Milford, NH
The sun is setting on a Friday night, which means it's almost time for Will Ferrell and Johnny Depp to light up the big screens at the Milford Drive-In Theater. There's no modern-day surround sound or high-definition effects, but this place has something harder to come by: the feel of the 1950s.

"It's old school," says Allisen Lemay, of Bedford, N.H., who spent last Friday night picnicking with friends in front of the white screen set to show ``Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" and ``You, Me and Dupree." Across the lot, folks lined up in front of another screen to see the new ``Pirates of the Caribbean" and the animated flick ``Cars."

Every night is double-feature night at the Milford Drive-In, which is an hour from Boston, and just a few minutes from Nashua, N.H., and it's always $20 a carload. This means Lemay and her three friends only paid $5 each for a night of flicks.

``It's very cheap," says Lemay, who is sitting on a blanket on the ground next to a cooler of food from home. There are about 400 drive-in movie theaters left in the country, according to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association, compared to about 4,000 in 1958. The land many of them once sat on has been gobbled up by developers. Massachusetts has four operating drive-ins, some of which have been operating since the 1950s; a few of the other New England theaters, such as this spot in Milford, are close enough to Boston to be a night trip.

Wentzville, MO
A car pulls in, and the old speaker crackles as a teenage girl places her order: a bacon double cheeseburger, fries and a Pepsi.

There's another crackling from the old box before the wait staff answers back from behind the old-fashioned counter. "Comin' right up," the employee says into the speaker.

Thousands and thousands of orders and 40 years ago this week, Pete Luetkenhaus bought a root beer stand that has since become a landmark at Pearce Boulevard and Highway 61 in Wentzville.

Farther west where Pearce Boulevard meets the parkway, the street is flooded with almost any fast food fare your stomach desires. Yet Pete's Drive-In has stayed afloat and intends to keep on going.

"A lot of our customers are repeat. That's how we survived with all the new restaurants in town," said Marsha Perotti, Luetkenhaus' daughter who helps him manage the restaurant. "It takes good customer service and a hometown feel."

Perotti may help run the restaurant famous for its country-style breakfasts and fried chicken, but her father hasn't quit. He'll turn 71 in September and can still be found at the place six days a week, chatting with customers.

She has hosted movies, vaudeville acts, concerts, and a Super Bowl party. The old marquee weathered the Great Depression, movie-goers' flight to suburbia and the 2005 demolition of her Mishawaka sister, the Tivoli.

At times, the State stirred talk of impropriety: she closed for a day in 1929 after the mayor of South Bend declared her burlesque shows to be too "vulgar and disgusting" for public consumption. The theater's showing of "The Exorcist" in 1974 prompted an outcry from Catholics. Reports of bar fights plagued the theater's nightclub shortly after the turn of the millennium.

But old age and a new owner are changing the theater's morals. She is being converted, shedding her liquor license, secular concerts and saucy attitude.

No longer will the theater's entertainment be solely for pleasure and profit. Now the building carries a mission: the salvation of young souls.

By Chico Harlan | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | August 1, 2006

Taste got more complicated yesterday. The beer plant on Jefferson Street became a ghost town.

Charles Erney, a Rolling Rock employee for 20 years, drove home and changed out of the polo shirt with the green horse stitched on the left breast, work clothes nevermore.

Rolling Rock, brewed by that name in Latrobe since 1939, officially closed its plant yesterday. And for many, a familiar brand instantly became a foreigner. A smooth taste developed a bitter back story.

Before May, Latrobe residents considered the beer and the town an equation -- one a pale, 12-ounce distillation of the other. Middle-class, easy-to-love, with enough quirks for character: The definition fit both the place and the brew.

But then Anheuser-Busch purchased the Rolling Rock brand for $82 million, promising the same formula but moving the production to New Jersey. Bottling in Newark will begin today.

Now, the 9,000 people in this town face a question. Experts say it's about brand loyalty. Many in Latrobe just say it's about loyalty.

"You see," said John Migyanka, owner of the Hotel Loyal, whose accompanying bar houses some 100 Rock trinkets, "you used to look down this bar, and boy, every person had a green bottle."

Rhiannon Mendez backs the family minivan into a gravel spot closer to the concession stand than the movie screen. The 16-year-old, three friends and her two sisters are familiar with the drive-in drill.

"We came here a lot when we were little," Mendez said.

Summer fun comes with a driver's license and a trip to the 800-car Keno Family Drive-In. An impromptu raid on the Mendez kitchen produced a six-pack of Mountain Dew, a large bag of chips and the box of Honey-Nut Cheerios currently being devoured. The girls also brought blankets and pillows - mandatory for a drive-in. One of each has been tossed on the minivan's roof.

Fortunately, the ghost of the Grand Theater seems to have a sense of humor.

When the beautifully renovated theater opened in downtown East Greenville on July 29, 2005, Ed Buchinski showed ''Ghostbusters'' in honor of his apparition. On Saturday, for the first anniversary, there will be a midnight showing of the 1984 comedy classic.

''Ghostbusters,'' while hilarious, isn't exactly a pro-ghost film.

''I think he realizes it's a timeless comedy classic,'' Buchinski said of the Grand's unnamed ghost that he says has made a series of friendly appearances. ''If he had a negative reaction last year, we wouldn't have repeated it.''

In other words, after a $750,000 renovation, Buchinski, who owns and operates the historic theater, isn't about to risk the wrath — and slime — of his specter.

All in all, according to Buchinski, the Grand's first year has been a success.

Ashley Kelly | Times Herald-Record | July 24, 2006

Near Middletown, NY
A late-morning fire seriously damaged a landmark diner in the Town of Wallkill today.

The fire broke out about 11 a.m. at Maddy's Diner, on the corner of Highland Avenue and Route 17M. Firefighters had to knock down part of the building's facade to battle the flames.

The cause was still under investigation.

North Adams, MA
The historic Miss Adams diner on Park Street, which opened in 1938, is under new management. Michael Nykorchuk of Pittsfield, who previously owned the Design Connection, is now leasing — with an option to buy — the diner from Boston-area restaurateur Jae Chung, who purchased it in 1998.

Nykorchuk said Chung believed that the diner needed a hands-on owner to operate it.

"I'm not really nervous about operating the diner because I've owned businesses before, and I've worked for my father, James, who is a well-known chef, for 10 years," Nykorchuk said. "I love the area and I love the improvements to the downtown area."

The diner was opened by Joseph Wilusz in 1938 at 53 Park St. In 1949, Wilusz purchased a Worcester Lunch Car for the business. According to the Web site roadsideonline.com, the company constructed 651 diner cars from 1906 to 1961. Of the diner cars that were constructed, an estimated 90 are still being used.

Birch Run, MI
Ken J. Decker will bring the drive-in movie theater back to Saginaw County.

Workers demolished the last drive-in theater in the county, Twilite Drive-In, on State in Saginaw Township, in 1993. Today, the only outdoor movies are part of Old Saginaw City's Lawn Chair Film Festival.

Decker, 48, will place a 40-by-20-foot drive-in screen in the acre-and-a-half lot adjacent to his Birch Run Township business, Ken's Diner, 11740 Gera.

"Last fall I had the idea after the car shows were over," he said. "I thought, 'If I get a screen out there, I could have a mini drive-in.' "

The lot usually is home to classic car shows that he hosts from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Friday.