Not anymore. The Rodium in Gardena was my parents’ theatre of choice when I was a kid (I think I was 10 before I was ever in an indoor theatre), but it’s now a swap meet. The Torrance Drive-In was my high school’s make-out spot of choice, but it’s now senior housing. The South Bay 6 closed in 1997.
I believe the Vineland Drive In in the City of Industry is the only operating drive-in left in Los Angeles County. That’s over 35 miles from my house, so I won’t being going anytime soon.
sighs Its not fair - we dont have any at all! It looks so comfortable - you dont have to mix with others! I find it really hard to go to the cinema cuz I dont like to sit so close to strangers - that and Im a really really bad fidgeter!
Actually, there are two nearby. One is the Showboat Drive-In (warning: sound) in Hockley, 10 minutes west of Tomball. The other is the Kingwood Drive-In in Porter, right outside of Kingwood along Highway 59. They’re not technically in Houston proper, but I doubt there’s anywhere both large and dark enough in the actual city to make a drive-in feasible anymore.
I haven’t been to either yet, but I want to try the Showboat when it gets a little cooler. It’s only a 30-minute drive from us.
Really great drive-in, very affordable too, adults pay $7.50 slightly more than a matinee in the area, but a little less than a normal movie ticket. kids 6-13 are $3, chidren 5 and under are free. They have 2 screens and show four movies every night (2 double features). It’s a lot of fun and if you take a lawnchair and some radio buds you can watch the movie on the screen behind you if you don’t like the kids movie playing in front of you.
We do have one nearby, it’s the Boulevard Drive-In and I keep telling myself we need to get over there. They even have Swap -n- Shop on the weekends! They are playing some good movies this weekend, we might have to finally check it out.
Yes, the Town and Country Drive-in Theatre. When I was a kid in the 70’s it showed adult films, then was abandoned for a decade or so until its recent renovation. I saw Superman Returns there. You can take a cooler of beer with you, and look up and spot the constellations during the movie. It’s awesome.
There are two within 25 miles or so of where we live: the Van-Del Drive-In and the Auburn-Garrett Drive-In. There used to be a third drive-in even closer but an F-4 tornado took it out a few years ago.
We usually go once or twice a year; we’d probably go more often but both drive-ins, even though they have different owners, usually are each showing the same movies as the other. I want some variety, dammit! (Just kidding; I feel lucky to have two so close.)
There was one by the old Fairyland amusement park that had two screens back in the 70s. They were back to back, and one would show family friendly stuff, while the other would show R rated, and even X as the last feature of the night.
When I was little we went to a drive-in that was maybe 2 miles from our house. Now it’s a Petco.
So we started going to 65-Hi, but that closed too.
We can now either drive 45 minutes to the MN/WI border or drive an hour west to Litchfield. We do go maybe 2x/year, make a night of it - noshes, jammies, giggling as loudly as we can.
Last summer the car in front of us had a guy that had the most interesting laugh - giggle giggle snort. Made all of us around him crack up too.
For those who don’t want to scroll down the link…this is the same drive-in featured in the movie The Outsiders. I’ve been trying to convince my hubby to go this summer…I only just recently learned he’s never been to a drive-in! We’re waiting for a movie we both want to see.
When I was a kid, there was a drive in about five minutes from our house that we went to all the time. (The Admiral Twin was a lot further away, so we usually didn’t go there…). Unfortunately, the near one got destroyed by a tornado some years back and they didn’t bother to rebuild.
I’m not too far from the Capitol Drive-In. I haven’t been for awhile, but I saw things like “The Abominable Dr. Phibes” and “Let it Be” there back in the day.
There’s a cool Drive-In/Motel combo in Monte Vista, Colorado that I’ve always wanted to stay at. It’s called the Movie Manor.
My most favorite Drive-In viewing experience of all time: seeing “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” when I was about 9 years old.
I knew there were two still operating in my area: one in Hyde Park and one in Warwick. A quick Google Map search showed two others I was unaware of (including the Poughkeepsie one that What Exit visited).
There are 2 in my metro area. Double Features for $4 per person, half price on Tuesdays.
We went a couple weeks ago to see The Hulk. Brought our own food and a bottle of champagne since it was our anniversary. It’s really too hot to have a great time right now, though; when the movie ended at ~11pm it was still 103 degrees out.
Ok, I am a little confused by this. At the Mendon drive-in, people certainly sit outside and toss balls around with their kids before the movies starts. It is positively family oriented just by today’s nature and I have never seen it be anything other than peaceful even when all 800 parking spots are full.
I think you are a little older than I am. What happened back in the day that was better? Old TV shows taught me that it consisted of people hiding in weird vehicle cavities (no longer necessary with flat rates), virgins being devirginized at every break in the movie action, and probably not being the screen at all through the various types of smoke.
I wasn’t around to go to a drive-in back in the day but that one works perfectly for us now. The one shocking thing I experienced was when they decided to show a double feature of Shrek 3 and Spiderman something on the same screen when they came out. I knew that it would be packed so we left over an hour early. The road leading up to the drive-in is just an outer suburban two lane road. Five miles before we got there, traffic built up and then stopped. We sat for 30 minutes and then Massachusetts State Troopers staring flying by moving around traffic. We assumed that it must be a terrible accident up ahead. Nope, the drive-in sold out way before and caused gridlock in one of the major roads in the town. They had to set up emergency detours for miles to get people turned around and away from the area. It took us another half hour to get turned back towards home with police direction.
The drive-in business model doesn’t seem to be dead at all but there aren’t many new ones opening up. I have never figured out their contracts with the studios. The must be unique because their ticket prices are way below that of regular theaters if you have more than two people in the car and the rest of their business like concessions is cheaper as well.
Maybe Flesh Gordon, as well… never knew what was in the back window.
The Sundance Kid drive-in used to be called The Parkside drive-in. Eponymously, because of it’s location directly across from Pearson Park, a Great Toledo Metropark. It has been open since the 50’s with some intermittent closings.
The Sundance is a great family drive-in with raffles every night, pizza, movie and carnival fare It’s always first run double features and FM reception. A great day to spend is at Pearson park, with excellent trails, picnic shelters and grills, pedal boats, great playgrounds, and tennis courts and then heading to the theater across the street at dusk.
