See updates at the bottom for 2000 , 2001 , 2007 , 2009 , 2010
The Bel-Air Fly-In Drive-In was one of only a half dozen or so in the country. I seem to recall that it may have been the first. After digging, I found one photo, maybe the only one I have. This was taken in 1975, just a few years before it closed for good. Click here to see the Bel-Air's monthly movie guide for July, 1964 (120k).
The Bel-Air Fly-In Drive-In theater in St. Ansgar, Iowa, was opened in the 50s by " Andy " Anderson. He had run the Roxy theater in town since the late 30's or early 40's. He ran both theaters for a short time but then closed down the Roxy and ran the Bel-Air full time. I can still remember, in the mid 50s when I was 7 or 8, the 10 cent Saturday movies for the kids and the free movies at Christmas time at the Roxy. Before Andy bought the Roxy, I don't know who owned it, but I remember my mother saying she used to play the piano at the theater for the silent movies.
The Bel-Air, when it was opened in the 1950's, was one of the first Fly-in Drive-in theaters in the nation, if not the first. I think it held maybe 100-150 cars and in it's heyday, was full every Friday and Saturday night. Admission, in the mid 1960s, was 65 cents, 75 cents on the weekends. Sometimes we'd throw a few kids in the trunk of the car and sneak them in. The Bel-Air was about 4 miles out of town and attracted farmers and people from other nearby towns in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota. (Carpenter, Northwood, Grafton, Manly, Lyle, Osage, Austin and who knows where else!)
The screen is off to the left (not shown) as well as the parking. The building under the sign, to the left, is the projection/concession building. The ticket booth is under the sign to the right. To the right of the sign, is the hangar and the grass runway. Planes would park on the grass, grab a speaker, and watch the show. Andy kept his own plane, a 1949 Stinson, in the hangar.
The runway was north-south, with the screen and car parking to the west. To the east of the runway was Iowa Highway 105, to the south and north were cornfields and to the west, behind the screen, were woods. The entrance road came in from the east and turned north. Paralleling the road was an aerial telephone cable. In the 1960s one time, a plane took off after the show and the rear landing wheel snagged the cable. The plane went down, but no one was hurt. Shortly after that, they buried the cable.
I was the projectionist there for a few years in the mid 60's while I was in high school. Projectors were noisy (and hot) carbon arc units that required a lot of attention or the arc would become weak or go out - and then the horns would start. Andy would come running in yelling " What the hell is going on now? " as we sometimes did repairs on one projector while a reel was running on the other. The 7 or 8 reels of film would come in by Greyhound bus several times each week and we'd haul them out to the Drive-in and get them ready for the show. Lots more interesting stories from that place and damn good memories! I wouldn't trade my experiences there as a teenager for anything.
I haven't been home in many years so I lost touch of what happened to the remains of the Bel-Air. But in the meantime, a few folks have provided fascinating updates:
July 2010: - I received this e-mail from Darrel.
I learned how to fly at the Marion, IA, airport back in 1967. On May 4th 1968, a Saturday night, we flew two Cessna 15's up to St. Ansgar to see the War Wagon since we taught going to a drive in fly in movie would be pretty cool. I was 19 at the time. We arrived after dark and there were no runway lights. I cannot remember if there were runway lights or they were not functioning. We knew approximately where the runway was based on the location from the movie screen and parked cars so we made several passes and finally landed. Kind of disrupted the show until we got parked in the back row that was setup with long speaker cords for aircraft. We had a lot of fun talking to just about everyone. Mr. Anderson thanked us for stopping in for the show and did not charge us. When the show was over Mr. Anderson drove his car down to the end of the runway for us to line up on. Needless to say it was a lot of fun. Over the years I have told this story many times to other pilots. I have yet to come across anyone who ever had this experience. Probably only in IA will you find some one but then a lot of years have passed since it closed in the mid 70's. Thanks to Mr. Anderson I can say I am one of those very few pilots who had the opportunity to experienced going to a fly-in drive-in. |
June 2009: - I received this e-mail from Nyla.
