Motion Pictures Been To A Drive-In Lately?

There are three within a 45 min drive from us. One of them, the Pleasant valley Drive in has been in business for years and we went there as kids and teens. The one in Mansfield has three screens.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Damn, always thought that it was the perfect setup for vintage racing.....gonna miss that place. I knew that lodging was getting to be an issue and being a little remote for some. Guess Mike will have to take the "dirt" out of The Dirt Drags. Yep, see you there.

 

Through the 1960s.
Me and my five or six siblings... however many of us there were at the time... piled into the back of my dad's silver gray 1959 Chevrolet station wagon.
My mother was efficient. All us kids already scrubbed up and in our pajamas. Home after the movies and straight to bed.

Sandy and I used to take one of our old cars to a drive-in theater not too far from us.
I remember us sitting on the hood of our 1952 Chevy, leaning back against the windshield.
I also remember spilling chili on the floor, and as usual, I was grumbling and Sandy was laughing.
LOL

Everybody have a good Sunday.

Sent from my VS835 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

We used to have a drive in here, the last 10 years or so they ran 2 screens, now a Hy-Vee store occupies the spot. At one time there was only one drive in left in Nebraska, don’t even know if it’s operational any more

 

Probly about ten in the area closed, but a few left , this one has been gone many years. I use it in the spare room for the tv speaker. modern speaker inside as the salt air here ate the old one.

 

I

It will still be in the dirt. They will have the track ready by June.

 

There was a nice drive in in my home town in Fl.Was the projectionist there for about two years.Lot of fun,but also a lot of work at times keeping all the speakers in good working order.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

I've got a payphone in my house, kids gotta drop a quarter in it to make a call.
Sent off a roll of 35mm recently to be developed from having taken some fun snaps with my grandfather's "point and hope you got the settings right" Baldini pocket camera.

Sadly the only remains of the drive-in here is the rusted remains of the frame that used to hold the sign. The rest is now just open pasture.

And heck, just buy a transistor radio and bring it along with you. Hardly any worse than one of the old pole mount speakers.

We have a Sonic but I've not been there since they served me a banana split for the second time with no banana in.

Gotta take a long drive around here to find anyone with an interesting car (there's about 6 around here, counting the 3 rat rods).

Phil

 

Great! Thanks for the info.

 

Oh man. That's a blast from my personal past. Just outside of Stephens City on the way to Middletown on route 11. My Grandfather took me there to see the original Star Wars in '77. I took quite a few dates there. Also took my daughters there quite a bit.

Are they still making those funnel cakes?

Oh great! Now I want a funnel cake. Thanks a lot, Ron!

 

Reminds me of the H.A.M.B. event a few years ago in Gallipolis, OH called The Cinematic. Cool event at an "old time" drive-in movie. Got to meet quite a few of our forum "legends" there and sample some of Denise's (Hotrodladycruiser) awesome cookies. Sadly, the old drive-in is gone now.

Jim

 

I went a lot when I was a kid but not anymore, none around here.

 

We had one near us for many years and I guess more than ten years ago it was torn down for town houses. But the owner just built another one but further out. The Hillcrest became the Starlight but we only go once or twice a year as my wife and I both fall asleep! Sure different than what we used to do when we were "going out"! They just re-opened for the season on Valentine's Day...

 

Had one across the highway from Ft. Campbell, Ky. out of gate #4. It was called the "Family Drive In Theater". Showed nothing but porn.

 

Nope, Drive ins in our area are closed for the winter.

 

I was going to say its to frigging cold here for a drive in to be open but I guess these people in Fort McMurray don't agree.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmo...drive-in-movie-theatre-made-of-snow-1.3477332

Phil

 

Ahh....The Drive in's..... Last I went was in the 80's to Capitol in San Jose....... We used to have one,that ran for umpteen years,then sat dormant, before getting torn down for progress............
Last I went was in high school, kicking with a girl in a pick up bed....ya know= young love......
Forward-...... My Buddies DaD scored the snack bar signage. = The old display with inserted letters depending on the menu..........Well- Being 18, and knowing everything......., we re arranged the sign in the garage to read= Ass fries, Burgers with extra "sauce", Hot Dog's up your ass, etc........ It was funny when we did it,and laughed our asses off......That's until it was seen........ First time I heard WTF by an adult- and that was directed to both of us in person.
It went on from there......... But, after a few mins of hardcore ass chewing, a laugh, and a smile/grin came about, and "you two are messed up", all was cool........
He still has the sign....... Now, as an adult, I ask if I can re-word things, and his response is= DONT f'n touch my shit!........ LOL!

 

Hey Ron,

You are lucky to still be in an area that has such cool stuff. Drive-in theaters were the core of cruising for us teens. There were 4 major drive-ins in Long Beach’s 4 quadrants. Long Beach in the West, Los Altos in the east, Lakewood in the North(east) and the Circle Drive-In in the South. They have been gone for a long time and the only thing some neighborhoods have, is to close off a street/cul de sac and show a movie on a portable screen for the neighbors.

