Drive In Theater

After nearly four hours of testimony before the Carroll Board of Zoning Appeals yesterday, Eldersburg residents complained they're still uncertain about the size of a proposed drive-in theater complex on Liberty Road and its impact on their community. Residents repeatedly asked for specifics on Bumpers Drive-In Theater - which would have two screens - only to learn from those testifying in its support that it was too early to say how large the buildings would be, what improvements would be made to roads and what noise or air pollution the complex would create.

The owner of Middle River's Bengies Drive-In Theatre is appealing a judge's decision to set aside a jury award of $838,000 in a case involving lights from a nearby Royal Farms store. An attorney for Bengies owner D. Edward Vogel said the appeal of Baltimore Circuit Judge Robert Cahill's ruling was filed this week. In his Sept. 13 order, Cahill dismissed a jury's finding that light from the Royal Farms store interfered with operation of the 56-year-old Bengies. In his opinion, Cahill said Vogel and his attorneys did not provide enough evidence to back up such a claim.

This New Year's Eve will be especially poignant for Bill Brehm and for thousands of other Baltimoreans who have enjoyed his family business for nearly four decades.That is his target date to close the Edmondson Drive-In Theatre permanently to make way for a massive Home Depot home improvement and garden center at Baltimore National Pike and the Beltway.Moviegoers will lose a place of entertainment, and Sunday flea market browsers one of their happiest hunting grounds, but Mr. Brehm, 35, said that he'll lose part of his life.

Office developer St. John Properties is planning a $25 million project to transform the site of the former North Point drive-in theater in Dundalk into a shopping center with big-box style retailers as redevelopment accelerates in eastern Baltimore County. St. John Properties signed a contract to buy 20 acres along North Point Boulevard and is marketing the site to retailers, said Gerard J. Wit, a senior vice president of the Baltimore company. "We believe the entire Dundalk peninsula has changing demographics for the positive and is presently underserved from a retail point of view," Wit said yester- day. "This has very big potential for a number of uses, such as big-box, or wholesale or conventional grocer or drugstore, or it could be a lifestyle center," he added.

A Carroll Circuit Court judge said yesterday that he will rule within 30 days on a request to overturn the county Board of Zoning Appeals' decision against a Sykesville man who wants to build a state-of-the-art drive-in theater complex in Eldersburg. Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. said he would review the transcript of the zoning board's three-day hearing and issue a written ruling. Alan J. Ackerman, the would-be developer, challenged the board's Jan. 23 decision, which denied his application to build Bumper's Drive-In on about 37 acres along Liberty Road.

It's future may not be bright, but niggling details about its pending sale have earned the Bengies Drive-In Theatre a one-summer reprieve -- good news for movie fans who now have another season to enjoy the easygoing, 1950s atmosphere of Baltimore's only remaining old-style drive-in."

A Sykesville man who hopes to build the nation's first digital drive-in movie theater on a hilly, 37-acre industrial site in Eldersburg has asked Carroll Circuit Court to overturn a county Board of Zoning Appeals decision denying him permission to move forward with the project. Alan J. Ackerman would like to build a $5 million drive-in theater complex along Liberty Road. The proposed Bumper's Drive-In would be home to two theater screens with space for 1,100 cars, two concession stands, a playground, an arcade and a small concert stage.

Office developer St. John Properties is planning a $25 million project to transform the site of the former North Point drive-in theater in Dundalk into a shopping center with big-box style retailers as redevelopment accelerates in eastern Baltimore County. St. John Properties signed a contract to buy 20 acres along North Point Boulevard and is marketing the site to retailers, said Gerard J. Wit, a senior vice president of the Baltimore company. "We believe the entire Dundalk peninsula has changing demographics for the positive and is presently underserved from a retail point of view," Wit said yester- day. "This has very big potential for a number of uses, such as big-box, or wholesale or conventional grocer or drugstore, or it could be a lifestyle center," he added.

3035 Churchville Road, Churchville. Open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. Call (410) 734-7788. This combination carhop, carryout and drive-in theater is a must for anyone nostalgic for the good old days of the '50s and '60s. The drive-in, one of two still operating in Maryland, opened in 1952. Carryout and carhop operations were added in 1962 and the menu is basically the same today, says current owner Robert F. Wagner.

Daniel Henry Weinberg, 83, an entrepreneur who built Hagerstown's first drive-in movie theater and Frederick's first motor inn and automated bowling lanes, died of cancer Friday at his home in Braddock Heights.Mr. Weinberg, a native of Lexington, Va., followed his father into the entertainment business and was an entrepreneur in the theater industry in Maryland and Virginia for about 60 years.He and his father, Isaac Weinberg, operated one of the country's first theater circuits, the Shenandoah Valley Theatre Corp.