| We finally made it to the 'drive-in' last night. Steve and Lorraine Beland live there and also own the area where the screen used to be plus the old projector/lunch stand building and last year they started showing movies. The movies are free, bring your own lawn chairs, bug spray and coolers. They also have a winery there from their own apples and grapes and give samples of wine and sell bottles of it. Lorraine also sells hot dogs and a few other snacks. They open at 7 on movie nights but the movie doesn't start until dusk. They put up a big white screen, 20x30 I think and their son set up a projector with surround sound. I would think they had at least 100 people there. You just pull in and park then watch the movie from your lawn chairs or a blanket. Two pick-ups pulled in after dark and they sat in the back of the pickup. It was a pretty nice night. We sprayed for mosquitoes and didn't have any trouble after that. Last night the movie was Twister and a lot of times it sounded like the thunder was coming from behind us. He's had Bull Durham earlier and I can't remember the other ones, but last week they showed Shriek and had a bucket out for donations for the day care. Happy Feet is next week. They are all old movies but good ones. It's kind of a neat way to spend an evening in a small town. Kristy didn't realize we had a winery here and never happened to get there to buy wine so we bought two bottles last night to take to Montana for her. We tried several last night, Carmel Apple, and two red wines and a white grape wine. Steve names one of the wines "Kick Ass Wine," he says it's like grapes on cocaine. |
July 2007: - I received this e-mail from Adam.
| My name is Adam Strouf. I am a friend of Steve Beland’s son and the Belands business partner. I found your site during a search of the internet. I am writing to give you an update on the old drive in. We have opened a winery at the site of the projection/snack bar. I started renovation of the snack bar into the winery in the fall of 05 and finished the major work in spring 06. We moved in the winery equipment in late June and early July and started our first commercial production run in September and October. We sold our first bottle this spring, and are making more wine as we speak. I have remodeled the boys bathroom into a storage room for wine and the girl's bathroom into a bathroom. I am remodeling the projection room in to our tasting room. The open breeze way between the snack bar and projection room has been closed off with a door at each end and the outside door to the boy's bathroom has been closed off as well. I have cut a new door in the projection room to allow a free flow to the winery. I will include some pictures so you can get an idea of what it looks like. Also I have a web site for the winery the address is: www.belairewinery.com . The projectors are still on the property. Actually we would like to sell them so if you know anyone interested in that sort of thing you could send them my way. Anyway thank you for your time. |
Projection side of the building. My favorite parking spot was, on the photo, just to the left of the building. Many, many good nights were spent there........ - Dave 
Vineyards where the parking used to be. |
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February 2001 - Lorraine and Steve, the current owners, were kind enough to send me some updates.
| "Yes, the info you have is correct. The snack bar, as well as the silver hangar, are still standing, but need some repair work. We use the snack bar building for storing our bare-root stock in the spring, and the projection room to hang and butcher the deer we get in the fall. You are right. It is a beautiful site for a house. We are overlooking the creek and were able to avoid cutting down too many trees when we built the house. In the fall and winter we can see the creek in two directions. We have deer that come right up to the back yard. The old projector is still here, some of the large reels, and even some of the film " leaders " . We are thinking of lending it to the heritage society museum. It is located in St. Ansgar where Neeley's Dairy used to be. I sure wish we had some of the old posters and handbills. I guess they all got thrown away in the clean-up process. If I think of anything else of interest, I'll try to keep you posted. Stop in and visit if you are ever in the area." |
Summer 2000 - from Bob, a retired farmer who had land in that area. He had seen this web page and provided more information. He also took took this web page and sent it to the St. Ansgar Enterprise Journal where he had it published.
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"Half the screen
blew down in the late 70s and in 1992 a house was built back in the trees
where the screen was. The other half of the screen was torn down when the
house was built. The screen bordered on a heavily wooded area. Behind the
screen the land went down 30-40 feet and there was a beautiful little creek
there. When I was a teen I always thought that down by the creek would
have been the most perfect place for a house if I had stayed in St. Ansgar."
Bob also reports that the projection booth and lunch stand are still there but not in the best of condition. The old projectors are still there. Virl Deal (the local barber) bought the property and moved a house on the corner. He uses the old onion shed for his hangar. His son in law, Steve, built the house. The rest of the land is now the Bel-Air Acres Orchard and Nursery with 200 apple trees west of the airstrip. Bob also recalls working in the field east of the Bel-Air and being able to see the movies from there. |
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Created 1/1/2000
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