Nostalgia of The Iconic Drive in Theaters.  

The giant marques, with brilliant neon displays,  announced the  featured movies.  They illuminated the street with  a touch of Broadway.  We anxiously waited for Thursday  mornings to see the new movies coming for the week. 

A child’s anticipation throughout the  day was one of a happy day,  because tonight we were going to the Drive-In.

We arrived early before the ticket booths open.     A line of parked cars awaited anxiously for the ticket guy to open up the ticket booth.   We wanted a good spot near the snack bar.  When the attendant was seen arriving at the booth, cars quickly started their engines.   Synching up the line to miminize spacing.  Wow,  what a deal.  $1.75 per adult for 2 movies and special short subject features.  My father was too cheap and sneaked us in when we were 13,14 years as a under 12 year old child free admittance. 

I remember going in my pajamas.  When I was younger, I couldn’t make it through the second feature before falling asleep in the back seat.  Going to the snack bar was a bit embarrassing donned in cowboy themed sleeping attire.    My father would  carefully carried my exhausted limp body securely to  my own bed later.    Being careful not to awaken me.   And when I was old enough not to go in my PJ’s.  I was a big boy.  That was my first mature transition from baby to boyhood.

In my boyhood years at the drive-ins, my duties were to clean the windshield when we first arrived. A chore I was eager  to do.  Pretending I was a gas station attendant. I would jokingly include an oil  and radiator check  with the used paper towels from the cleaning of the windshield.   My brothers and sister would point out the spots I missed.    On some colder nights, the vapors of our warm breaths would fog up the windshields.  The defroster would  momentarily be on to clear up the windshield.

We would also arrive  early to play in the playground right under the big screen.  Yes even in those said PJ’s.  The lights would flicker as a warning that the show was about to start.  We hurried back to our cars, stopping between each row of cars, yielding to passing cars as they scurry to find their spots.  If there was a late start of the previews, anxious movie goers would honk their horns in anticipation.  Notifying  and demanding the projectionist it is time to start the flick.

You got 2 movies,  Outdated “News of the Week”, a cartoon or two, maybe a short feature, and coming attractions. If you didn’t get their for the first movie, you didn’t worry because fit was repeated after the second feature.  I remember those horrible sounding speakers. A quality only to be found at a Jack in the Box ordering speaker.   Later came the technology to use your own car radios.  The incipient of wi-fi. 

I remember mostly the Victory drive-in, The Sunland Drive-in, (which is now a K-Mart),  and Van Nuys drive-in with it’s massive mural of the cowboy on a rearing horse.  All in the San Fernando Valley of Smell A.  My later years in San Diego county, I frequented the Aero and Santee Twin Drive-ins.

We brought our own KFC, pizza, snacks and popped our own popcorn.  My dad was to cheap to buy inflated treats from the snack bar.  Only on special occasions when my dad felt rich, that  we were treated to real snack bar delights.  We’d follow him humming the theme song,  “LET’S ALL GO TO THE LOBBY, LET’S ALL GO TO THE LOBBY, AND GET OURSELVES A TREAT.”

At times I went by myself.  Dateless and not proud.  The ticket  booth attendant was always suspicious of a single male entering.  He’d search the car for warm bodies sneaking in.  Although remembering occasions when we did sneak in friends in the trunk, or on the floorboard in the back seat under blankets.

When I was older and going on dates, it was a different experience.  

Pickups and vans aligned  on the back rows.  As to not obstruct others view of the giant screen.  I remember one time at the Sunland Drive-in  featuring the movie, The Graduate,  I had to move my ’56 Ford pick-up truck to the back row.  My date was Kristie Richardson.  I forgot to return the speaker to the post.  While backing out, I shattered my window and yanked the post right out of the ground.  When the pre-movie features started, people were leaving that row, fore we knocked out all the audio in that row.  As a rule,  the back row was reserved for high profile vehicles.  

  The back row was a special place to watch the flicks.  Especially with dates.  Single, or double dates with your best friend.  We’d back up in the spot.   With lawn chairs and blankets, we sat  and laid in the bed of the the truck.  Vans were backed up too with their double back doors wide opened.   We brought in our own beer, herb, and munchies.    You made friends with the car next to you, passing highs as you would at a rock concert. If you happen to know them or not. 

