we ran 4 films starting with “True Grit”, “Elvis on Tour”, “Pretty Maids All In A Row” and the X-rated “Sex Lives of Adam and Eve”.
Ray: How do you remember that?
Mike: I told you I’d remember.
Ray: Well, the Tri-City ran family films Wednesday thru Saturday and adult movies Sunday thru Tuesday during the fall, winter, and spring. Summer was family fare.
Mike: I remember going to Charlotte to see your booker once.
Ray: I made a few trips over there about movies; you know some bookers seem to know it all about smaller towns. The Tri-City Drive-in wasn’t that bad really. It’s all but gone now. Oh, plans were for the projectors from the Joy Drive-In to be shipped to Tri-City for use in the drive-in sometime after I left!
Contributed by
Mike Rogers
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
This is closed, but it is not demolished. Located at the intersection of W. Main Street(Routes 74 & 221) and North State Road(credit to SiliconSam). Screen, marquee, speaker poles still stand.
I will let Ray know. Sounds like someone could make a go it if it hasn’t been stipped in the booth. The old booth i wrote about use to be almost on the middle section real close to the screen.
Hi Mike, cool story.
Yeah most people don’t know about changeovers, or cue marks. I used to hate telling them abbout cue mark. Once you see notice them and know they’re there, you always see them. We used to have a little tool for enhancing them or making our own that would just remove the emulsion in a small ring. To be honest, what with the popularity of automation, I’m not sure if they still put them on the reels. I haven’t been in a booth in 25 years.
I wouldn’t think they would need cue marks,but that story was true.I think after that they put a 5 gallon plaster bucket in the booth.The life of a Projectionist!
Wow,I found a Movie for the Drive-in,“THE BABYSITTER” opens Jan.7 1970.No classic.
I think this might have been a BLUEBIRD THEATRE a small Carolina circuit.
Approx. address for this drive-in was 129 N State Rd.
Google Earth shows the site overgrown with trees, but the screen and sign are both in there. Here’s a picture from March 2018: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29276830@N02/27505498688/
Is there a train crossing nearby(looks like a train crossing sign on the right of the photo above?)?
The latest overhead view from Google shows the area stripped of trees and the screen, too. There is nothing left but the outline and hints of ramps.