What Happened To Drive -in Theatres????

There are two in the area...Centerville & Newton IA...

 

The Astro in Dallas is no longer.....they took the screens down even. I work right down the street from where it used to be. The only ones around are the Brazos in Grandbury and the Galaxy in Ennis.

 

Back in the early60s there was a drive-in near me that was both an indoor theater and a drive-in !There was a regular indoor theater BUT,the screen could be opend up like a big overhead door. The outdoor screen was directly in line with the indoor one so the wall could open up and you could see the outside screen while sitting indoors I don't know if both screens could be run at the same time as my parents only stayed in the car.this place closed in my early teen years when I got my lisence at 16 I went looking for the closed place and it had been destroyed vandals anything that could be cut/broken was the purple velvet stage cutrains were cut as high as could be reached and house films were strung out everywhere for many years I had about 20 feet of cartoon film that had "Buy Hot Dogs "about every 6th frame!I gave it to a college proffessor that was teaching communication as this was brought up one day in a class about advertising tricks and no-one believed they used this method of Subliminal messaging to boost sales!

 

Wow..I didnt think i would get this much feedback on the subject.I've learned that there are still alot of drive-in's out there in america.Seems like more in the smaller towns which makes sense.I've also learned that there are a few still operating not to far from me.It's great to read your stories from back in the day too.I think i'm gonna throw everyone in the 50 ford this weekend and take my 9 yr old son to his first drive-in.Now that i know that one is about 20 mins away.

 

Yes. I couldn't believe it either. I moved to Seattle, WA and when I went back to visit, I saw the Walmart with a Burger King on the corner. Drive-in takes lots of land and only works at night. Cineplex can go all day and night with 24 screens and parking in the same amount of land.

 

we have a six screen drive in (The Capital) here in San Jose. This is one of my 10 year old daughters favorite places to go. I too love that we still have one around.

-scott noteboom

 

Central NY, you have one in Auburn doing well, one up in Minetto (between Fulton and Oswego) and one in Rome. I can think of at least 4 others, three that I don't even remember ever being open, one that closed and became a strip plaza - the stupid thing here is they could have kept the screen and drive-in, the strip plaza is along the opposite side of the lot and where the screen was isn't even paved for parking. I think one of the others is a quarry now (Preble), one is vacant (Nedrow), and one has some kind of factory on it (Schuyler). There were probably others I never saw or don't remember, too.

There's one in Avon below Rochester that I think is still open; it has a flea market on Sundays. I think there's another one around Leroy on Route 5, too, that I know has flea markets but I am not sure the drive-in part is open. Been a couple years since I was out that way.



I think that's the way to go in the future - set one up in a mall or other retail place's parking lot. You have to have the parking anyways, and up here the lots are only super-packed at Christmas - drive in's are shut down then anyways.

 

SoCal1 theirs still the Vineland Theater in the city of Industry / La Puente still alive and kicking dude. its in between Valley and Temple on Vineland Dr about a mile from the 605. its like 5 minutes away from my house.

 

I used to go to the drive-in in Jesup, GA. I would take a cooler with me. I would drive in and the Ex would drive home. Not sure if it is still open anymore. I doubt too many of you even know where Jesup is....LOL.

 

I HAVE BEEN TO THIS ONE AND BROUGHT BACK GREAT MEMORIES OF SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT, ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, A FEW DRACULA MOVIES, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, STAR WARS, JAWS, THE HILLS HAVE EYES AND A FEW MORE. MAN I LOVE THAT IT'S NOT TO FAR FROM DALLAS TO ENJOY.

 

Thanks for this post.
I am going to have to check some of the out that are close by.

 

We have 2 in the RI area, the Rustic & the Mendon, Mendon is actually 2 dive in's but totally seperated.The Rustic is 2 or 3 screens in one giant lot, but its on a hill & is a little weird to park on.
Theres also a cool old abandon drive in on rt 146 just before Worcester in Mass thats very "art-deco" looking.
JimV

 

A friend of mine looked into opening a drive-in, and he added it all up and it was going to cost at least $400k and that is not even includeing the land. Then on top of that the movie industry sets the ticket price. The only place to make profit is off of the snacks. It isn't worth it!

 

This is an AWESOME topic, I just sent some messages off to my car club guys to see about taking a cruise to the drive in when Talladega Nights gets there. Fortunately, we still have a drive in here near Omaha just across the bridge in Council Bluffs, IA.

 

Yeah the one in Avon, NY is still open...3 screens. And there is another in Perry, NY - 2 screens.

Perry www.charcoalcorral.com Has a Super Cruise 3 times a summer. 300-400 cars is the norm.

Avon www.lakemetro.com/vintage

EDIT: The flea market is just a general thing. Not a specific car stuff flea market/swap meet.

 

The Skyview is still up and operating here in Santa Cruz.....

They even have an annual car show....and weekend flea markets.

http://www.skyviewsantacruzonline.com/

 

As far as I know, there are 3 within an hour or so of Chicago. I've only been to the Cascade in West Chicago (Just recently to see Cars & Pirates...)

One of the local car clubs does a multi-club cruise to the Cascade. Unfortunately, I don't know of any drive-ins here that support the old cars. One car is as good as the next.

I remember as a kid, my dad & mom would take me & my brothers in our PJs. With the back seat folded down in his mustang, we'd fall asleep on the way home.

 

Thanks Eric for the heads up.I might have to check that one out too.I live in La Cresenta which is next door to Glendale.Basically i'm 5 mins from the Rose Bowl.210 to the 605 and i'm there.Thanks again.

 

its always been a dream of mine [ winning the big lotto dream] to open a drive in with an a&w franchice on it..and maybe an 8th mile strip behind it!!!well, i know it would have to be a big lotto for that , but hey, dream big!!!
i had one at keokuk , iowa i went to as a kid/teen..one of the reasons it closed was the fact that its placement would allow underaged kids to see 20 foot tits from a mile away!! so the do gooders threw a fit!!then it finaly got hit by a tornado and the head line in the paper read "gone with the wind" clever the same happened to there drag strip.. it was out in the country ..then all these fuckin pricks would build there houses beside it then start bitchin about the noice..so no more racin after 10!!stupid dickweeds!!! well, that and bracket racing!! that didnt help much either

 

One opened last year in Decatur, OH. Small town population of about 150. Two screens, took the grandkids there to watch CARS several weeks ago. Decatur is about 35 miles east of Cincinnati on route 125.

 

Here ya go, home of Shiner beer, it's for sale.

http://www.crossroadsdrivein.com/

 

still going in council bluffs ia

 

yup was there last week to see cars