October 5, 2004: Landmarks
Versus Multiplexes
By Brother Nature
ahchie's take | sacramento bee | sacramento news & review | sacramento business journal
Yes,
that’s plural. Multiplexes. They are threatening Sacramento’s
historic landmarks and winning. The Tower Theatre, yes, theatre with movie
screens and the Crest Theatre with movie screens is being threatened by movie
screens, and the Sacramento 6 Drive-In is being conquered by, yes you guessed
it, movie screens.
How many screens do we need to see movies? Some theaters show the same movie on three different screens, and that’s at the same theater. Not independent films, but major motion pictures. The Tower Theater with its three screens, and the Crest with its two screens show independent and avant-garde films that the modern multiplexes won’t show. Even with 10, 12 or 20+ screens they would rather show Spiderman 2 (just an example) on three screens each.
Sacramento
6 Drive-In has apparently become the latest victim of the greed. Century Theaters,
who owns the drive-in and the land, is planning to tear it down to build,
guess what, a multi-screen complex. More movie screens. The landmark has been
around since 1972 and is reported to be one of their best moneymaking drive-ins.
But that isn’t enough. Oh no, we need yet another 20+ screen complex
so Spiderman 2 can be seen on three screens there, too, not more than 20 minutes
from other multiplexes. With a seven screen multiplex downtown at 5th &
K St. now being planned to be moved to 7th & K St. and increased to 12
screens with a $6 million city subsidy and free rent for two years and a 10
screen complex moving in across from the Crest Theatre, that would be 42+
movie screens less than 20 minutes apart, not including the Tower and Crest
screens. And don’t forget about the Century Theatre and the four screens
at Arden Fair Mall just up the freeway less than 10 minutes away.
These
multiplexes have done, and are doing, what Wal-Mart is doing to the small
businesses. Look at the Colonial Theatre, 49er Drive-In, Fox Theatre on K
St., The Lyric Theatre, The Village Theatre, Alhambra Theatre, Grand Theatre,
Capitol Theatre, Birdcage Walk Cinemas, the theaters that used be on Manzanita
Blvd., and now Sacramento 6 Drive-Ins.
What would it take to keep the drive-ins open? True, the theater is in disrepair but that is due to the impending closure. Why put money into it if you plan to close it and tear it down. How about sponsors? I would rather not see Pepsi, Nintendo, etc. or even commercials before a movie, but I’ll take it if that is what it takes to keep it open. Put up 10’ x 12’ wood planks around the perimeter and sell space to sponsors like you see at minor league ballparks. This could create a little sound barrier as well as bring in $$$ that could offset some of the potential $$$ from a multi-screen complex. Line the bathroom walls with advertising. That could easily cover renovation costs and extra $$$ toward the potential $$$. How much will it cost to tear it all down and build a new complex? If you don’t tear it down there is more money that could be applied toward the potential $$$. And if the drive-ins are repaired and maintained that could draw in more moviegoers and increase that potential $$$. Bring in some swap meets, have more themed movie nights, get radio stations involved in give-aways, all this toward more $$$ coming in.
How about building the proposed mall and a smaller 10-screen complex on the lot and tear down two drive-in screens instead of all six? I would be very happy to have a Sacramento 4 Drive-In. Best of both worlds. Century Theaters - you get your mall and multi-screen complex and still keep possibly one of your best drive-ins continuing to bring in $$$. And you can still sell sponsor space at the drive-ins. And Sacramento gets to keep one of its disappearing landmarks. What will it take to keep the drive-ins open?
The Sacramento 6 Drive In has been dying a slow death for number of years. In 1997 the Sacramento Business Journal described the drive-in as a disappearing breed. See the two articles below, dated in 2002, about how the Sacramento 6 was all set to close in exchange for a development known as Bradshaw Landing, which would have had retail stores and a 20-screen theater. Apparently that plan fell through, as two years later the same stories are out that the drive in is doomed to close yet again.
I say enough already. The time for talking is done. Either close it and move on or make a genuine effort to fix it up and make it the best possible drive-in experience. If it does not close this time around, then chances are this has all been a marketing ploy to boost attendance and once again make people dream about the so-called good old days. In another 20 years, today will be looked back on as one of the good old days and there will be some other area that corporate greed is trying to destroy.
