After 50 years, Eastern Washington’s only drive-in theater changes hands

Picture this: The sun crests below the mountains, the headlights shut off, you have a large tub of popcorn sitting in your lap and a soda in your right hand as you slink back into the comfort, or uncomfortable stiffness (take your pick), of your car seat. It’s important to note that a thorough window-washing may be extremely beneficial before going to a drive-in movie theater.

Nearly 70 years ago, there were around 4,000 drive-in movie theaters in the United States. Today, there are about 335 left, only five of which are in Washington. The only one left in Eastern Washington, Auto-Vue Drive-in Theatre, was recently bought by a couple, along with Colville’s other cinema, the Alpine Theatre.

Andrew Ross, 43, grew up in Colville and went to Auto-Vue as a kid. He moved to the West Side, where he’s worked at multiple different tech companies, including Amazon, Microsoft and T-Mobile, for the last 20 years. He spends 40 to 50 hours a week working on the other side of the state and takes either a 90-minute flight or six-hour drive to Colville before the movie’s premiere on Friday. On Monday, he goes back to the West Side and repeats the process all over again.

“It’s kind of surreal,” Ross said. “I feel pretty blessed that this is something that I got to experience as a kid … So many drive-ins have been torn down because the land is so much more valuable as something other than a drive-in.

“But to me, having grown up here, being passionate about movies, being passionate about just kind of that nostalgic feel, I look at it like I am the next caretaker in line to preserve this place for the next generation.”

Scott Aslakson, 28, is Ross’ partner and manages the day-to-day side of the business. Ross and Aslakson met in Redmond and have been together for over eight years. Aslakson was born in Puyallup and has an extensive background as a buyer, merchandiser and manager at several furniture retail stores. Aslakson said the retail portion of his experience has easily translated to the movie theater business.

“I have a lot of experience with customer service,” Aslakson said. “Working in the kitchen, and the technology here with the projector and whatnot, that was all new to me.”

To ease the transition process, Aslakson and Ross shadowed the previous owners, Steve and Karen Wisner, for a couple months before the drive-in changed hands. Steve Wisner’s father, Earl, bought Auto-Vue along with the Alpine Theatre and two other theaters in 1974.

Steve Wisner is a third-generation projectionist and held onto the Auto-Vue and Alpine theatres for 50 years. He officially took over the business in 1992. When asked why he wanted to sell both places, his answer was simple.

“I think 50 years is long enough,” Wisner said. “I just didn’t wanna do it anymore.”

Wisner said Aslakson was only supposed to be there for a two-week training session, but those two weeks quickly turned into two months.

“He was there every day, and he was doing this, he was doing that,” Wisner said. “That’s when I knew, right away, that he really liked the theater business, which is very good … It was time to retire.”

Since May 1953, the Auto-Vue drive-in has only been closed for a single year. The year they closed was the year that Wisner, with support from the community, tore down the old screen and set up a new one as they transferred from film to digital.

But when this was going on, nearly a decade ago, Wisner almost gave up on Auto-Vue entirely. His daughter wanted to look for funds from the community, but Wisner was doubtful Colville would show up for their one and only drive-in movie theater.

For Wisner, after all, it was just a job. A bizarre job, he admits, but still just a job. Because Wisner was busy managing Auto-Vue while the movies were playing, he said he had forgotten about the magic of drive-in theaters.

It wasn’t until Wisner saw the movie “The Goodbye Girl” at a drive-in in 29 Palms, California, that he remembered how fun drive-ins were. After watching that movie, he decided to “let the reins go” and have his daughter look for funding. She was able to raise around $11,000, which was enough for a new screen and half of the foundation. Wisner said he paid for the other half out of his own pocket.

The only challenge that remained was how they were going to get a new digital projector to replace the outdated film one. New projectors usually cost around $90,000. A solution arose when one of Wisner’s friends told him he could buy a projector for $30,000 for the Alpine and then replace Auto-Vue’s projector with the one that previously had been in the Alpine.

Wisner said from there, “everything worked out perfectly.” He had a few friends who were welders – the price of steel was down at the time – and a semitruck driver willing to carry cargo for free culminated in Auto-Vue’s survival. Not to mention, Wisner was willing to get his hands a bit dirty and do some of the work himself.

“(The community) gave us $11,000, but we sure stretched it out,” Wisner said.

Wisner said that when it came to showing Aslakson and Ross the ropes of the movie business, it was, “nothing new.” Ross said he and Aslakson have learned so much, not just about the operations of a drive-in theater, but also about movies in general.

“How movies are made, how they’re filmed, how they’re distributed, where the studio’s work, the contracts we have with studios,” Ross said. “Then of course, your basic customer service stuff, how this differs from say, a brick-and-mortar retail store. It’s its own kind of unique beast. So, it’s been a really enjoyable learning experience.

“There have been some challenges, but nothing that we thought was insurmountable and absolutely something that we would do again, if given the opportunity.”

Laura Martin, 41, has worked on and off at Auto-Vue since she was 16. From cleaning the fields after shows to running the projector to working in the kitchen and doing concessions, Martin’s done it all. She currently works in the box office and trains new hires. Outside of Auto-Vue, Martin has a full-time job with the U.S. Postal Service.

“(Auto-Vue) means everything to us,” Martin said. “At the time when they were switching from film to digital, the entire community got behind the owners at the time and pushed for them to do fundraisers and everything else to try and keep it open. With all the community’s support, we were able to keep it open.”

Looking to the future, Ross and Aslakson hope to make some minor changes to the drive-in. Aslakson’s favorite movies are the Harry Potter series, so he hopes to introduce a movie marathon potentially next summer. Ross’ favorite movie is “Pulp Fiction,” and he wants to one day implement a Tarantino Tuesday.

Auto-Vue’s Sunday showing is “Inside Out 2,” followed by “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Next weekend, a romantic comedy starring Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson called, “Fly Me to the Moon” will showcase. “Fly Me to the Moon” will be followed immediately after by “Alien: Romulus.” The box office opens at 7:45 p.m. and the first show begins at dusk. Sunday is carload night, so every car is $10. Most nights, tickets cost $7 per person and children under 11 cost $3. Potential movie-goers should tune to 97.7 FM, if they wish to catch a film at the Auto-Vue Drive-in Theatre.