Here’s a video to tack on to the sad story of the closing of Oklahoma’s Guthrie Drive-In for no good reason. That YouTube video, not the closing, is courtesy of KOKH, Oklahoma City’s News Leader.
Program note: Drive-in news was getting so slow in mid-January that I thought I could take a couple of weeks off. I was wrong. I’ll be catching up on the news for the rest of this week.
Two things that go together: Route 66 and drive-in theaters. The Santa Monica Pier seems to have accidentally noticed this. They’re holding a pop-up drive-in on Thursday, Jan. 15 in the upper-deck parking area of the pier, according to the Santa Monica Daily News and MSN. Although it’s the sort-of-official end point (with signs) of Route 66, and even though 2026 is its very official centennial year, the pier mentioned nothing about that for this event.
Folks who want to attend will need to sign up through Eventbrite, and the cost is free. Cars can start getting into place around 3:30 pm for the showing of “Grease.” The movie starts at 6:30, and cars won’t be allowed to leave until after 8. I hope someone points out the centennial to the organizers. Someone needs to set up a booth to sell copies of Drive-Ins of Route 66 there.
What a crummy way to start the new year. The Beacon Drive-In Theatre in Guthrie OK has shown its final movies. According to the Guthrie News Page, the drive-in was sold a few days ago and will be replaced by a credit union building.
The Beacon was built in 1949 and opened on April 22, 1950. Its final program was at the end of 2024, and sales negotiations apparently continued all of last year. It makes me deeply sad when a perfectly good, historic drive-in closes like that. Let’s all hope for better days ahea.