The best use of the land is obvious - wiffle ball. The location would be perfect for Sacramento's first major wiffle ball complex. While the drive-in is a nostalgic, disappearing breed, wiffle ball is an up and coming force.
Flickering
out: Part of a dying breed, the Sacramento drive-in theater faces its final
summer
August 5, 2004, Garance Burke, Sacramento Bee
Two
miles of film coursed out from the reel, clacking into the projector. Light
played on Cliff Babcock's face as he peered into the rectifier, which made
a racket as it pumped power to light the projector's weary bulbs. And like
every night since January, when he took his job at the Sacramento Drive-in
Theaters off Highway 50, Babcock climbed down the rickety stairs to assume
his post, managing the repository of Sacramento's memories.
"Past managers were always told the place was going to close, so they didn't put much work into it. There was garbage everywhere, there were weeds," said Babcock, arranging metal cans of film. "But I just love it out here. I feel like it's paradise."
In 2004, managing a drive-in means trying to order parts that don't exist. When a tiki-bar-era welcome light broke, Babcock had no choice but to light the top of the box office with a plastic panel. Still, there is something comfortably anachronistic about the Sac 6, as it is casually known: Video games still depict Luke Skywalker in a galactic empire, lime-green vinyl seats advertise Atari, and feathered hair has never gone out of fashion.
For years, the closure of the Sac 6 seemed as sure a bet as the fact that credits would roll for the late feature. Still, thousands of nostalgic customers return on weekends - temporarily preserving one of only 24 drive-in sites left in California. The complex is one of only a half-dozen left in the country with six screens, according to statistics kept by United Drive-In Theater Owners Association of Germantown, Md.
But other figures - those that reflect the property's tremendous land value - are about about to overtake it.
Late last month, the corporation that owns the Sac 6 announced this will be the drive-in's final summer.
In the next few years, owner Syufy Enterprises hopes to raze the eucalyptus-lined lot to build a 20-screen multiplex and shopping mall. But before the Sac 6 goes, the drive-in will hold two special summer screenings to commemorate its role as a fixture in Sacramento family life.
"It's been announced for the past six summers that it's going to close, but this time it's for real," said Janis Batesole, vice president of operations and training for Syufy Enterprises. "It totally makes money because we own the land, so we don't have occupancy fees. It's just that the new project will be a better leverage of the corporate investment."
San Rafael-based Syufy Enterprises is the parent company of Century Theatres, the seventh-largest exhibitor in the country. The corporation owns six other drive-ins and 75 walk-in theaters with 2,000 screens across the country. According to the company Web site, Century plans to build 250 additional screens by 2008, 20 of which will sit where the Sac 6's foosball tables and worn-down playground once stood.
Though the theater may shut by the end of the year, the future of the property, which also houses a mini go-cart operation and a public storage facility, is in negotiation. Two hurdles to proposed plans - an environmental study and a public hearing - are scheduled.
Theme nights
Meanwhile, Batesole says, more than 2,000 cars cram into the Sac 6 each Friday
and Saturday night, consuming vast quantities of hot dogs and nachos. Debbie
Todd, a bartender from south Sacramento, was one of dozens there last Thursday,
when Syufy held its first retrospective screening: "Fifties Night."
As with future thematic screenings, local alternative radio station KWOD gave out free tickets by the carload.
"I've been coming here since I was a little girl," said Todd, lamenting that the Sac 6's red-and-white snack bar had lost its sheen over the years. "They don't even have a phone booth here anymore."
"When does the movie start at?" asked her son Jarom, munching on an ice-cream sandwich.
"Soon," said Todd's fiancé, Danny Rios, as a young couple walked by wrapped in a ragged comforter. "This place is down-home. I mean, come on. You can wear whatever you want - you can just come here in your PJs."
The yellow light of the box office framed a slow stream of cars coming into the lot, and the air cooled. A man came up with a huge bucket of popcorn.
"Hold
my hand, babe," said Ken Machado to his grandson Paul, a tiny boy with
a bowl cut. Paul hopped on the slide, and the sun went behind the screen.
