I bought a garage and they gave me a house!

Now of thats not one of the best ideas I have heard of in a while I dont know what is !!! Great Idea !

 

I guess I'm lucky. The oldest operational drive-in theater is right down the street from my house. I hardly ever get to go though; its packed full every night hours before the movies start.

 

Sounds like spare parts for the CINEMATIC!

 

Hey, maybe HiBoyGirl would be interested...she's filining the Duce of Spades movie, she might have some contacts that might be interested...

We all should chip in and make it a club house,,,Bubba's Drive-In and Hot Rod Shop....

 

There is a guy around here who has a setup that he uses to show movies in the summer, hangs a screen from the side of an old three story school, and shows old movies

 

Read an article recently that stated the demise of drive-ins has come to a crawl in recent years. Seems the ones left are hanging on, and like someone mentioned, even new ones are opening. Dont count them dead yet!

 

The end of an era, Sunday night after last year's US Nationals. The rumor was that it was to be levelled within days after the drags.



And I don't care whose name is on the sign, it will always be Indianapolis Raceway Park to me.

 

Good to hear you were able to get the main things to make one happen if you are so inclined.
They shut down my local one at the end of the season last year 58 years it was going. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/nyregion/02drivein.html

 

That's way cool that you were able to nab some of the vintage stuff.

Here's a really cool site; http://www.drive-ins.com/ Place your zip code in the search, and you may be amazed at how many Drive in's were once located near you. There's one left in my part of Socal, where there used to be 15. I told my Wife, we have to take the little ones to experience it before it's gone!

Like circle tracks and drag strips, land value and the NIMBY's (from encroaching subdivisions) killed em in most areas. The advent of weekend swap meet income kept the wolf away from the door for awhile, but the developer's offers eventually became irresistable to most owners.

 

We still have a couple in San Diego...the one in Santee still does a decent business as a swap meet/flea market and movies at night...I grew up in Fort Wayne and they were all over the place when I was a kid...we spliced a bunch of wire together at the East 30 drive in and ran a speaker into the woods and we would ride our bikes over there before we were old enough to drive and watch movies sitting at the edge of the woods....later on when I could drive I experienced many good things there...and I even saw a movie or two...things like Our Man Flint, Matt Helm, Smokey and the Bandit, Bond flix, Hollywood Knights...damn I didn't know I was old

 

OMFG! What a score Scoob! Wow!

One about 30-40 minutes in Southington CT from me was closed down a few years back. One of the last in the area. Dual screen too. At least my kids got to go to it for a couple movies before it closed.

 

around here drive-ins died because they started showing porn. imagine that on the side of a four story building.
movies theaters died in my town but are still surviving 30 miles down the road and in a few other places with larger populations.

video may have killed the radio star but the video store killed the movie house.

 

It is completely flat there now. They started after the drags were over but really just this year did they finally get it completely demolished.

There is a sign out front that says lost drive in something another. The property is now owned by Simpson and will become the lost drive in something for race related buildings and shops.

I live right here next to it and agree 100%. It will always be IRP, or as most of us refer to it "The Park".

 

the one here in hope is a mini warehouse complex but they kept the ticket booth.
in malvern they left the screen up but built a moose lodge in front of it.

tell you what though, if you think you might like to experience the best of a drive-in, i highly recommend that you take a labor day weekend and go to los PUNKRODS show at the Boulavard Drive-in in Kansas City.

 

that is what they did in texarkana,at the fairrounds, before the start of the bandit run from texarkana to atlanta. no surprise they played smokey and the bandit!! people for days.
but i doubt a stationary theater could draw a crowd on a regular basis.

 

The biggest problem at drive-ins is that people bring their own food and drinks. Drive-ins make a good majority of their money from the food and drinks they sell. They barely make money off the movie ticket sales.

 

Thats an amazing score man! I grew up in Tulsa, going to the Admiral Twin. Two-sided drive-in badass-ness! It was also where they filmed the Outsiders. I'm not sure if it's still there, maybe some of the Okie guys know?

 

I'm officially the only guy in my neighborhood with an entire drive in theater in my garage. That got some pretty funny looks from my neighbors tonight when we pulled that off of a semi.

 

That is very cool! That Drive In Theater equipment is a piece of history and should somehow be preserved. Some day this nearly lost part of Americana will be understood to be an important part of our American car culture. Thankfully some of us do recognize the importance now. I collect Drive-In Speakers. I have about 8 different types. But then, I collect just about anything related to the Fifties. It's fun and educational. Someone has to save these things for future generations to enjoy. I commend you for doing this. Great job!

 

Sucks. I'm really one of the few 20 or so year old guys that would pay $20 to go see a movie with a fitting gal. Thank you from all the down to Earth guys like me. You are appreciated!

