Riverdale’s Motor-Vu drive-in brings movies for decades, through ups and downs
Brooklynn Bailey, 4, and sister Shryissa Bailey, 7, play while waiting inside the snack bar Thursday, June 9, 2016, at Coleman’s Motor Vu Drive-in in Riverdale.
Addison Ivers, 8, left, and cousin Wyatt Pierce, 10, wait for the movie to start at Coleman’s Motor-Vu Drive-in Thursday, June 9, 2016, in Riverdale.
Brent Coleman, co-owner and president of the Motor-Vu Drive-In, has fond memories of working at the theater throughout his life. His father, Howard, bought it in 1979.
Visitors to the snack bar at Coleman’s Motor Vu Drive-in wait for their order Thursday, June 9, 2016, in Riverdale.
RIVERDALE — When it comes to summertime cinema, nothing quite beats the drive-in.
At twilight Friday, families gathered around the four screens at Coleman’s Motor-Vu in the backs of pickup trucks and in circles of camp chairs. They played cards, munched snacks and tossed balls, waiting for the show to start.
“I grew up coming here when I was a kid. It brings back memories,” said Brian Sperry, 26, who stopped by his hometown while in the middle of moving from Maine to Seattle.
He was there to watch ”Finding Dory” and celebrate his brother’s birthday.
“It’s more of a social atmosphere than sitting in a seat in a dark room … you get to be outside with your friends or family talking, tailgating.”
For Joe and Kylee Horrocks, along with their 6-year-old twins, Bodee and Brock, Coleman’s Motor-Vu is a family tradition.
“I grew up just down the road, so I’d come here every summer, multiple times. Then when Kylee and I started dating, we came here,” Joe said.
“It was our first date,” Kylee said from the back of their blue pickup truck, made cozy with blankets, pillows and a big bag of M&Ms. “It’s fun to come back and reminisce. We’ve been bringing the kids since they turned 2.”
For Hunter Martinez, 18, and Courtney Martin, 16, it’s a unique way to watch a movie on something other than their phones.
“You can do that every day,” Martin said, waiting for ”Central Intelligence” to start on screen four. “You can’t just pull your truck into your room and watch something on your phone.”
SARAH WELLIVER/Standard-Examiner
Kegan Cheney, 6, left, and Jaesean Kramer, 5, right, turn to look as a vehicle’s lights distract them from the screen Thursday, June 9, 2016, at Coleman’s Motor Vu Drive-in in Riverdale.
Watching a movie at a drive-in is different from the brick-and-mortar theater, too.
“It’s nice to switch it up, instead of being in a room with a bunch of people you get to be outside,” Martinez said. “You can lie down, so that’s always a plus.”
Brent Coleman’s family has worked at the cinemas since his dad started as a Motor-Vu lot boy in 1952. He bought the drive in 1979.
Through the dips and dives theaters have experienced since the rise of VHS in the late 1970s, and especially since the rise of the internet in the late 1990s, regular visits from Northern Utah’s families and teens help Motor-Vu stay in business.
“My father just hung in there. It’s unbelievable, I don’t know how he did it,” Coleman said. “It’s a unique business,” he added with a chuckle. “You take a year’s worth of work and cram it into six months.”
These days, the drive-in experiencing a resurgence, Coleman said.
Tips for enjoying movies at Motor-Vu
• Bring cash. The drive-through ticket booths don’t accept credit cards because they slow down traffic. Adult fares for those over 12 is $8 a person. Children ages 5-11 are $3.50. Tots under five are free. Admission covers two movies.
• Come early. Movies start at around 9:30 p.m., but the drive-in opens at 7 p.m. on weekends and 8 p.m. on weekdays. Arrive early to beat long lines and find the perfect spot — especially if you’re coming as a group.
• Visit the snack bar. The Motor-Vu allows outside food, but buying treats at the theater keeps it running. The snack bar has the usual movie favorites, like sodas, popcorn and assorted candy. They also have hamburgers and pizza for dinner, all prepared fresh.
• Leave Fido at home. Pets aren’t allowed at the Motor-Vu due to liability issues.
“We can offer things walk-ins can’t. Obviously we’re more economical. You get two movies for the price of one. You can bring your kids and they can act like kids. When you go to a walk-in, you can’t have them running around in bare feet,” he said.
“Plus it’s an experience. You’re either in the car, or out of the car — you’re outside.”
Coleman now co-owns the Motor-Vu with his two brothers, who also operate theater chains on opposite coasts of the country. But when it comes to daily management of the Riverdale-based theater, he’s the most hands-on. He’s worked to preserve the drive-in’s vintage charm, with signs, logos and decor that have changed little since his father’s teenage years working the lot. But he’s made serious upgrades where it counts.
“It’s all digital projections,” he said. “We’re offering the exact same experience on screen as the walk-in.”
Motor-Vu has weathered many storms to stay in business, both literally and figuratively.
In 2003, a July heat wave had the neighboring homes cranking their air conditioning. On a Friday, just before Motor-Vu opened, a main transformer blew in the street. Coleman had to close the entire theater.
In 2011, a strong windstorm ripped up all his fencing and blew the letters off his marquees.
“But I didn’t lose any screens. They built this thing in ’47. I shouldn’t talk about it,” Coleman said, knocking on his wood desk, “but they must’ve known more than we do.”
On the figurative side, Coleman’s father had to fight to keep the theater competing with big megaplexes. The original theater had only one screen. Two more were added in the 1980s, and a fourth was added in 1996. Elsewhere across the country, rising property values and urban sprawl were forcing drive-in theaters to close and get gobbled up by development.
The conversion to radio sound helped save drive-in theaters throughout the country.
“Before — you see the speakers hanging off the poles? You’re dealing with wire that’d been in the ground for 60 years,” Coleman said. “If you ever got a short, it didn’t just take out the pole, it took out the whole row. On weekends, you could never be 100 percent capacity because the speakers couldn’t keep up with it.”
LEIA LARSEN/Standard-Examiner staff, Standard-Examiner
Cars gather at the Motor-Vu Drive-In Theater on Friday, June 24, 2016.
Now patrons can tune their FM radios to pick up the movie soundtrack. Coleman said the difference it made in business was night and day.
“We could max out our fields, no problem. And everyone had good sound,” he said. “Obviously we can’t do the Dolby 25-speaker surround system. But most the cars and these kids with their stereos, they’re equivalent to all that stuff anyway.”
One of the biggest business decisions to help Motor-Vu thrive was the introduction of the swap meet. In what amounts to a massive yard sale, people buy permits to sell odds and ends out of their vehicles or out of heated shop spaces.
“My father started that in about 1965. It goes hand in hand with the drive in, as far as I’m concerned,” Coleman said.
While weekend evenings remain packed in the summer, especially with big family friendly blockbusters like “Finding Dory,” Coleman said concessions keep the drive-in running. He allows outside food in the theater, but a trip to the snack bar goes a long way.
“The money and profit made in the movie industry is through the snack bar. It’s not through the film,” he said. “When you get a movie, you’re paying most of that (ticket revenue) right back to the film company.”
Even with all the ups and downs in the industry, cinema remains Coleman passion. He remembers watching films from the Motor-Vu office window with his mother. He developed his worth ethic there — how to run projectors, change marquees, pick up trash and clean restrooms. Next year, the Motor-Vu will celebrate its 70th year in business.
“I love movies, and I’ve never known anything else,” Coleman said.
Contact Reporter Leia Larsen at 801-625-4289 or llarsen@standard.net. Follow her on Facebook.com/leiaoutside or on Twitter @LeiaLarsen.