So, again, the drive-in was important, but the economic times moved them out for a steady stream of income daily for the money grubbing land owners. There still are some drive in theaters in So Cal, but the drive to get there is a little too far for what you get. The feeling of the old days at the drive-in is still not in the air anymore. People still go to those So Cal drive-in places, but for the most part, that is history fading fast and faster.

We were on a recent road trip down near the TJ border to go to an outdoor shopping mall. As long as we were spending several days/nights in San Diego, it is a short drive to the border or a stone’s throw from the outdoor mall. On the way home, we do not like the freeway leading back to the harbor area, so we always take the coastal route. In a short drive North from the outlet mall, the main road to the ocean had us going right by a drive-in theater. It was unusual for us, in that we haven’t seen a drive in since our days in Santa Barbara/Goleta area leading into the UCSB Campus location. (Goleta drive in is now closed.)

This one in southwest San Diego looked fairly updated and anyone driving on the main road to the ocean cannot miss seeing the screen locations. But, of course, like most, research tells us the classic metal car speakers are missing.

Jnaki

In 1958 until I moved out of the house in 1968, we had two metal drive-in speakers wired to an AM/FM radio that was our original speed shop music source.

They were attached to the backyard garage rafters, creating an early version of stereo speaker sound, despite coming from a weak source link to our early AM/FM radio. One speaker came from my brother’s escapades at the theater grounds and the other from couple of years later, both in the Impala. One was an accidental drive off with no damage to the Impala or pole, other than a cut set of wires by accident. We had placed them in the rear seat foot well when we went to the snack bar. We just forgot when we drove off.

From another thread:

What are the drive in speakers doing these days? After a stint in the current garage hooked up to a high powered amplifier and some better MP3 music, it served its “authentic” purpose. But, for crystal clarity, they did not compare to the quality 8” modern speakers for sound and music. So, back into the office they went, acting as bookends, but still in their 1960 original condition and glory.

P.S. You were lucky that both items (speaker/girl/woman) have been with you so long. They are both keepers for sure. My wife has always liked the speakers for book ends as it represented a good time gone by, with only memories everlasting. I suppose a quality small speaker could be inserted inside of the original drive-in speaker for some modern sounds…a garage project perhaps?

 

41 Drive in theater between Calumet ave and Sheffield ave in Hammond Indiana practically grew up there. Now where I live there is a big one in Plymouth Indiana and a smaller one in Bass Lake.

 

A long time ago, our mayor owned all the movie theaters in town. The drive-in was his favorite.

 

(Sorry blowby - just couldn't resist )

 

I do wonder how you'd take a late model to the drive-in these days. My wife's keyless ignition late model (shopping trolley I call it) the radio won't stay on because there is no provision for turning accessories on.

 

Back in the late '60s we had plenty of drive-ins to choose from in Kansas City. On the southside, there was the 63rd Street, Fairyland (two screens), Leawood off of State Line, Crest out in Hickman Mills, the Heart off 40 Highway near Blue Ridge, the I-70 nearby - those last three prone to floods if the Blue River was up. Today most are long gone and the 63rd Street is a swap meet. That was our favorite for guys/cars/beer gatherings for either spaghetti western triple bills or horror movies. Dick drove his '61 falcon, Larry his VW bug, Tim his '65 mustang, Dave his '53 Chevy four-door, Grant his '33 Plymouth four-door, Wes his '63 Plymouth two-door former highway patrol car with the spotlight and me, with the '29 A standard coupe. You could fit a pony keg in the trunk of that '29 A and cool it with four bags of ice. It made long, hot summer nights a lot cooler. Dick and Grant are still around, and me, holding onto great memories.

 

Drive In movies are on the uptick after decades of decline. We have a twin digital venue here in our local small town that is new and prospering. When the new Top Gun came out there must have been 300 cars there opening night.

 

Two not to far from Fontana:
https://vanburendriveintheatre.com/
https://www.rubidouxswapmeet.com/theatre/rubidoux-drive-in

 

My daughters and I went to an impromptu one last summer set up in a hotel parking lot. Nothing like the real deal, but was good enough last year with all the lockdown BS. The last one in the area closed in 2019. There are a few left within a 1-2 hr drive of Ottawa though.

 

A couple years ago when Covid hit and everyplace was closed, restaurants, theaters, I held my own drive in. Hung a 20x20 tarp between trees and scored an old monster Panasonic projector, like 6000 lumens. Also bought an FM transmitter so the sound came in on the car radios. Did about 10 shows, 6-10 cars each time. That was fun, I should do it again.

 

Not in a while…there was a decent setup in Austin a while back, we saw animal house. There’s one here in Ft Worth but I haven’t been.

 

@osage orange you "forgot" the Filthy Forty!