Hi, I’m a fellow drive-in enthusiast and found your site- I thought you might like to have a little more info on the Waterloo, IA drive-ins.
You list two (with one being unknown): the first was the SkyVue that was south of town and had its screen destroyed by a tornado while playing! It was never reopened and the screen was scrapped. The cinderblock building still stands but is used for farm storage. I learned that the whole drive-in parcel was sold a few weeks ago to the owner of the surrounding farmland. Nothing has been touched for years, it’s just wasted away.
The second unidentified on your site was the Starlite Drive-In and you’ve got a shot of it with a building on top. That drive-in was sold shortly before the time of the aerial for a new Hy-Vee supermarket; all that land had become very valuable. There’s absolutely no trace one ever existed there today.
In regards to the Hillcrest Drive-In in Cedar Falls, I have an aerial photo showing some of the surrounding development that more clearly shows the layout. As you know, this theater no longer exists yet our county real-estate mapping still shows it. In its place is complex after complex of upscale college apartments and condos. This theater ran until just a couple years ago and was the last in our region and turned excellent business. A damn shame. Let me know if you’d like the pic-
Thanks-
Cory
( November, 2005)
