History Vanishing Americana--the drive in movie theater

Ok Chicago area hoodums and drive in fans, we are planning a rod run to the Cascade drive in in West Chicago, IL on July 10, 2010. More details are posted on the Chrome Czar board. I'll do a new post on the HAMB too.

 

There is great one called the Brazos Drive-In in Granbury, Texas that is hosting a Model A Club on Friday night.

here is a news article about the Model A Rod Run - Club Meet

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/06/09/2253012/model-a-ford-fans-gear-up-for.html

And a link to the Drive in page

http://www.thebrazos.com/home.htm

Note the drive-in only takes cash...no atm...no credit cards. You can pick out the new comers becasue they are the ones complaining. Also you can bring your own snacks.

 

Wow...is that place still there?

 

"Wow...is that place still there"? ...................Long gone.Was on 494 and France.

 

Yeah, I thought so...I used to get over there back in the '70's. I just wasn't sure since I don't often make my way over to that side of town ! Cool picture though.

 

Here are a few pictures

 

We have two still operating, the wife and I take the granddaughter every Friday night...here's a pic from last Friday

 

For info on old Theatre and Drive-in's check out:
http://cinematreasures.org/

If you like this kind of history, look around.
you can spend a lot of time reading up on your old haunts.
Its interactive too, so contribute.

Here is when we went to the "Galaxy Drive-In" and watched "American Graffiti" on the big screen.
www.galaxydriveintheatre.com

Man, that was way back in '05.
We need to do that again.

 

here is one from this summer at the Getty 4 in Muskegon,Mi. looks empty but we were early. It fills in pretty good.

 

The Admiral Twin in Tulsa burnt to the ground a few weeks ago

 

The one in the start of this thread is still closed after 3 seasons. Just sitting and rotting. Owner is in nursing home and family decided not to reopen even though they claim it is profitable.

 

I'm still going every Friday night.

 

I'm looking for vintage Getty/NK Drive-In photos, do you happen to have any? Here's a couple from 1954 I found after an exhaustive search. Was the indoor seating area shown in the second photos still there when you worked there?

http://michigandriveins.com/getty132.asp

 

thats crazy, they still use the same ticket booth. Sweet pictures!

 

Wow, Model A Speedtser! The Spring Mill and the Sunset are still there and OPEN??? Great! I just ran across your year-old post.

I left Mansfield when I was only 10, but some of my fondest memories of the city, and our family life, are of nights spent at those drive-ins. It was cheap entertainment for a family on a "budget." Once, about 1957 or '58, my dad's '49 Chevy was under the weather, and we borrowed our old Tennessee neighbor's '31 Model A sedan to go to the Spring Mill! I'll never forget FOUR of us little kids crammed into the back seat of the A !!!

 

we have the malta drive in. been open continuously since 1949. great place to go see a movie! Still have the old sign out front!!!!!

And i found an article on the theater in the original post. It is/was suppose to open back up this year after being closed since 2006......

 

Awesome, TerrorSwain! After YEARS of seeing the struggling drive-ins in Central Ohio go down to property "development," it's great to hear of a few opening back up, apparently with a more contemporary business plan!

We used to have maybe five in these parts. Now, I think there's only the two-screen South Drive-In, in Columbus on South High. Competition from multi-plexes helped kill a lot of drive-ins. But with indoor theaters now costing a bloody arm-n-leg to attend, maybe drive-ins could make a resurgence -- particularly with the RECESSION on and families looking for less costly entertainment? I hope.

 

Gotta keep this one alive...

The two I used to haunt in Cleveland back in the late 70s, the Auto Drive-In in Brookpark and the Memphis Triple are both gone - the Memphis just closed a few years ago and was Cuyahoga county's last.

The good news is that there are few nearby here in Kentucky - The Sky Vue near Winchester has been in operation since the fifties, the Bourbon Drive-In in Paris, the Judy Drive-In in Mt. Sterling, the Stanford Drive-In in Stanford, KY and the Twin Hills in Harrodsburg that just re-opened several years ago after being closed for a decade. And they're more popular than ever.

 

I always thought the Galaxy would make a good setting for a Carshow/ Movie. My wife and I try to get out the a couple times a year.

 

We are doing our part to keep the passion for the drive-in theatre alive in St. Louis MO. We show an outdoor movie every 3rd Saturday May-October right in the parking lot of our shop. Best of all it's FREE TO GET IN!!! You don't have to hide in your buddie's trunk to get in. (Unless you want to) Our screen is a metal frame unit that has a 10x20 picture. We even have an FM transmitter so you can listen in the car over your radio.

We just showed American Graffiti in May and it was AWSOME! Lots of cars and almost 200 walk-ins.

Facebook page for the events: http://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Louis-Drive-In-Movie-and-Car-Cruise-Series/132318080159042

Here is the flyer for our Movies



Been busy since Graffiti and I will post show pics when I can.

 

We hold our car show every year at a the twin hi-way drive in.
www.steeltownshakedown.com

 

New update.....the closed drive in theater that started this thread has been sold and is now open for the first time in perhaps 4 years!

 

Sweet! Keep us updated.

 

it is such an odd thing, that people don't wanna go to a drive in movie. You get to sit in your car, get two movies for less than seeing one at a theater. AND it's a true american past time. I just don't understand how people don't care about the history, and past times of our country. Strange indeed..... I mean if it isn't the drive in movies, it's stuff with cars. My dad used to school me all the time on stuff that was "new" and coming out soon on cars, and he would just laugh and be like.....they had that back in the 30's, or 40's or 50's. Like the headlights that move when you go around a corner, or front wheel drive, or power windows, or anything that "NEW TECHNOLOGY" has made possible today.........lol

 

That's great news!!! I have a drive in about a mile away form my house and my family and I go many times throughout the year. The current owners are terrible with the upkeep, the refreshment stand is disgusting and the bathrooms are horrible. I have always wanted to buy it and aside from the normal movies during the season host car shows and monthly car related movies like american graffiti or two lane blacktop. It's still the best deal in town, $5 a car load and bring your own snacks (since the facility is disgusting)

Glad to hear yours is up and running. I wish there were more...!

 

I recently drove by what used to be the location of the old one south of Pryor, OK. It's now part of a shopping center area. Made me a bit wistful. A lot of good times there in the 70's. Just before they would shut down for the season, they would slip in some porn for the last weekend or two. Thank goodness, they didn't check ID's. They did however, frown on the disposal of empty Coors cans on the premises.

 

We're having that problem with the one closest to us and the owner flat out refuses to maintain the property - now the screen is falling into serious disrepair... still nothing. But it's still a full house there every Friday and Saturday nights.

 

We have the Warwick drive in. It's on boarders NJ and NY.
http://www.driveinmovie.com/NY/Warwick/schedule/

 

Does anybody remember the drive-in located in downstate NY. Right next to the missle base where they launched nike missles from?? My dad used to tell me stories about that place.....the middle of the movie, and you would hear a siren, and the missles would be put into place, all training of course.....but it sounded like it would have been cool as hell to go to!

 

the only movie i ever saw at a drive in was star wars, i must have loved it since now im a star wars nerd, i got the vader half sleve to proove it haha