"What else can you do with your kids that's like what we used to have?" said Machado, of Fair Oaks. "We have four kids and a grandchild, and we don't come very often. I guess now I'm going to have to drive to Marysville, though."
National nostalgia
Machado is not alone in his nostalgia for the drive-in. This year, a new outdoor
theater opened in New Jersey, and many people have taken to projecting their
own movies outside using DVDs and makeshift screens.
Yet, nationwide, the industry has been flickering since the 1970s. At the peak of drive-ins' popularity in 1967, there were 223 drive-in theaters in California and 5,000 across the country, according to drive-ins.com, a Web site that tracks drive-in culture and commerce.
"California really was drive-in country, with the classic car culture and a climate that supported drive-ins year round," said Jennifer Sherer, co-founder of drive-ins.com. "What's negatively affected things is that the cost of real estate has gone up so much."
Today, there are only 24 drive-ins (some with multiple screens) open in California, down from 64 just 10 years ago. In the 1970s, when their popularity began to fall, drive-ins began competing for customers by renting out the land for swap meets, auto shows and church services. At one point, Robert Schuller, the Southern California preacher, delivered his sermons in front of a drive-in screen while families got his messages through propped-up speakers.
"One drive-in would have a mini-rodeo, another a circus or a bowling alley or a mini-golf course. It became like, can you top this," said Elizabeth McKeon, who wrote a history of the American drive-in called "Cinema Under the Stars."
After it became popular to steal the speakers, many theaters switched to using radio frequencies to broadcast the audio portion of the film. Others tried to modernize by showing skin flicks.
"You'd see these naked people larger than life, driving down the highway," McKeon said. "Cities started saying, 'Hey you can't show that stuff at night.' The entertainment value started to die, and they became these empty parking lots on the edge of town."
Other factors, including a drop in leisure time, the advent of the VCR and smaller cars contributed to the slow but certain demise of the drive-in. Still, manager Babcock says people come.
"If they like the movie, they'll sit there and honk their horns, and you'll hear an 'Ooh, did you see that?' over the crowd," said Babcock.
Primary appeal?
Aside from the SUV full of Rio Americano High School students, last Thursday's
crowd was uncharacteristically quiet. On the screen closest to Highway 50,
Gene Wilder's face loomed three times bigger than the moon. Andy Rexik, a
20-year-old with a huge pompadour and tight jeans, waited in line at the snack
bar before heading out to another film.
"Tonight they're playing 'Grease' and 'American Graffiti,' " said Rexik, a drive-in aficionado who described his style as "psyschobilly." "Those films are, like, based in the same era as our scene. We have a whole crew out here."
Rexik's friend Brian Russell, who was ordering a hot dog, tapped into what generations of Sacramentans have identified as the drive-in's primary appeal.
"It's a good place to come on dates because you get to make out," he said, smoothing down his gelled hair. "I wouldn't pay nine dollars to not watch a movie, but $6.25 is all right!"
While the two cracked jokes inside, Jenna Immoos and Randi Powers were watching "Grease" sitting on top of a 1991 BMW, on their third trip to the drive-in that week. Olivia Newton-John had just met the Pink Ladies.
"You can just be yourself," said Powers, of Sacramento. "There's no commercialism or any of that stuff like they have at the walk-in theaters. I'm going to be so sad if this place closes."
Immoos nodded, and passed her a box of Cracker Jack. The overture for "Summer Lovin'" pumped up, and the girls crooned.
"I think it symbolizes a simpler way of life," Powers continued. "It's like there is nothing else out there, there's no problems in the world. You're just here, watching movies."
And
Then There Were None
October 3, 2002, Cosmo Garvin, Sacramento News & Review
It’s
Thursday night, and the Sacramento 6 Drive-In theater looks more like an abandoned
highway rest stop than the one of the county’s most popular entertainment
venues. But it’s still early, well before the second features begin.
The air inside the concession building is stifling because the air-conditioner isn’t running, perhaps to save money on electricity. None of the rows of video games is turned on, perhaps to save electricity.
Four out of the six soft-drink flavors are unavailable. The Mr. Pibb is flat, but the Diet Coke seems lively enough. The hot-dog cookers are dogless.
