Drive-ins in the US

Cafe Society
1

Dont know if that is the right forum for it, but am looking more for Cafe Society answers than GQ ones.

I sometimes see people on this very forum (obviously people from NA), when talking about films they saw, saying that they saw it at the Drive-in. I’m curious, drive-ins still exist in the US, or is it just the name of a regular theatre franchise/brand?
If they still do exist, could you explain to me how it works exactly, only saw them in now rather old movies (think the last movie refering to it as something contemporary was Carpenter’s Christine). And what’s the added experience compared to a regular theatre (and the drawbacks)?

2

Yes, they do still exist. http://www.drive-ins.com/

Usually double features of some sort, sometimes latest releases, sometimes a few weeks old. Audio through you car’s FM radio.

I don’t think there is an added experience, as such. Just a different one. Usually cheaper to get in. More relaxed, better able to talk and socialize within your group during the movie.

3

I went about 6 times this past year to one of our drive-ins. It has first run shows (sometimes competing with regular theaters too). Three movies, eight dollars a piece to get in for adults, dogs are allowed in for free, and a lot of folks tailgate and bring their propane or charcoal grills for dinner before and during the movies. It’s a lot of fun actually. You can sit in your car with the windows rolled up and talk during the whole movie if that’s your thing.

The sound at ours is also a bit nicer since it’s FM broadcast and I can really hear the stereo sound.

Also, if there are crying babies, just turn the car on and drive to a different spot.

4

Yeah, now, but they used to have those horrible cast iron speakers that you mounted on your window.

It’s a fun experience if you don’t have to sit in the back seat.

5

Richie Cunnigham is making out in the back seat.

6

For families it can be more pleasant since there isn’t the worry about whether their kids will disturb others, and you can feed them whatever you bring along or let them go to the snack bar. Most regular theaters restrict outside food since they make much of their money on that. As a kid, my parents would pack my sister and I, plus our dog, into the car, with blankets and pillows in the back for us to doze off when it got too late, and sometimes even pre-dressed in footed pajamas. There was one drive-in near where we lived, within a couple miles, and I think you had to drive a couple dozen miles before you’d encounter the next one, and this was in the 1970s.

One of my parents would take our dog for a walk if she indicated she had to go. The only problem we had with her is when the films had horses in them - our little fox terrier took some sort of offense at horses, barking at them out the window when they were ridden past our house (we lived in a rural area with stables within a few miles) or on TV, and so she’d really put up a fuss when there was a horse on the big screen.

Usually there was a double feature, I think, though this would vary by each theater. I’m pretty sure the first one was usually more of a whole-family film and the second was more for adults (though it might only be more dramatic or serious), so families who didn’t want their kids to see the second picture or who wanted to get them to bed could leave during the intermission.

7

The decline of drive-ins has slowed a bit, but there are still several in our area.

In our case, they show recent releases. The main feature is often the current big summer release; the second feature is usually a film that was released within the past month or two.

The advantage is that it’s fun for a family, especially with young kids would wouldn’t sit still in a theater. They can jump around in the car, or even go to sleep if they want. And the food at a drive-in concession is far superior to what you get at a theater – the serve actual fresh hamburgers, hot dogs, and fries, for instance, and the popcorn is more likely to be fresh popped.

The disadvantage is that the screen is difficult to see, especially when the movie is dark near the beginning. The shows begin at sunset, but there’s often a little residual light in the first half hour. I remember once seeing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at a drive in where the screen was on the east side of the lot, so every bit of the setting sun illuminated it. We couldn’t see a thing.

Sound, BTW, is usually quite good, since most drive-ins these days broadcast the sound in stereo for your car radio. There are a few spaces with speakers on a pole, but they aren’t really needed.

Another disadvantage is that you might get stuck behind a minivan in your compact so you can’t see the screen. Some drive-ins have special minivan parking to prevent this.

In general, you pay your admission and find a parking spot; they all are set up to face the screen, of course. Some drive-ins have a mounded area where you park, so you can see better, but others are just flat. Then you go for refreshments. You pig out and watch the first movie. After it ends, you go back to get more to eat (some people leave after the first show).

8

I haven’t been to one in many years, but I have great memories of going to drive-ins while I was growing up in San Diego. (great article about the area drive-ins here)

There’s a drive-in in Monte Vista, CO that is also a hotel. I really wanted to check it out on my last roadtrip (they were showing Rango), but a spring snowstorm ruined those plans.

9

The one I went to had something different every week. Everything but Titanic was first run. I don’t remember everything that we saw, but *Blade *and There’s Something About Mary were new releases that year.

10

Worst Drive-In Theater ever.

11

I grew up in a house that was on a hill over looking a park on the other side of the park was the roller rink on the other side of the roller rink was the drive-in. We could sit on our patio and turn the radio on (once they started broadcasting over the radio) and watch the movies.

I saw Rambo 3 SOOOO many times.