At the Perry Hall Town Fair, held last Saturday at Honeygo Run Regional Park, a small biplane buzzed overhead, the banner behind it reading: "Bengies drive-in is still open." The fact that the Bengies, a drive-in theater, has to remind the public that it is still there, still projecting movies on the largest outdoor screen on the East Coast, still popping popcorn and grilling hot dogs, hints at its perennial struggles to stay open, and this year is no different. Bengies, built in 1956 in Middle River, is one of only 400 drive-ins remaining from an era when the country was dotted with more than 4,000 of them, and one of only two such theaters left in the state of Maryland.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The dusty, packed-dirt lots beneath the screens were filled to capacity with orderly rows of vehicles, most of them pickup trucks. Drivers parked them backward, beds facing the screen, and passengers piled out to get ready for the movie. As the evening sky drifted from gold to periwinkle to starry indigo, and the scorching Pueblo, Colo., midday heat mellowed into a soft summer night, movie-goers unfurled sleeping bags, opened paper shopping bags full of popcorn and got comfortable.

A vacant, overgrown property on U.S. 1 in Howard County that has contributed for years to the old boulevard's worn-out appearance may be on the verge of a transformation - a possible foreshadowing of the community renaissance that local leaders are trying to engineer. Trustees for the 17 acres in Elkridge - once a drive-in theater - want to build restaurants, offices, a five-story hotel and nearly 370 apartments for senior citizens. Barry and Charu Mehta of Columbia, who bought the land in 1985 and later put it in a trust, have done little with the property beyond using it for a short-lived flea market.

A Carroll Circuit Court judge said yesterday that he will rule within 30 days on a request to overturn the county Board of Zoning Appeals' decision against a Sykesville man who wants to build a state-of-the-art drive-in theater complex in Eldersburg. Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. said he would review the transcript of the zoning board's three-day hearing and issue a written ruling. Alan J. Ackerman, the would-be developer, challenged the board's Jan. 23 decision, which denied his application to build Bumper's Drive-In on about 37 acres along Liberty Road.

A Sykesville man who hopes to build the nation's first digital drive-in movie theater on a hilly, 37-acre industrial site in Eldersburg has asked Carroll Circuit Court to overturn a county Board of Zoning Appeals decision denying him permission to move forward with the project. Alan J. Ackerman would like to build a $5 million drive-in theater complex along Liberty Road. The proposed Bumper's Drive-In would be home to two theater screens with space for 1,100 cars, two concession stands, a playground, an arcade and a small concert stage.

A Sykesville man who hopes to build the nation's first digital drive-in movie theater on a hilly, 37-acre industrial site in Eldersburg has asked Carroll Circuit Court to overturn a county Board of Zoning Appeals decision denying him permission to move forward with the project. Alan J. Ackerman would like to build a $5 million drive-in theater complex along Liberty Road. The proposed Bumper's Drive-In would be home to two theater screens with space for 1,100 cars, two concession stands, a playground, an arcade and a small concert stage.

It's being touted as the biggest birthday party of the year.And it probably is, at least among car-corraling, big-screen movie buffs who like their entertainment outdoors and tinged with nostalgia.The Big M Birthday Bash, which began Friday, continues through this evening at the 75-acre show grounds next to the Big M Drive-In Restaurant in Churchville.It's dominated by a car show that features everything from classics of the 1940s and 1950s to muscle cars and 4-by-4s.But a swap meet, flea market, crafts and antiques show, live entertainment and fireworks also are being offered.

A Sykesville man who hopes to build the nation's first digital drive-in movie theater on a hilly, 37-acre industrial site in Eldersburg has asked Carroll Circuit Court to overturn a county Board of Zoning Appeals decision denying him permission to move forward with the project. Alan J. Ackerman would like to build a $5 million drive-in theater complex along Liberty Road. The proposed Bumper's Drive-In would be home to two theater screens with space for 1,100 cars, two concession stands, a playground, an arcade and a small concert stage.

Noting concerns about noise and traffic, the Carroll Board of Zoning Appeals denied a developer's request yesterday to build the nation's first digital drive-in movie theaters on a hilly, 37-acre industrial site in Eldersburg. The three-member board unanimously rejected Alan Ackerman's petition to build a $5 million, drive-in theater complex along Liberty Road after concluding the third day of a hearing that began in late November. "I think their concept will work somewhere ... but I don't want to see Eldersburg or Carroll County be the guinea pig for something new," said board member Ronald Hoff, who expressed fear that the project would cause noise and traffic problems in an area that suffers from congested roads.

The county Board of Zoning Appeals abruptly canceled yesterday's third session of a hearing on a $5 million drive-in theater complex on Liberty Road in Eldersburg, angering many residents who took time off from their jobs to attend and were not notified. "They can get information out about snow on the community television channel, but they can't tell us about this," said Erin Fagnant, a homeowner in the Edgewood subdivision in Eldersburg. Board member Ronald Hoff told officials late Monday that an emergency would keep him from yesterday's proceedings - which zoning officials said was too late to notify more than the immediate participants.