my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film-Yak   » Calling Any Drive-In Theatre Experts (Page 1)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: Calling Any Drive-In Theatre Experts Toby Glanville Film Handler Posts: 5 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Apr 2007 posted 05-01-2007 04:49 PM                     Hi there, I have a difficult question regarding historic drive-in movie theatres. I'm an environmental consultant and I'm doing work on a former drive-in property in Toronto, Ontario. The name of the theatre is the Northeast Drive-In and it was open from 1948 to 1977. I've done some research already and it sounds like parking lots of these old drive-in theatres used to be treated with an oil-based dust suppressant to control the amount of dust created by all the cars coming in and out. What I need to know is whether or not the practice of spreading oil on the lot was a regular maintenance procedure for these historic drive-in theatres. Essentially, I'm looking to establish the degree of likelihood my site was contaminated by a former dust suppressant. Any suggestions or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time. Toby  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 05-01-2007 06:19 PM                    hmmmmm not sure of that. I worked a drive-in back in the 80's but nothing like that was ever mentioned to me. We had gravel in the lot between the rows. Remember you probably have oil just from where cars sat in the lot and leaked on the ground.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 05-01-2007 06:25 PM                     Wouldn't it be simpler to just test the soil?  |  IP: Logged Toby Glanville Film Handler Posts: 5 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Apr 2007 posted 05-01-2007 06:41 PM                     Darryl, thanks for your reply. If you follow this link (http://www.driveinworkshop.com/surfacing/surface.htm), you'll end up on a page of a website developed by a drive-in theatre expert. He mentions the procedure of oiling the parking lot; however, I'm still trying to find more industry individuals (like yourself) to confirm this type operation. As these theatres were very old, I understand the difficulty in finding excerpts from former drive-in maintenance operators. Thanks again for your input! Chris, in most cases it would be easier to simply test the soil. In this case, however, our client has already built two large office buildings on the property and any soil testing would cost thousands of dollars. My gut feeling is that oiling drive-in lots was in fact a normal operating procedure by many theatres, but it has been difficult to convince my peers of this theory. I guess the search continues!  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 05-01-2007 07:11 PM                        You might be seeing a reference to a practice called "shot and cover". It's still common in the US, especially on rural surface streets. None of the drive-ins in our state have this kind of surface. They're either asphalt pavement, gravel or grass. A road crew will spray a coating of an oil/asphalt substance, then cover that with gravel. After the gravel presses in and the asphalt sets up (a couple of days or so), the road crew comes back and sweeps off the residual loose gravel. The practice extends the life of roadways, especially lesser-used ones. If you're concerned about side-effects, you might visit your area road department for information. They probably know as much as anyone would. As Chris says, if there's any reason for you to be worried, you'd probably need to do a soil test on-site.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-01-2007 07:18 PM                     Gravel roads in ontario were sprayed with a oil waste product from refrineries to keep dust down and many driveins in ontario were also sprayed  |  IP: Logged Toby Glanville Film Handler Posts: 5 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Apr 2007 posted 05-01-2007 07:42 PM                     Jack, thanks for the detailed info. Although Washington drive-ins currently consist of these asphalt, gravel or grass surfaces, I'm more concerned about theatres from the 1930s to 1970s. Which is where Gordon comes in ... Gordon, is there any way you can elaborate further or direct me to information sources regarding oil spraying on drive-in theatre lots? By the way, the historic theatre I'm speaking of was located near Victoria Park and Sheppard Avenue East. It sounds like you're the man I'm looking for!  |  IP: Logged Wayne Keyser Master Film Handler Posts: 272 From: Arlington, Virginia, USA Registered: May 2004 posted 05-01-2007 08:55 PM                     Regardless of whether spraying was common, you need to know more than whether your site "might" be contaminated. Unless it's completely unimportant (in which case forget it) you need to know whether this specific site IS contaminated. Test the soil.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 05-01-2007 10:13 PM                       I am the perpetrator, err.. creator of said website, although Brad Light now owns it. FWIW, a good deal of that information was culled from vintage texts, so some of it is today nearly 70 years-old. There should be a disclaimer to that effect on the site. While to my knowledge, spreading oil on drive-in lots wasn't all that common in later theatres in this country, it was "recommended practice" in the 30s and 40s.  |  IP: Logged Toby Glanville Film Handler Posts: 5 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Apr 2007 posted 05-01-2007 10:31 PM                     Tim, you created one heck of a website (I now know that the first drive-in theatre was built in 1933!). That section regarding lot surfacing was very informative. As you pointed out, surface oiling was in fact a procedure used for a period of time. And it sounds like I can establish an initial period when oil spraying took place (c. 1933). Now I need to find out when this practice went the way of the dinosaurs. As Gordon also noted, here in Ontario many drive-in theatres applied waste oil from refineries (and I would presume other waste oil sources like gas service stations) on to their lots to control dust. I'm almost there. I just need a little more hard data! Thanks to everybody for helping out. Keep it coming!  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 05-01-2007 11:56 PM                        Waste oil spraying was/is common in USA drive ins to cut down dust on gravel. Louis  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 05-02-2007 12:32 AM                     In the mid-1970s, the town of Times Beach, Missouri had its dirt roads sprayed with used oil which was secretly mixed with waste from a chemical plant. It was the largest civilian exposure of dioxin (part of Agent Orange) in the US. The EPA investigated and evacuated the town in 1985 and all but one building was destroyed by 1992 as part of the massive Superfund cleanup project. Also, please change the subject of this thread to something that describes the contents.  |  IP: Logged Barry Floyd Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1079 From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 05-02-2007 12:11 PM                        Not saying any drive-in owners would do this, but I've known of drive-in owners to use regular #2 diesel fuel in a pump sprayer as a weed retardant. Kills off all of the undergrowth and future emerging weeds... from what I hear. Also, understand that although I'm a drive-in owner, I'm also a site designer for a civil and environmental engineering firm, and like the others have said, get out the auger and have it tested. At our firm, we call that "Billable Hours". I would love to have the tar & chip (that's what we call it here in TN) road surfaces at my drive-in. Spending $275-$300 per truck load of gravel gets to be a pain in the butt real quick. Other than the costs associated with the tar & chip application, it would increase the "impervious surface ratio" for my theatre, which entails dealing with the local city, county and state stormwater people. Stormwater run-off is becoming a major thing to deal with here. I've talked to a drive-in owner in Ohio who uses slag millings from steel plants as driving surfaces instead of gravel... he said it last forever.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-02-2007 06:28 PM                     The only source I could think of is you might contact the ministry of transportation to find out what was sprayed on roads  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 05-03-2007 08:50 PM                     Mr. Glanville sounds suspiciously like an attorney preparing a lawsuit against some past owner of a drive in and is fishing for incriminating information.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.