In the men’s restroom, half the urinals are covered with black plastic, several of the bathroom mirrors are broken, and most of the paper towel and soap dispensers have been ripped from the walls.
Despite all the apparent decay, patron Pamela Aragon is surprised to learn that the Sacramento 6 will be closed by spring, if not sooner.
“That sucks,” Aragon remarks succinctly.
Aragon, who has come with her young daughter to see Signs, relies heavily on the drive-in for family entertainment. She comes to the Sacramento 6 at least once a month. At the drive-in, she explains, it doesn’t matter if your baby gets fidgety after slurping down Mr. Pibb and scarfing gummy bears; there are no strangers in the next seat for you to annoy--or to annoy you.
And then there’s cost. “You can see two first-run movies for the price of one,” she says--a rare treat at a time of exorbitant ticket prices at the walk-ins.
The Sacramento 6 is scheduled to close sometime in April to make way for Bradshaw Landing, a 360,000-square-foot theater and retail project being developed by Syufy Enterprises. Syufy is the parent company of the Century Theaters chain and the same company that has owned the Sacramento 6 since the mid-1970s.
The project will feature a new 20-screen Century movie theater, one big-box retail outlet, several smaller retail stores and four restaurants.
Mike Plymesser, chief operating officer for Syufy Enterprises, wouldn’t reveal the identities of the new tenants, other than Century. But he did say, “You would definitely recognize them. They are all national players.”
That doesn’t impress Jenelle McCormack or her friends who have joined her at the drive-ins. McCormack rolls her eyes when asked if she looks forward to Bradshaw Landing being built. “I might come just to check it out, but I’m really not a walk-in person,” she explains, adding that, come spring, she is likely to take her money somewhere else.
“I guess I’ll go to the 49er.”
Unfortunately for McCormack, the 49er Drive-In on Marysville Boulevard closed two years ago. That theater also was owned by Syufy. Plymesser explained that the company has no immediate plans for the parcel and is biding its time waiting for the building boom in the Natomas area to spill over into the somewhat depressed area that is home to the 49er.
“The timing’s not right,” Plymesser explained. “Right now, that’s kind of the middle of the donut.”
And so, the 49er lies fallow. Its screens tower over a weed-covered lot amid weed-covered lots. The ticket booths are boarded up, and the whole site is surrounded by a cyclone fence.
Since its closure, someone has painted a curious mural along side the old 49er sign. It shows a sleeping campesino dozing in his sombrero under a tree; a sunset on an open field; and a giant, green hand labeled with a dollar sign grasping onto a flailing, ghostlike human form.
At their peak, drive-ins in Sacramento County numbered more than a dozen. By 1990, the number was down to three--the Sacramento 6, the Sunrise Drive-in in Orangevale and the 49er. Now, the 49er is gone, the Sacramento 6 is going, and the Sunrise appears to have struggled during the past decade.
Nationally, the number of drive-ins crashed from more than 3,000 in 1980 to just more than 900 by 1990. Today, there are a little more than 400 drive-ins in the whole country. VCRs are likely the biggest drive-in killer, but the culprits are many: ranging from spiraling land values to the fact that amorous teens often don’t have to leave the house to make out anymore.
Still, judging from the number of drive-in nostalgia and preservation Web sites on the Internet, Americans have been loath to let go of their drive-ins.
“It’s a special thing,” said Jennifer Sherer with Drive-On-In Inc., a clearinghouse for drive-in buffs and operators. “And, once it’s gone, it’s very hard to get it back.”
McCormack, for one, doesn’t understand why Syufy and Century would close the Sacramento 6 when “there’s a huge, long line every Friday night.” Indeed, the drive-ins still draw crowds every weekend.
“I know it’s a little run-down,” she adds, “but if they just put some money into it, it would be great.”
The closure may have less to do with the popularity of drive-ins than it does with the economics of real-estate development. Plymesser acknowledged that the Bradshaw Road location is one of Syufy’s top-performing drive-ins, but he noted that it sits on prime real estate that would draw far more profits with a more intensive use. “It’s profitable,” he said, “but the value of the land doesn’t justify a drive-in.”
