That is a picture of the Starlite Drive-In, owned by the Kerasotes theater chain, located on Rt. 98, in Pekin, Il. My dad was the projectionist there for many years, and I spent a lot of time there as a kid, mowing that grass and painting the kiddie rides that were located in front of the screen, in addition to learning how to fix and replace speakers. I learned how to operate a Strong carbon arc projector, thread the film, make the changeovers to a second projector, rewind the film for the next showing, cut and splice film breaks, and splice in the trailors for the coming attractions. When I was 11 or 12 years old, learned to drive a stick shift, and parallel park backwards, up hill, and between speaker posts, in a 1950's Studebaker Champion. The backside of the original screen was enclosed, and had a giant neon lighted Starlite Drive-In logo on it, but it burned in the late 60's, or early 70's, and had to be replaced. I saw many, many triple bill pictures there on the weekends, and was right along side my Pops when he had to wake folks up to go home that had fallen asleep during the shows. Popcorn and orange soda were freebies too. It was in the early 90's that the concession stand burned to the ground as a result of a break in. Two local police agencies were transferring custody of a young man, at the location shown in your picture #14, when he broke away from them. The guy broke into the concession stand, started a fire, and died as a result. I was driving by on my way to work that morning at about 5:45am, when I saw flames licking out of the front left of the concession stand building. I didn't have a cell phone at the time, and no way to contact the authorities for help. A large part of my childhood went up in smoke that day. The theater was razed and a new multiscreen theater has since been built in its place on the same ground.

I grew up in the house in the foreground. In the late 50's and early 60's I worked in the concession stand, cut the grass, and did some miscellaneous tasks when school was not in session. Some nights, carloads of folks would pull up into the driveway alongside our house. And some of those folks in that car got out of their car and got into the trunk before going through the ticket booth.

Jerry Kissel did you go to college in Indiana

Sure did - Purdue. I recognize the name Fry. I knew Pat and Jackie who were older than me, and Mike and Jeff who were about my age - perhaps a bit younger. Are you related to these any of these folks?

No..I did not know the Fry's. I was from Morton, worked at the Beacon Buffet in East Peoria. I have a twin Sister Bonnie. I visited you at Purdue once. Do u remember?

You have just caused me to focus on the name Connie rather than Fry. Thanks for making the connection - and bringing back a memory from long ago. Perhaps we should continue our discussion via email: jerrybear41@verizon.net