Conner and Johnson, Starlit Screens; Southern Spaces

There are four active drive-in theaters within a forty-mile radius of Charlotte, North Carolina: the Belmont, the Sunset, the Bessemer City Kings Mountain to the south, and the Badin Road to the east. Located on North Carolina State Route 161 about two miles north of Interstate 85, the Bessemer City Kings Mountain Drive-In is in poor physical condition. Paint peels from the ticket booth, and one side of the roof seems haphazardly repaired. A "7" made from black electrical tape announces the price of admission has been reduced by a dollar per car — this is the only drive-in we visited that charged by the carload. There is no playground in this austere space. Strips of parched grass run between gray gravel driveways. Heavily rusted speaker poles tilt awkwardly over mowed grass. The difficulty in maintaining functional drive-in speakers was also apparent — speaker connections were patched with electrical tape, and the speakers themselves often bear the names of other drive-in theaters. The screen itself, composed of white rectangular panels, had begun to warp from weather exposure. Hot summer sun filtered through cracks between the panels.

Rick Stinnett, owner of the Bessemer City Kings Mountain, lives on-site in an adjacent white house. His parents started the Bessemer City theater, and he took over the family business in 1995 — ten years after he acquired the Sunset Drive-In. Like the Starlite in Durham, and many other individually-owned drive-ins with aging proprietors, Bessemer City Kings Mountain faces an uncertain future.33




	Starlit Screens: Preserving Place and Public at Drive-In Theaters Robin Conner, Georgia State University Paul Johnson, Photographer cite this page \| printable version Essay Sections: Introduction \| Family Drive-In \| Hull's Drive-In \| Starlite Drive-In - Christiansburg \| Raleigh Road Outdoor Theatre \| Starlite Drive-In - Durham \| Bessemer City Kings Mountain Drive-In \| Tiger Drive-In \| Commerce Drive-In \| Starlight Six Drive-In \| Notes \| Recommended Resources Bessemer City Kings Mountain Drive-In - Bessemer City, North Carolina: There are four active drive-in theaters within a forty-mile radius of Charlotte, North Carolina: the Belmont, the Sunset, the Bessemer City Kings Mountain to the south, and the Badin Road to the east. Located on North Carolina State Route 161 about two miles north of Interstate 85, the Bessemer City Kings Mountain Drive-In is in poor physical condition. Paint peels from the ticket booth, and one side of the roof seems haphazardly repaired. A "7" made from black electrical tape announces the price of admission has been reduced by a dollar per car — this is the only drive-in we visited that charged by the carload. There is no playground in this austere space. Strips of parched grass run between gray gravel driveways. Heavily rusted speaker poles tilt awkwardly over mowed grass. The difficulty in maintaining functional drive-in speakers was also apparent — speaker connections were patched with electrical tape, and the speakers themselves often bear the names of other drive-in theaters. The screen itself, composed of white rectangular panels, had begun to warp from weather exposure. Hot summer sun filtered through cracks between the panels. Rick Stinnett, owner of the Bessemer City Kings Mountain, lives on-site in an adjacent white house. His parents started the Bessemer City theater, and he took over the family business in 1995 — ten years after he acquired the Sunset Drive-In. Like the Starlite in Durham, and many other individually-owned drive-ins with aging proprietors, Bessemer City Kings Mountain faces an uncertain future.33 <<< Previous Section \| Next Section >>> Essay Sections: Introduction \| Family Drive-In \| Hull's Drive-In \| Starlite Drive-In - Christiansburg \| Raleigh Road Outdoor Theatre \| Starlite Drive-In - Durham \| Bessemer City Kings Mountain Drive-In \| Tiger Drive-In \| Commerce Drive-In \| Starlight Six Drive-In \| Notes \| Recommended Resources Published: 10 October 2008 © 2008 Robin Conner, Paul Johnson, and Southern Spaces