Those many memorable nights going on dates, necking during the movie.  If you weren’t watching the movies, you were watching the submarine races.  Dry humping in the back seat, with an embarrassing  episode of premature ejaculation.   Where many a gals may have lost their virginity.    Yes the causalities of love in the back seat,  in the back row.  Or just innocent petting and cuddling.

I even remember one time bringing  in my motorcycle with lawn chairs.   We sat under the stars.  Begging to be different.  Soliciting many awkward stares.  

Cars would  be parked outside the perimeter, on side streets and vacant lots.  Free loaders trying to get a free show, without audio. Maybe they lipread.

I remember at the end of the show,   driving over all of the trash that was thrown out of the cars.  Early in the morning the mini street sweeper would get the grounds cleaned up for another day of swap meeting, and for a another double feature that night.  

Then later in the evolution of Drive-in theaters, to make ends meet, swap meets became popular to augment owners  income.  A  garage sellers and shoppers  paradise.

With suburban sprawl and capitalist rural imperialism,  the valuable  land was bulldozed and destined  for more profitable strip malls, condos, and office buildings.

Ahh the sweet memories and good times we all had at the local Drive-in theatre.  I hope I juggled some cherished memories from your own experiences at your favorite Drive-In.  A true American icon.

Below is an article that motivated me to write this feature article.  

Some drive-in theatre owners manage to hang on in U.S.

By the A.M. Costa rica wire services  July 23 rd. 2013

Drive-in movie theatres were once a vibrant part of American culture. The outdoor theatres with huge screens reached their peak in the late 1950s with more than 4,000 of  them across the US.  These days it’s tough to find one.  However, some drive-ins still bring in big crowds just like the old days.  

Cars line up at the entrance to the Family Drive-In Theater in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. It’s about 130 kilometers from Washington, D.C., where ticket attendant still great visitors cheerfully.

Shannon Scott and her family, like many others, arrived here more than two hours before the scheduled show.

“You get the ambiance, you get the fun concession stand,” Scott said. “You get to wait for the dark so there is family time together.”   

Since her family discovered Family Drive-In three years ago, Scott said they have often made the hour and a half drive to enjoy two movies for less than the price of one where she lives.

“It’s a beautiful drive,” she said. “It is worth it to come here all the time. We love it.”

The first drive-in opened in the eastern U.S. state of New Jersey in 1933. By 1958, there were 4,000 in the United States. They began to disappear rapidly in the 1970s and 80s. Today, fewer than 400 are still operating.   

Jim Kopp owns Family Drive-in.

“The drive-ins were built on the edge of towns,” he said. “And as the towns were expanded, the price of land started to go higher. The land was more valuable than the business. So a lot of drive-ins lost to the townhouse developments and the retail developments.”

In the early years, drive-ins were a popular date destination. Now they mostly attract families. Kopp’s theater even has a playground where children can play before the movies start.  

Fifteen members of Fred Cunliffe’s family drove from Texas, North Carolina and other parts of Virginia for a show.

“It is something that we used to do as kids with my parents,” he said. “So we decided it will be a really nice family event to come to the drive-in and let the kids get to see everything going on.”  

Some nearby hotels now offer special rates for people who drive in.

“We have had a lot of guests that come from very far and wide to see the drive in theater,” said James Revere, from the Holiday Inn Express.

Family Drive-In can fit up to 500 cars on its lot and plays new releases on its two screens. On a good night, Kopp says, he may sell as many as 1,500 tickets.

“Majority of movie ticket sales goes to the studios for a film rental. They take up to 70 percent of the box office takes,” said Kopp.

So the theatre maintains itself through the sale of food and drink. And there’s a new challenge. Drive-ins will have to convert to digital projection by the end of the year, when movie studios stop distributing 35 millimeter films.

“Seventy thousand dollars per projector, so for my theater, it is 140 thousand dollars’ worth of debt that I have to take on to go to digital,” Kopp said.

Some drive-ins may not survive. Yet fans hope to enjoy movies under the stars for years to come.

www.amcostarica.com