My wife and I just went to Romantic Barstow for our anniversary…partly to go to the drive-in movie theater there. It was fun. We stayed in our car but a lot of people go out of their cars and set up lawn chairs and sat outside.

12

Oh, yes. The one we went to when I was a kid has 4 or 5 screens now, and somebody just opened one about 20 minutes from here a couple summers ago.

Drive-ins are awesome. They’re kind of a hybrid of those “Movie in the Park” things some cities do during the summer (where they set up a screen and projector and people bring blankets and lawn chairs) and going to a regular theater.

Typically, you pull up around sunset and pay your admission, usually something a bit lower than the ticket price at a regular movie per person, or some places will charge by the car. You pick your parking space, set your radio to the drive-in’s AM station, and get yourself settled–hit the snack bar, unpack your cooler, spread out your blanket/chairs, argue over who’s sitting where in the car, whatever. The one by Mom and Dad had a playground, so we pretty much made a beeline over there while the adults took care of that sort of thing. Then at dusk the previews start (that’s when we’d come in from the playground), then the first movie. There’s usually a break of about 20 minutes between movies, so people can go to the restroom/ get a snack/ settle the kids in the back seat so you don’t have to move them around when they fall asleep/drive out without disrupting everyone else. Then there’s a second movie, and you go home.

Advantages are that it’s substantially cheaper, you get to see two movies for your admission, and you can adjust the volume to your own preference instead of the theater default of eardrum-bursting. Disadvantages are that it’s not a very fun experience if the weather is crummy, and sometimes you wind up having to choose between having the windows up and being too warm or having them down and being devoured by mosquitoes.

13

There was a drive-in in Anchorage in the 60s that we used to go to. I even snuck other guys in in the trunk of the car once. Last time I went to one (or even saw one that was still operating) was in the 70s, when I took my two kids to see something in California. I’m surprised that there are still drive-ins in operation.

14

I haven’t been to a drive-in in decades but a google check shows there are at least five in my vicinity. Four of them have closed for winter.

But the Transit Drive-In is currently showing Real Steel and Paranormal Activity 3. They apparently don’t do carload prices. Tickets are eight dollars for anyone 12 and older, three dollars for ages five to eleven, under five is free.

15

One local drive-in website mentioned another advantage. You’re in your own car and you can smoke during the movie if you want to.

16

Arizona is now down to two, one in Glendale, and one in Globe.

sigh Many fond memories, but I’m afraid their time has past.

17

I went to one when on holiday in California and I wish they had more of them here. I could take my dog with me!

Apart from all the advantages other people have mentioned (my daughter and my friend’s niece lay down in the back of the car, parked with its back to the screen, and fell asleep during the second movie), it also strikes me as a good use of land. There’s hardly any infrastructure necessary, so it can on land that for one reason or other is not otherwise suitable for development. Plus, most carparks are empty in the evening, so why not turn them into a drive-in then?

The particular drive-in I went to, near LA, had excellent views of all the screens. The atmosphere was great - at one point a train went past blaring its horn (the only time a train went past at all) at the same time as there was a fight on a train in the movie. :smiley:

Apparently it’s also handy for those who want to smoke their ‘medicinal’ marijuana there, or exchange it with others. :smiley:

18

The ones in my area are long gone, the real estate was just too valuable to keep as a big parking lot that ran only half the year. Here they only operated in the summer because the winters are quite rainy.

I went to the local drive in a lot during my teenage years, I think I saw Richie Cunningham there. The show would not start until after sun-down, so say 10:00pm in July. And for a double or triple feature you had a legitimate reason for keeping little Mary Jane Rotten-Crotch out until 2:00am or later. For historical confirmation see the Everly Brothers song “Wake Up Little Suzie”.

Big heavy metal speaker that you hooked onto the driver side window and then rolled the window up so the speaker was inside the car. The sound was not very good, but then the radio in cars were just now offering FM and stereo. Circa 1970. There was a centrally located concession stand with restrooms and food, popcorn, pop, etc.

I saw “Silent Running” and “Solent Green” together. And 2 or 3 James Taylor (the singer) movies one other night. One was “Two Lane Blacktop”, I liked it soo much I told my girlfriend and future wife to put her shirt back on, I was watching this movie.

Because that was the other beauty to the drive in experience, no one was going to be checking out what was going on behind the steamed glass windows of the cars. I probably missed seeing more movies than I remember seeing.

And before that my parents took all the kids to the drive in and we all wore our pajamas and fell asleep after popcorn and the first movie.

You may sit on my lawn, but pee in the flower bed.

19

Almost all the drive-ins around here have closed. I see from doing a search that there are maybe two left in the whole metropolitan area, but I’ve never been to them.

I have fond memories of them as a child, however, especially in the 1960s when they were everywhere. My parents often took us to see movies there. I remember that sometimes when we got too noisy they would kick us out of the car and we would play in the parking lot next to the car.

20

We have one here in Sacramento. I haven’t been in ages, but I’m thinking I need to go and take the Kiddo with me so he can experience it. Not sure how long it will be around.