My mural at the drive in theater
By Mr. Anomaly
@Mr_Anomaly (790)
United States
September 4, 2017 3:25pm CST
Yes, they still exist, and the amount of business this particular one gets on movie night is amazing! Here is part of a mural I've done at the Mahoning Drive in Theater in Lehighton, PA. There is a very long story to go along with this, and luckily, this weekend I have time to share it with you! This particular drive in theater has been open since 1948, and has never shut down since it's opening, they also have the largest outdoor screen in Pennsylvania, which has made doing a mural here very very exciting. I have many more photos but can unfortunately only upload 1 onto here...
It all started a couple of years ago, when I was selling art at a "punk rock flea market", when I was approached by a happy fellow by the name of Virgil. Virgil is one of the crew members of the theater and after looking at a wooden panel that I had painted, he exclaimed, "if you can paint on wood like that, you can most certainly paint a wall. How would you feel about doing a mural?". From that point on I was recruited as a muralist for the theater. I had spent 3 seasons (usually only going on the weekend), painting through rain, snow, and excessive heat. One of the days I was there, a cop had stopped by after getting a report of a possible trespasser at the theater, I explained that I was permitted by the owner, just when I thought I was going to be arrested (I had no written proof of permission), the officer complimented my work and then drove off. Since the completion of the mural, the drive in theater had begun to receive a 400% increase in the amount of business and traffic to their theater, which is very exciting! The original idea was to combine Jurassic park and Starwars themes.. but out of fear of copyright issues, we sort of went with just a dinosaur and space theme. Earlier this year I had 2 newspaper articles bringing mention of this mural, which was great.
What do you think of this mural and the story behind it? Would love to hear from you!
-Mr. Anomaly
5 people like this
5 responses
@TiarasOceanView (70022)
• United States
4 Sep 17
That is very cool that mural that you did!
I am glad the cop decided to drive off also.
Wow that is some drive in being so old and a great location out there in the middle of nowhere.
Kudos to you for helping get more business there.
That I know of there is only one drive in here in these parts..I could be wrong would have to research it.
Used to love going to the drive in when I was young though.
Thanks for sharing that great history of it too with us.
You know I believe there is some app online somewhere, that you could put a bunch of your photos into one to fit here I believe. I have seen others do so on here. Of course they would not be as big then.
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70022)
• United States
5 Sep 17
@Mr_Anomaly Yes the nice one at Cinderella closed ..such a shame but there is one here called the 88 Drive In.
1 person likes this
@Mr_Anomaly (790)
• United States
5 Sep 17
I'm glad he didn't arrest me too, I got pretty nervous! haha
And not a problem! I look forward to sharing stories with all of you on Mylot. Definitely do research the one in your area, drive in theaters are a great experience, gotta check them out before it's too late and they start to disappear!
Thank you for reading and sharing about the theater near you.
-Mr. Anomaly
1 person likes this
@Mr_Anomaly (790)
• United States
5 Sep 17
@TiarasOceanView definitely pay it a visit! they're becoming scarce!
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
4 Sep 17
Love it nice work. Most of the driveins in the Chicago area are closed or are now flea markets on the weekends. I used to love to go to the drivein.
1 person likes this
@Mr_Anomaly (790)
• United States
4 Sep 17
You should visit this one if you're ever in this neck of the woods. Yes there are only an estimated 300 drive in theaters left in the U.S. and that number shrinks each year.. I am extremely confident that this particular one will outlast the majority. They get an outstanding amount of business, especially for being in a location in the middle of nowhere Thank you!
-Mr. Anomaly
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29820)
• Momence, Illinois
4 Sep 17
@Mr_Anomaly The neighborhood I used to live in abutted up against a drivein I have many happy memories but that is a story I have told already .
1 person likes this
@Mr_Anomaly (790)
• United States
4 Sep 17
@fishtiger58 It sounds like it was a great place to hang out. What I learned is that a lot of drive ins close down and sell out to places like Walmart and such... or just feel the land is more valuable than the business of the theater. The mahoning drive in theater once got an offer from walmart, but turned it down because of their enthusiasm about keeping the legacy of the theater alive and their love of film and community
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
16 Sep 17
That is so cool that you painted a mural at a drive-in theater! I am obsessed with drive-ins, although my area doesn't have one anymore.
You definitely have talent! My first thought when glancing at it was it reminded me of Jurassic Park. I can see why it would draw in more business for the theater!
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
16 Sep 17
@Mr_Anomaly There's a drive-in in Sacramento which is about an hour's drive away from me too, but I've only been there once -- it's just too far and we hate driving to the city (I live in a smaller city.) We used to have two drive-ins but they are both long gone now. The last one got demolished about 10 years ago. I used to go there all the time as a kid.
@Mr_Anomaly (790)
• United States
16 Sep 17
I'm glad you like it! It's really a great place to hang out... I haven't been there in a while because it's over an hour of a drive for me and money has been too tight lately for me to put extra gas into my tank
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130213)
• Israel
26 Aug 18
@Mr_Anomaly
I find it interesting and you should be very proud of what you do. That helps with business. I did not know they still had drive-ins around. It was so long ago that I went to one.
@Happy2BeMe (99380)
• Canada
4 Sep 17
Very nice work. I also enjoyed reading the story behind it. We still have a drive in theatre too. It does great business.
1 person likes this
@Mr_Anomaly (790)
• United States
4 Sep 17
Thank you, I'm delighted to see you've taken an interest in the story! It's good to hear that your area drive in theater is doing well! It is really surprising to see how well a lot of theaters are doing since the amount of them is declining on a yearly basis... I suppose the business becomes more concentrated as the numbers drop. Glad to hear from you!
-Mr. Anomaly
1 person likes this