Remember drive-ins? I just had a nostalgia trip thinking about it.
Hiding people in the trunk, sneakin in beer, driving around until you found a speaker that worked, watching cool movies like “Last House On the Left” and “The Cheerleaders”, makin out in the back seat of Dads car, leaving and forgetting to take the speaker out…(jerk, oops, might as well take it with us!) Did I say making out?
Oh, and to go waay back, what about that Pic crap you had to light to keep the mosquitos away?
Heh heh…was that the stuff in a coil that you lit like incense? I never used it but I remember they showed it in one of the tattered “Visit our concession stand” snipes.
What I miss most about the drive in is bringing in a big ol’ cooler of junk food and just making a pig of yourself the whole time. That and not having to put up with the noise of people talking to the screen, yelling at their kids, talking on their cellphones, etc. You could also start ripping on the movie and cracking jokes if it was bad.
Once they developed the technology to broadcast to your car radio instead of having those clunky window speakers it was durn near perfect.
Our local drive-in was just flattened to build a new 25 screen multiplex. It’s nice and all, but, jeez.
What’s frustrating is that the drive-ins all went away before I started smoking pot. Now if I want to watch a new release with a buzz, I have to smoke in the parking lot before I go in, and I can’t restoke my buzz halfway through. We have one drive-in in the Dallas area, but it’s in a REALLY bad neighborhood and from what I hear it’s not a safe place for People of Pallor to go to.
Yeah, voguevixen, one of the things I liked (and still like) about the drive-in is the food. That’s where you spend all the money and it’s great. At least, I’d get a bunch of food at the refreshment stand. Heck, usually I just wouldn’t eat supper and get a bunch of fast food from there, too (french fries, burgers, and such).
I recall one time when my friend and were leaving after a particularly fun time. I had half a hug cola on the dash when I went to pull away and after going over the first hump (those piles of dirt to aid in seeing the screen) it spilled. Boy-o-boy did it spill. I cursed up a storm, trying to mop myself and the car up. As we left the drive-in, and I was still muttering under my breath, I heard my friend…giggling. I looked at him, and then he burst out laughing very heartily. As I looked at him, I couldn’t help but smile…then giggle…then laugh too. I think we laughed about that for days. And every time I gave him a lift until I cleaned out the car, and everything was sticky with cola residue…we’d start laughing again.
There’s still a drive-in just outside of town. I haven’t been there for a couple of years, but it was always fun. Now that I think about it, I’d like to go right now. But it won’t be open for a while more. Especially since we just had a big snow storm here.
Oh well, I’m fairly used to it by now. It just kinda gets to you when it’s been sunny and warm for a week and then everything’s covered in snow yet again. I guess I’ll just have to wait quite a while more for the drive-in. And the radio-advancements there are great; I’ve been in a couple of cars where windows have been smashed by those speakers.
I’ve imagine for years what fun it would be to build a drive in. I would show car chase movies on Fri. night, Elvis movies on Sat., movies with teenagers riding around in dune buggies, the old standard Midnight Movies, a silly 70’s porn every now and then, cheap food and draft beer on a deck over the concession stand, go-cart races till the sun goes down, horror movies till the sun comes up, a stage for an old school Battle of the Bands, that is my retirement dream.
Denver has only one drive-in that I’m aware of - a big four-screener. The traffic lines at dusk get so absurd that the one time I tried to go - an employee on a bicycle was riding down the street to let cars in line know that the lot was at capacity. On the plus side, they have a second showing at around 10:30.
The last one I went to was in early 1996 in Hawaii. Man, what fun! A double feature. Pay by the car, not by the person. Lemme see, what did I watch… Oh yes, we saw Cutthroat Island and Sabrina. But I didn’t see too much of CI.
Are there any in existence anymore? Besides the one I went to in Hawaii, although that might be gone by now.
We’ve got one on the westside of Jax - it’s a Flea Market during the day on weekends, and they show 3rd or 4th run movies at night. Usta be a pseudo-X-rated drive-in (pseudo because of local, ultra-conservative politicians) but they morphed into mainstream cinema some years back.
