Do you remember....Montana history (Missoula, Great Falls: movies, camping, living in)

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by bigtrees

Sure, they have on in Columbia Falls that is still open. And in Washington State, we have two different drive ins. One is a single screen and the other is a whopping five-plex! Used to be six until one blew down.

There is a multiplex down in Mesa, AZ as well.

Wow, a five-plex drive-in -- I don't think I've ever seen more than two screens anywhere else. Glad to hear a few are still operating -- they're a bit of history I'd hate to see go away entirely.

If I owned a drive-in theatre, I'd do classic car nights and give reduced admission for anyone with a pre-1960 vehicle (or close enough to pass). Wouldn't it be cool to see the place full of 1950s cars?

[Timberwolf232]

Originally Posted by Reziac

Wow, a five-plex drive-in -- I don't think I've ever seen more than two screens anywhere else. Glad to hear a few are still operating -- they're a bit of history I'd hate to see go away entirely.

If I owned a drive-in theatre, I'd do classic car nights and give reduced admission for anyone with a pre-1960 vehicle (or close enough to pass). Wouldn't it be cool to see the place full of 1950s cars?

That's a great idea! I've always wanted to see a movie at a drive in. Shoot with a babysitter I bet my wife would even go for it.

[JetMech72]

Originally Posted by Debee

Back in the sixties we used to go to a movie theater in Missoula . The charge for kids on saturday was a Bon Ton wrapper(bread) and a nickel does anyone remember this? I was only 9 or so.It was off Orange street.Cant remember the name of the theatre. We used to walk there across a bridge.There was a swimming pool we used to walk to in that area also.? There was also a catholic school we used to walk by everday on the way to school is that still there?

The Fox Theater. But I'm too young to have experianced the Bon Ton admission.

[JetMech72]

Originally Posted by Reziac

I remember seeing Sleeping Beauty for a nickel when I was a kid, back around 1960, tho that was in Devil's Lake, ND.

At least as late as 1972, there was a hamburger stand in downtown Great Falls that sold 5 cent burgers on Wednesdays. They weren't bad for a nickel.

Dairy Queen cones and A&W small mugs started at a dime. There were good DQ and A&W stands in Great Falls, tho they closed somewhere around 1970.

Oh my, those were the days......

On the note of great burger joints, the best burgers I can remember came from Gertie Burgers in Helena. The old drive-up is still there but is used as a travel agency now,,,,right above the Heritage Center Development.

[JetMech72]

Originally Posted by bigtrees

- The drunk bears outside of Essex ? This was caused when a Burlington Northern train derailed and spilled grain everywhere. The railroad decided to bury the grain only to have it ferment. The fermenting grain attracted grizzly bears from all over who promptly got drunk and stumbled along the tracks. The sad news is many got hit by trains until BN was forced to fix the problem.

- The time that a large elk was hit by a train (near the goat lick south of Glacier Park) and several grizzlies discovered it and spent a few days enjoying the feast?

- The summer the Flathead didn't have? This was 1994, when it rained from June clear into mid August. The farmers almanac predicted 10 days of sunshine and they were close to being right.

- The winter that snowed the Flathead in? This was 1996 and it snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed. At one point, I walked outside and noticed the snow level on the ground was as high as my shoulders! About 4.5 - 5.0 feet on the level.

- The year people finally figured out what the Glacier Park Chalet's had been doing with their sewage all along (which was dumping it out over the side of the mountain)? They ended up spending millions on composting toilets for the chalets.

- The year that Big Mountain finally replaced the 2 seat Chair 1 with the high speed quad? I was one of the last people to ride the old Chair one during the ski year, and don't miss it one bit.

Lots of other things to remember, but those are the ones that I remember tonight.

The Christmas Blizzard of '96. That was the most snow I've ever seen in the Bitterroot and it all dropped in the course of two days. I was going to a Christmas party, on Christmas Eve, and it had been snowing pretty good. After the party, there was about two feet of snow and the radio stations were reporting that plows could not keep up with the snow and were only working to clear Highway 93 and they had quit running on all other roads. Hamilton got about 4 feet of the white stuff that Christmas.

[jarsmom]

What wonderful memories:
I remember going into Kalispell w/ the grandparents, going to the B&B, watching all the old duffers sitting around in those chairs outside the restaurant. We actually ate there on many occasions, of course the grands had their favoirte little waitress. Does any one remember Leos Lazy Lion?????? I think one of the guys on ER parent's owned it, great ice
cream.

Who remembers the year, 90-91 I think, remember, the blizzard between christmas and new years, got stuck at work for over 18 hours, my patients kept asking when I was going home, " not soon enough " I would
reply.

How about when Mt St Helens erupted, and you couldn't see the swan
range for a week, missed a few days of school, had to make them up.

How about the time the feds took over the rez at browning, ??

well any way gotta run, got a light ringing

[JetMech72]

Who, here, remembers the Challis earthquake of 1983? I was pretty young when it shook all of Idaho and Western Montana pretty violently. I was actually walking down 5th street in Hamilton, on my way to school, when it hit and it took me a while to figure out what was happening. I even remember a couple of girls in a car stopping and asking me; "Was that an earthquake?" thats when it really hit me and I told them; "Yes it was.!" It's interesting that the damage in Hamilton was isolated to the smoke stack at the Rocky Mountain Lab (which still stands at this Level-4 Bio facility) and there wasn't any damage to the Riverside smoke stack, north of Hamilton. I recall that the Missoula county courthouse suffered some damage too.

[JetMech72]

Originally Posted by jarsmom

What wonderful memories:
I remember going into Kalispell w/ the grandparents, going to the B&B, watching all the old duffers sitting around in those chairs outside the restaurant. We actually ate there on many occasions, of course the grands had their favoirte little waitress. Does any one remember Leos Lazy Lion?????? I think one of the guys on ER parent's owned it, great ice
cream.

Who remembers the year, 90-91 I think, remember, the blizzard between christmas and new years, got stuck at work for over 18 hours, my patients kept asking when I was going home, " not soon enough " I would
reply.

How about when Mt St Helens erupted, and you couldn't see the swan
range for a week, missed a few days of school, had to make them up.

How about the time the feds took over the rez at browning, ??

well any way gotta run, got a light ringing

Remember the safety films about the silica in the volcanic ash and how breathing it could damage your lungs? The weeks following the ash fall-out were some of the scariest times growing up in Hamilton, but the bandanas that we all wore were pretty cool. They probably didn't do a damn bit of good to keep the ash out of our lungs, but they still looked "wild west".

[jimj]

Originally Posted by Timberwolf232

That's a great idea! I've always wanted to see a movie at a drive in. Shoot with a babysitter I bet my wife would even go for it.

Well in C-Falls it'll cost you about $12 for a car load to see the movie, gates open about 9:30 and it starts at dusk. 2 movies so expect to get out about 2:30 am.

Pop the popcorn, put on the footie pajamas, throw a couple of blankets in the station wagon and off you go!!!
Oh in case you didn't know, you need a working FM radio since that's how they give you the sound now. No more speakers on cords, or heaters for that matter but much better sound...

[JetMech72]

Hamilton had a Drive-in Theater, up until the late '80s and the city started expanding north. To the people familiar with Hamilton, it was exactly located where Mildenberger Motors is today. The old screen still exists to this day and sits just west of Woodside on the Inman property. If you've ever driven up there and wondered what all of those green beams are for, those are the legs of the structure as it lays on its movie screen. It could easily be erected and used again.