Plymesser said the Rancho Cordova community has a dearth of restaurants and no indoor movie theaters. County officials also are pleased with the tax revenue the new project will generate. Although no estimates are available at this time, it is sure to exceed the current property value by far.
Plymesser denied the company has allowed the Sacramento 6 to fall into disrepair intentionally, although the place clearly is in bad shape.
“We have continued to maintain it. If it’s in poor shape, that’s news to me,” he said.
The Syufy/Century chain actually built itself up on drive-ins and then, in the 1980s, began tearing those drive-ins down to build indoor theaters. The chain may purge all of its drive-ins within the next five years.
“The drive-in business of the ’60s and ’70s really bankrolled the indoor theaters,” he said. “Drive-ins have been very instrumental in the success of our company.”
Century Theaters currently owns about 65 percent of the Sacramento region’s movie screens, Plymesser said, and the Bradshaw Landing project, along with the replacement of the existing Century Cinedome with another multiplex, will increase the company’s market share even more.
Although his job is to develop the Bradshaw Landing project, Plymesser said he has a soft spot for drive-ins, even as he tries to divert blame for the death of Sacramento 6. “It’s sad. It’s sad that the public was unable to support drive-ins for the last 20 years,” he said.
When the Sacramento 6 closes, the number of drive-in screens in Sacramento County will be left hovering somewhere between zero and one.
The Sunrise Drive-In in Orangevale is similarly weed-strewn, with its 1950s-era sign falling apart. The blacktop is cracked, and weeds grow up throughout. When SN&R asked for directions to the drive-in at a nearby fast-food restaurant, we were told not to bother because “that place has been closed for years.”
That’s not completely true. The Sunrise Drive-In was open intermittently during the summer, recently re-opened for weekends only and then closed again because of a broken projector. The single screen will be open for a few weeks, only to close again for the winter.
Owner Fred Gabriel did not respond to requests for an interview, but the rumor is that the Sunrise will undergo improvements over the winter season, and may be able to capitalize on its position as the last drive-in after the Sacramento 6 closes in the spring.
Ironically, drive-ins are making a bit of a comeback in some parts of the country, especially in the South and Midwestern states, said Sherer at Drive-On-In Inc. She said several drive-ins have reopened, and several more have been built in the last five years. “And we have been hearing that many drive-ins are selling out consistently on weekends and recording their best years ever,” she said.
“No one is predicting that drive-ins will be the mass-market entertainment choice that it was in the late 1950s,” Sherer said. “However, the industry has seen healthy signs in the last several years that we feel reflects drive-ins serving an increasing number of families that seek affordable family entertainment.”
Although Sherer is hopeful about the resurgence, California has been a different story. “We’re not seeing much happening in California, where real estate is so valuable,” she said.
So, if Bradshaw Landing means the loss of something rare in favor of the kind of retail development that can be found just about anywhere, that’s just economics. For good or ill, there are no lines on the balance sheet for sentimental value.
Coming
Up: Big Retail, 20 Screens
September 13, 2002, Mark Anderson, Sacramento Business
Journal
Century Theatres Inc. is planning a massive double feature — movies and retail — in a large new center at Highway 50 and Bradshaw Road.
Century wants to develop Bradshaw Landing, a 20-screen movie complex and retail center at Highway 50 and Bradshaw Road. It would mean tearing down one of the area's last two drive-ins, Century's Sacramento 6, perhaps as soon as next spring.
The center would include a big-box store, four large restaurants, a bookstore and other retailers, plus a modern movie theater with stadium seating. Plans call for 360,000 square feet of new buildings on 40 acres.
The company won't say what the development will cost. When it proposed a smaller center at the same site five years ago, it was said to be a $30 million project. It delayed that project because of market conditions, nearby construction and other ventures.
"The drive-in is not the highest and best use for that land. It is a freeway location right off an offramp. This center is a great project, and it is finally moving," said Paul Hahn, economic development director for Sacramento County. "It will be a good catalyst for redevelopment of Bradshaw Road and Folsom Boulevard."
The center will also produce sales tax for the county, Hahn said. "And we need it."
Main hurdle is probably traffic: "We are still negotiating with a number of tenants and we won't know what we will be building until we know the tenant mix," said Mike Plymesser, head of development with San Rafael-based Century Theatres.
