I Love Chicago! - The Bel-Air Drive In Theater Multi-Cache

This cache has been archived.

I Love Chicago!: Wah!

Everything is gone and they are taking down the mounds of dirt surrounding the place.

Good bye cool location!

Thanks to all that visited.

More
Hidden : 10/2/2005
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works
Looking for a different adventure?

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:



A four stage multi. A start point, Two projected micros with the coords for the full sized regular. Be sure to study how to do a projection on your GPSr and that you understand the UTM coordinate system.

The Multi.

-----------------------------------------------------

The ‘Start Point’

The coordinates posted above will take you to an area where to the east you can see the surviving projector booth.

Walk over to the booth and stand under the large projection window.

This will be the ‘Start Point’ for your ‘Projections’. :)

-----------------------------------------------------

Screen 1 Projection Micro

From the ‘Start Point’ travel 0.13 miles on a bearing of 307.15º.
Here you will find a micro container with the North coordinates for the final.

-----------------------------------------------------

Screen 3 Projection Micro

From the ‘Start Point’ travel 144 meters west and 180 meters south.
Here you will find a micro container with the West coordinates for the final.

-----------------------------------------------------

The Final

Take the coordinates from the Screen 1 and Screen 3 micros and go to the final regular sized cache.

-----------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------

The History

I lived and grew up not far from where the Bel-air Theater where it now sits deserted. Often thru the years I would catch the double feature here. First with my parents and sisters, later with friends and after that with my own kids.

Opened in 1949 as a single-screen drive-in, later two more screens were added (one of the only drive-ins in the US to feature a two-sided screen) each of them usually hosting a double feature on the same ticket.



Another unusual feature was that you would drive thru the double screen structure to get to your parking space.



With space for around 2300 cars it was one of the 10 largest outdoor theaters in the country.

It was also one of the first drive ins to have the in car heaters and radio sound.



It was operated by the Balaban and Katz chain, later in the 70's by the M&R corp who merged with the Cinwplex Odeon Group. Last operated by Loews Cineplex, the Bel-Air has been closed since 1999.

The ticket booth was arsoned in 1999 and the marquee knocked down but the double screen and one of the projection booths are still there.

It also was one of the last operating drive ins in the Chicago Suburbs. Parts of the facility still remains, and therefore, conceivably, it might be revived.



Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Guvax Terra

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


Attributes

No attributes available

Advertising with Us

Inventory

There are no Trackables in this cache.

View past Trackables

What are Trackable Items?