Back Home in Indiana: Opera House

                        Elwood, Indiana.

From the Columbus Ghost Trackers we have:

Interesting - only in Indiana!

Back Home in Indiana: Old County School

                        Stone, Indiana.

This week will be a quick tour of  Middle Eastern Indiana.   Pretty much a one shot stop suggesting the variety of the area.  Some will be postcard - like the above photograph - others will be simply documentary - direct and straightforward presentations. Hang with us as we travel about.

Back Home in Indiana: Dean's Town

                                                      Fairmont, Indiana.

If you're a movie buff or old enough you will know that Fairmont is the birth and resting place of James Dean.  Key word here is nostalgia.  As always, click on image to enlarge.

Back Home in Indiana: Lee's

                                                       Connersville, Indiana.

A final - for now - post from Connersville.  Interesting county seat that is going thru some very hard times.  Lost it's major industry and the proposed new industry is having a difficult time getting it together - loans, government support, commitments from the state, etc.  Will be returning later in the year to follow up on the changes - if any.

Monday Morning Coffee: Hi Road Drive-In

Spent much of Sunday photographing in  NW Ohio.  Several new - to me - small communities as well as a couple of old "friends". After review and post processing, later posts will include several of these images

Driving home along a typical rural state highway - enjoying the fields of beans and corn - suddenly over on the right side there appeared an up and running drive-in movie theatre.  Off course, I had to stop, wander and photograph.  In some funny way, this was the highlight of the day.  Like finding a rare coin or stamp.  Discovering a forgotten book or, in my case, a photo negative long overlooked.

Now at one time - in the 50's - there were some 5,000 drive-in's.  Today there are a touch more than 400 left.  Daylight savings time has not helped in keeping them alive.  Doesn't get dark enough - here in the Midwest - till 9:00 or later, in the evening.  Also today there are many other ways to spent time. 

The Hi Road Drive-In theatre opened in the 1940s and enlarged their screen in 2006.  The Drive-In has two screens and a car capacity of 600.  The sound is provided by means of turning on your FM car radio.   A typical season begins in March and ends in October.

Below is Screen 1 along with the projection and food building. Construction is what you might expect.  Large screen placed high enough to be seen no matter you car's location. 

Turns out that any profit in this business comes from the food and snacks. The cost of movie rental and equipment needed to show films is not covered by the admission fees. This is the reason that the sign - at the entrance - states NO OUTSIDE FOOD allowed.  This is really a restaurant business.

Screen 2 is a different piece of work.

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It is placed on a small hill, mounted on the top of an old semi-trailer held by cables in the ground. Certainly a late addition to the theatre. Whatever works!

Returned to the car after a bit of "walk about" and photographing and drove directly home. Along the way, noticed several new interesting locations. They will wait for another time. The remainder of this trip was saved for the memory of the Hi Road Drive-In theatre.

 

Back Home in Indiana: Hoffman's

                       Connersville, Indiana.

Back Home in Indiana:Skilled Brick work

                       Connersville, Indiana.

Someone deeply cared about the construction of this building.  The brickwork and building details are just wonderful.  Certainly done during a "golden age" in the life of Connersville.  As always, click on image to enlarge.