Drive-Ins

[Dylan Couper]

Since we started on drive-ins a bit in the thread about theater commercial hell, I thought I would start a seperate thread for drive-in nostalgia here.

I was brought up on drive-ins. As a kid we'd go to a drive in at least 4x as often as a theater. Pack a dinner, get wrapped up in PJs, and be asleep by the start of the second feature (to my parents delight no doubt).
Once I got my drivers license, I started going with my friends. We'd generaly pay for two people, while two more were hidden under blankets in the back of my beater Mustang. Our record was 6 people in for the price of 2 when I borrowed my parents Taurus wagon.
My finacee and I had our first date at the drive-in. Triple feature. The Crow, Fortress, and Death Wish #?. We enjoyed The Crow, but I don't remember anything about the other two movies. ;)

It was a great drive-in too. 4 screens, showing double features every night. It's still there, as far as I know. When we moved to Vancouver 7 years ago, it was one of the things we missed the most.

[K. Forman]

I remember being the one in the trunk of a Trans Am going to the Drive in. I also remember my friend being a smart ass, and hitting alll those speed bumps at high speeds. Memories of youth seem to be filled with almost as much stupidity as fun.

[Don Bloom]

I was never in the trunk, but I did put my kids there (I'm kidding)
My wife and I also went to the drive in for our 1st date, it was November, just before I went into the service, I can't even remember the movie, that's either love or old age, I don't remember which. There is a drive in not too far from my older sons house and during the summer he and his wife and their son go and he always tells us how neat it is, we just sit there like a couple of all knowing sages and smile.

[Chris Hurd]

My very first "real" job beyond throwing papers, was working as a projectionist at the Sky-Vue Drive-In when I was in high school in Manhattan, Kansas. Might have to dig those memories out sometime soon.

[Rik Sanchez]

Great thread, my mom would pack a bunch of sandwiches, we'd get a huge tub of popcorn, loved seeing the Bruce Lee and/or Plantet of the Apes double features.

Only rode in the trunk once, they have a drive-in here in Osaka, I ought to go check it out, they probably have some interesting snack bar items, dried squid, octopus dumplings, pizza with corn and tuna, hate it when they offer pizza covered in mayonaise and corn. Have yet to find a theater that has Raisenettes.

[John Locke]

I remember Lubbock, Texas having a drive-in right off a major highway for x-rated movies. The drive-in owners installed a bank of stadium lights on the back edge of the property pointed away from the screen (to "blind" people who had pulled off on a side road to watch). But that didn't work because it's so flat there, people could pull off the highway in a quarter mile arch and see it. It kept the police hopping, that's for sure.

In Seoul, Korea, where I lived previously, they had a drive-in theater right in the middle of downtown. It was a large parking lot surrounded by tall buildings. One of the buildings has a three-story windowless wall. They project the movies onto it and you tune into a particular radio station to hear it.

And Austin, Texas has some "stroll-in" theaters still... one is Zilker Park Hillside theater, a slope of grass leading down to a screen (they show free classics on summer nights)--people bring quilts and stuff to eat and drink; Laguna Gloria Art Museum has a little outdoor amphitheater nestled amongst twisted oak trees draped in spanish moss...they also show classics (behind the screen is the lagoon--great atmosphere), and outside of Austin in a small community is an outdoor theater that has rows of simple benches for you to sit on...they sell huge bags of popcorn--brown grocery bag size.

[Robert Knecht Schmidt]

"In Seoul, Korea, where I lived previously, they had a drive-in theater right in the middle of downtown. It was a large parking lot surrounded by tall buildings. One of the buildings has a three-story windowless wall. They project the movies onto it and you tune into a particular radio station to hear it."

That's about the coolest thing I've ever heard.

As digital projection gets cheaper and more lumen-potent maybe more cities will have such Blade Runner-esque features.

[Don Bloom]

We used to have "sit in" theaters in Vietnam. In the larger base camps (at least in my unit) they would erect a wooden screen, paint it white and show movies at night. Now that was either really stupid or something, it would have been a perfect target right? Well, either the bad guys didn't have the capabilites to reach us (HA) OR they liked the movies because in the time that I was there that they showed the movies, we never got hit at night until after the movie and then it depended on the movie (I think) Anyway it was a sitdown outdoor just like a lot of little towns have (had)

[Rik Sanchez]

Last summer a friend had a party at his house in the surburbs of south Osaka, I brought my projector and we showed weird videos on the huge walls of the apartment building next to his house.

I definitely want to show some around my neighborhood, just got to find a huge building to project onto, invite some friends over and see videos, now that I think of it, I can have another friend bring his gas powered generator.

[Christopher Go]

We no longer have any drive-in theaters here, they tore the last one down some years ago if I'm not mistaken. Lots of memories for sure, of friends that I still have and friends who've gone their own way, to the good and bad dates... Sometimes we'd climb over the fence and meet up with our friends who drove very much like they do in the movie "Outsiders"

They don't have a drive-in anymore but the city started a Movie On the Beach event. Every Saturday or Sunday they show a movie right on Waikiki Beach where people can spread blankets out on the sand and watch a movie projected on a large screen erected just a few short yards from the sounds of the evening surf. On nice nights its a great place to go to with a date, whether or not you're a tourist. Unfortunately, us locals tend to take these things for granted.

Don, talk about deadly programming!

[Don Bloom]

Yeah,
I think if they liked the movie they gave us a pass, if not well they'd throw a few rockets in just to lets us know to pick better movies. Oh yeah, we NEVER showed any war movies. Go to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em!

[Mark Moore]

We had four drive-ins in Greensboro, growing up (The Park, The Skyline, The South and The Piedmont).

My brother and I did the pajama thing, in the back of the station wagon with our parents too.

When I got to HS, I actually worked at one of the last drive-ins in town. Six days per week (off on TUE), $45/week! Monday was kitchen-clean up day in case the health inspector visited. I think the best thing about working there, was I had a theatre-pass, which got me into any movie in town for free!