Wednesday Walk: Nostalgic Neon
The last drive-in in Rhode Island and another bag shortage
Welcome to Willoughby Hills!
Every Wednesday, I offer a few short ideas that I hope will inspire you to do some more reading, thinking, and exploring. Let’s take a little walk together and see where the path leads…
Last of Its Kind
I was in Rhode Island recently and came across an incredible road sign. I just had to pull my car over to snap a photo or two.
Even though Rhode Island is the smallest state, it once boasted around a dozen drive in theaters. The Rustic Tri View Drive-In is located in North Smithfield, RI and is the last remaining drive in theater in the state.
The gates were locked when I drove by (it was early in the morning, not exactly prime movie time), but this sign really caught my eye.
I love the various fonts, the neon tubing, and what appear to still be incandescent bulbs in the arrow (although the environmentalist in me wishes they were warm LEDs). I love seeing where the steel has been patched and how the paint has faded.
I’ve written about a similar sign for a drive-in in Braintree, MA, although that drive-in’s parking lot was repurposed as a park and ride for shuttles to Logan Airport. All that remains in Braintree is the modified midcentury modern sign.
In North Smithfield though, the sign and the drive-in are still in tact, at least for now.
The nostalgic part of me loves the idea of drive-ins. I like the privacy and comfort of being in my own car. I like the event of the drive-in: the folks that bring lawn chairs to sit outside or the people laying on yoga mats with their rear hatch open.
But I also know that from a practical standpoint, I have not exactly been to them often. I remember going once in high school to one in Ohio and again as an adult to the Wellfleet Drive-In on Cape Cod. That visit was in 2015, and despite the theater encouraging me to make the drive-in a “regular habit,” I have not been back.
Drive-ins may have made more sense culturally when land was cheaper and seemingly abundant, but are they really the best use of space these days? They’re essentially just an asphalt parking lot that gets used for a few hours in the evenings, primarily during the weekends. In New England, they’re also only a summer-time pursuit. Could those vacant lots become housing? Or even return to nature?
If you could have some kind of mixed use or multi-use drive-in, what would it look like? Could an office park or doctor’s office, for example, turn into a drive-in at night? The lot would have to be for a business that clears out around 5 or 6pm and where access could be controlled in some manner.
I’ve discussed Harvest Hosts many times in this newsletter. They’re the website for RV campers made up mainly of farms and wineries where overnight parking is permitted in exchange for making a purchase. There are several drive-in theaters that now serve as Harvest Host locations, ensuring that the parking lot can be used for camping and movie watching.
The Wellfleet Drive-In on Cape Cod hosts a flea market on weekend mornings, which allows for some dual usage.
Perhaps the era of the drive-in has already passed, save for a few nostalgic hold outs. Even at those, the paint seems to be chipping and the allure of what once was is no longer relevant. I would love to see the drive-in make a resurgence, and in a way that can make them sustainable businesses for the owners and the community.
I’d love to hear any of your ideas on what that looks like in the comments!
No Bags (Part Two)
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how my local Target store was out of shopping bags and discussed whether there were better ways to handle getting purchases home (including an interesting “leave a bag, take a bag” bin at my local co-op).
It’s always funny to me when I write about a topic and then begin noticing it everywhere!
Case in point: shortly after publishing the story about my local bag shortage, I saw this sign on a bakery window in New York City:
Will shopping bags in 2024 become what toilet paper was in 2020? Are my local Target and this NYC bakery the canaries in the coal mine for a bigger issue? Or is all of this a reminder that if free bags went away tomorrow, we’d probably all survive just fine? After all, we enjoyed our baked good without needing a bag (they already came in a nice cardboard box.)
I don’t know how to read the tea leaves, but it felt worth noting here either way.
Oh and by the way, the bakery was Erin McKenna’s Bakery on the Lower East Side. Their baked goods are free from wheat, gluten, dairy, egg and soy, which means they fit into our diet nicely and allow us to have some treats when out!
Erin McKenna also has locations in Los Angeles and Orlando (and they ship nationwide), so if you’re looking for a good sweet (and are okay without a bag), check them out!
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Other Wednesday Walks
If you’ve missed past issues of this newsletter, they are available to read here.