Haven’t been in eons - I’d rather watch a video at home… I’m just boring that way.
We have a couple of drive-ins about 45 minutes from where I live. We usually go 2-3 times a summer. The people running them have a great time, and they’re usually packed on weekends. It’s a lot of fun, and their refreshments are light years better than any theater’s.
I haven’t been to a drive-in in years, but I have very fond memories of them from my childhood. Back in 1979-81, when I was 10-12 years old, my family was stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., near the (snort) thriving metropolis of Waynesville. The base theaters (in those days) didn’t book first-run films, so the nearest place for us to see anything first-run was at the Waynesville Drive-In. We would always get there early so my sister and I could mess around on the playground near the screen for a while. We’d bring a bunch of snacks, but we’d also always get chili dogs or pizza from the concession stand. If we kids didn’t like the movie, or were tired, we could just go to sleep without bothering anyone.
I don’t think Peta Tzunami has ever been to a drive-in. I’ll have to look for one around here.
They use to have one in Union City that I loved to go to way back in HS. I remember taking three different girls the in the same week to see the same movie - ahh! Life was great. They tore it down last year I think and built a Cineplex. But my kids did manage to see it a few years ago. We saw Caspar, my kids thought it was great watching a movie outside. I think they still have two in the Bay Area, but I think one shows soft porn and the others a bitch to get to in Alameda.
Our Dreamland Drive In was shut down because of light pollution from the Dreaded Sprawl Monster of the Deep. The place was close to town and stayed busy until the parking lot lights from 3 shopping centers killed it, not only wasting electricity, but messin’ up a good time.
The next nearest drive in is 40 min. away, but they only play the movies that are safe and dependable draws. Never “Thunder Road” or “The Song Remains the Same” or even “Easy Rider”. Oh well, I’ll have to settle for “Miss Congeniality”. (damnit)
There’s still a drive-in about 40-50 miles away from where I am. It’s up in Northfield, Massachusetts, just next to the N.H. border. The last time we went, we saw The Perfect Storm and Shaft. The only bad thing is the bit of a drive to get there, but the advantages are many (as has been mentioned already). You can bring your own cooler of food and drinks, you get two movies for less than the price of one, and we can even bring our dog with us.
By the way, for nostalgia’s sake, they still show the “Pic” ads between movies, along with the old dancing food and cigarette cartoons.
I have been to one drive-in show in my entire life. It was at a now-defunct place in Hudson, NY, and it was a double feature of “The Rocketeer” and “Oscar”, during which I fell asleep. Years later, in a discussion with my best friend, we were talking about drive-ins and it turns out we were both at that showing of that movie. We didn’t know each other at the time. Isn’t that weird?
There’s still a drive-in open somewhere in Chatham, I think. Or maybe it’s Canaan. I never go to it, anyway.
Would you believe that until just this minute I had no idea porn was shown in drive-ins? My god. It makes perfect sense! I wouldn’t mind a little drive-in porn right now! (It would be a hassle putting all your clothes back on to go to the consession stand, though.)
I loved the drive-in when I was a kid. We went at least once a week with my dad. He’d load up a cooler of beer, soda, and tuna sandwiches and off we went. I swear I must have seen Disney’s Robin Hood at the drive-in half a dozen times. We would bring blankets and lay on the roof of the car. To this day the smell of OFF! reminds me of the drive-in. The one we went to is long gone, replaced by condo’s in East Brunswick, NJ. Some movies I remember seeing there: Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, Stripes, E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, , and whatever Disney movie they ever played. But the most fun was the Intermission, I just love dancing hot dogs.
Therer were a couple in PA, one about 20 minutes from our house, in between Philipsburg and Clearfield, I took the boys to see a few movies there, including The Mummy, Virus, Disney’s Tarzan and My Favorite Martian. They loved it.
I don’t think theere are any around here, I’ll have to scope out that website.
We have one here. It’s great, I love showing up early and parking my car right in front. Makes the movie screens at the movie theater look like my thumb. My goal is to get a battery operated radio and lie on the hood of the car this summer. Or maybe bring reclining lawn chairs.