 

most of the drive-ins are gone from this area (mid Michigan) too. Same things happening with old family farmsteads, the farmers can't afford taxes by growing crops so the property gets split & sold mostly to developers. Now we see big old barns and farmhouses, in front of a bunch of cookie cutter houses. Drive-ins aren't the only history we're losing. Kinda sad.

 

It was still going when I was there a while back.. geez I guess it was almost a couple years ago.I got a couple cool pics of the place.

A while back I was cleaning out my garage, my step daughter (now 24) and her boy friend were helping. They picked up a box of old drive-in speakers, pulled one out and asked 'What is this, a heater?". Poor, deprived youth.

 

Wouldn't it be nice if a grant was written and a museum was started?

It could be set up as a foundation that would pay for a big metal building and utilities... and a huge parking lot & screen. The building could be covered in re-done drive-in signs, with displays inside of cars using drive-in equipment, with even MORE refurbed signs (exterior, interior snack bar signs, etc) and pictures on the walls. Outside, the foundation could "subsidize" movies to be shown with a $8/car donation between May and October. Sell snacks at the snack bar, and have the Hot Rod Cinematic there every once in a while.

Run it as a non-profit, and any profit made has to be distributed to each "employee" in the form of huge checks (hence, "not for profit"). Of course, the main business has to be around for a year to get that 500C3 "non-profit" designation, but it would be so worth it.

Of course, the cars (likely HAMBers that let their rides be on display) will have to be "maintained"... and a facility like the back of the warehouse would be a great bay to do so.

Just an idea. Kind of like me trying to get the government to mark my yard a preserve for "Native Prairie Grasses" like over by KCI. They get paid NOT TO MOW!

~Jason

 

Vintage bowling alleys are dropping like flies right now too. The smoking ban and the economy are killing them. I've been able to preserve a few neat things from them but want a whole lot more.

I tried to talk my brother into buying a local drive-in and doing a full entertainment venue in it. Car shows, movies, bowling alley, restaurant, swap meets, live bands, miniature golf, etc...

Fortunately for his wife, he's smarter than I am and promptly said no. That's probably why he's wealthy and I'm not.

 

We still have ONE, that's it, and I'm not sure how long that will last:

Underage kids drinking and getting high, or getting in fights and cops coming--nothings worse than being at a drive in movie and being distracted by blue and red lights coming through the lanes...

Assholes are fucking it up here, not a lack of attendence.

 

the starlite, ferguson hills, the twin, oakley, dent., pike 27 (in ky), madison, the 1 up on 128 between ross and cleves, was another over on east side right down from the starlite but i forget the name,,then there's the compton........the dixie, old route 4, the Mt Healthy,the riverside...i know i'm forgettting some..ya could see the dent from mom's place on the hill..god i miss the old horse farm...

fuck the profits, drive-ins were THE PLACE on the weekends.........damn shame to be loosing them...you guys throw one together over there in indy and i'ld be there..........

 

the Capri in coldwater is the only one i know of in michigan,,but they cater to cruise ins and hot rodders for sure,,great history and info on drive-ins on their site....http://www.capridrive-in.com/index.php

 

You've got backwards, drive-ins started showing porn BECAUSE they were dying. It was the last ditch effort by most drive-in owners to stay in business. When that failed or more likely was banned because of local city/county ordinances it was all over. And think of the cost of the 20-30 foot fences and sight studies they ahd to do!

Most closed, became flea markets for a while, then truck company lots or pipe yards or steel yards, or as some around here small housing developments and junk yards. One near here also had a SuperSlide in front of the screen on the street side and a junkyard behind the screen where the cars parked to watch the shows.

The fact is that folks just didn't want to be hot/cold/mosquito-bitten (remember PIX?)/uncomfortable in a drive-in even if you sent the kids up to the playground beneath the screen. And all the talk about how we MISS them and would GO every week if they were still here is just nostalgia talking. The newly opened ones seem to be very popular until the first really hot steamy night or winter blast of Canadian Arctic air comes in.

 

went to a drive in when i lived in texas in 76...yeah it was hot..and the bugs....wasn't too many people there...must be a texas thing...back home in cincy, the drive-ins were packed back then...all weekend....got to the point where some started to open on thur nites.....we went every weekend....when i was little, it was THE PLACE to see first run of anything...all the Bond flixs...hush hush sweet charolette, ect..........

like i said, maybe it was a texas thing......

 

We still have a drive-in here in Santa Maria CA. It still does good business and they have a swapmeet every Sunday. Ther was another one on the North side of town that was torn down about 8 years ago to buid more houses...what a shame.