The development requires an environmental report, and that work is being done now. The notice of preparation was made public last month, with comments due by the end of this month. The full environmental document could be started in a couple of months and then could take four to six months to get approvals.
The main issues facing the project likely will have to do with traffic.
The drive-in doesn't create any traffic during the day, and its showtimes are after dark — when most commute traffic is long gone. When Bradshaw Landing is built, the theaters will run films all day long, and there will be a mix of other businesses.
There is now a traffic signal at Oates Drive and Bradshaw, which has double left-turn lanes into the area. What happens at that intersection will depend on the findings of a traffic survey being performed by the county, said Rajiv Parikh, senior vice president of development for Syufy Enterprises Inc., the San Rafael-based company that develops theaters operated by Century Theatres, which is a Syufy subsidiary.
A light-rail station also serves the site.
The new plans are up substantially from the 200,000-square-foot development on 30 acres that Century proposed in 1997. That plan envisioned 25 screens and 110,000 square feet of retail.
The theater company has been buying land around the drive-in and massaging the site plan for five years, which has allowed the state Franchise Tax Board time to complete its 1 million-square-foot office next door.
Films would flicker through April: Bradshaw Landing is just outside the proposed city limit of Rancho Cordova, but it will serve the area with entertainment, retail, and chances for upscale restaurants "that we definitely need in the area," said Curt Haven, executive director of the Rancho Cordova Chamber of Commerce.
"I've been part of that since the beginning, working with Syufy," he said. "We are 100 percent behind the project. It is nothing but positives."
Century plans to operate the drive-in through April, when the company hopes to have the permits to begin construction of Bradshaw Landing. Total construction should take just over a year, Parikh said.
Century operates about half of the region's movie screens, and should gain market share as it replaces its Sacramento 6 drive-in with the 20 screens, and swaps out its nine-screen Century Cinedome at Interstate 80 and Greenback Lane with a new 16-screen theater there.
Work on the latter is under way. The foundation was poured during the last month and the walls were being raised this week. The new Century Theatre at Greenback will open in March, and the old theater, which is still showing films, will be demolished when the new theater opens. The old theater site will be used for parking.
Founded in 1941 by Ray Syufy, the company has grown from a single movie theater in Vallejo to 850 screens in 11 states. The company plans to add 250 screens over the next three years.
Century's new theaters all feature stadium seating, rocking seats, THX sound systems and digital sound.
Cycling up: Century's two largest local competitors, Regal Cinemas and United Artists Theatres, merged earlier this year after going through separate bankruptcy reorganizations over the past four years.
"You had a variety of the larger players in the industry reorganize after a long refurbishment cycle," said Chris Dixon, entertainment analyst with UBS PaineWebber in New York. The expense of building newer and modern theaters saddled some large companies with debt they couldn't service while waiting for the market to absorb all the new capacity.
A couple of strong movie years and more efficient operations have turned the corner for many of the larger companies, Dixon said, adding that Syufy has "done a tremendous job," as have other regional independent movie operators.
"The industry has gone through its growing pains and it has reorganized itself," Plymesser said. "We never had any problems. We've always been profitable, even through the hard times."
Built in the mid-1970s, Sacramento 6 drive-in is one of the top three performing drive-ins Century operates. The company operates seven multi-screen drive-ins, with locations in San Jose, two in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Sparks, Nev., and one in Concord.
It ran the 49er drive-in on Marysville Boulevard off Interstate 80 until closing it just over two years ago.
"We'd love to figure out what to do there," Plymesser said of the Marysville Boulevard location. For now, the company is letting the drive-in lie fallow, serving that area with its theaters on Greenback Lane and conceding business to the Regal Natomas Marketplace at Truxel Road and Interstate 80.
The only other drive-in in Greater Sacramento is the Sunrise on Greenback Lane east of Sunrise, although there's also a drive-in in Marysville.
"As good as a project as this is, I'm going to miss the Sacramento 6 drive-in," Hahn said. "I actually go to that drive-in."
Century most likely will phase out the rest of its drive-in theaters over the next five years, Plymesser said.
"A lot of people are nostalgic about drive-ins," he said, "but they are all slower than they used to be."
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