Posted on 06/17/2017 4:49:03 PM PDT by drewh
Last year, while visiting national parks in Colorado, I happened upon a real treat: Star Drive In, an outdoor theater that opened in 1955 in the southern part of the state. But my delight didn’t end there.
Next door, I found the Best Western Movie Manor Hotel, where you can look out a big window and watch the Star’s outdoor screen … from your bed! Each room is named for a movie star. Booking a night at the motel was a no-brainer. I checked into my no-frills Mel Gibson room and crawled into bed for the feature.
According to Wheeler Winston Dixon, a film expert at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the first drive-ins appeared in 1933 in Camden, N.J. They hit their peak midcentury with about 4,000 locations, roughly one-quarter of the nation’s total movie screens. Now, he says, they account for just 1.5 percent.
“Like so many things, it belongs to the past,” Winston Dixon says. It was tough for all the theater operators to run a business dependent on weather, he notes; the fuzzy projection and tinny sound from the window speakers didn’t help.
“Today’s audiences want a huge screen, enormous chairs and surround sound,” he says. “They want a more immersive experience.”
But moviegoers who long for nostalgia and low-cost fun are in luck. A few hundred drive-ins still exist, and we’ve highlighted a few of our favorites. Remember two things: Use your parking lights when entering and exiting, and please take a moment to enjoy the stars on the ceiling.
(Excerpt) Read more at floridadiary.com ...
The one I recall had a playground to keep the kiddies occupied if they weren’t interested in the movie.
There is a great drive in theater about an hour or so outside of Washington, DC in Stephens City, VA (near Winchester). It is called the Family Drive In Theater. We loved taking our kids to it and they thought it was so cool.
In another life, back in 1980, when I was young and broke and stupid, but in love and lived in CA, we used to scrape together enough pennies to go the the Drive-In from time to time. I remember going to see, ‘The Hearse’ and there had to have been a dozen people with actual hearses there! Good memory; THANKS!
Now that I’m old/er and wealthy *SMIRK* and smarter and in love with a MUCH better man, we go to the Drive-In in the summer months and neck like we were teenagers.
*SIGH*
Sky-Vu in Monroe, WI.
http://www.goetzskyvu.com/GOETZ_SKY-VU/MAIN_INTRO_PAGE.html
Some of my best childhood memories are evenings at the drive in.
While I am So glad to see the drive in make a comeback, It’s not the same because Hollywood produces only crap movies these days....They just opened a new a drive in not far from where I live. When the next Clint Eastwood movie opens, perhaps I will go check it out.
Passion pits live!
The Cherry Bowl?
The one in Lakeland, FL was on my list when my girlfriend came to visit in FL. We were running late so decided to skip it.
Still want to do it though. There is one in Winchester, VA and another near Baltimore.
We have one in the town of Mt Pleasant a few miles from our cabin. Seen a few good movies there. Loads of fun. The dog doesn’t seem to appreciate them though.
These days the drive-in theater would have the privacy advantage of some isolation from other patrons creating disturbances with an assortment of annoying distractions.
There were two in the SF Bay Area I remember: the Island Auto Movie in Alameda (closed after a storm in 1991, demolished 1997), and the Union City Drive In (closed March 31, 1998).
There’s one about 2 miles from here. We go at least once a summer
L
***Use your parking lights when entering and exiting,***
And KEEP YOUR FOOT OFF THE BRAKE PEDAL while sparking with your gal! the brake lights annoy the people behind you trying to watch the “action”.
I remember a drive-in in Myrtle Beach, SC. Our family watched most of the Elvis movies there.
I used to take my girl to the driveins in Little Rock.
Then I really steamed up the windows at the Apache, 11th St drive in, and Admiral Twin in Tulsa! WOW!
Last time I went to a drive in I was alone. Watched A BRIDGE TOO FAR. 1977 or 1978.
There is one at Springdale and Marshall Arkansas.
First drive in I remember as a 6 year old kid was in Denver, Colorado. Beast from 20,000 Fantoms and Invaders from Mars. Scared the u-no-watt out of me!
Also saw there THE NAKED SPUR and Abbot and Costello go to Mars.
Also went to the two drive ins in Farmington NM. East side of town and west side where the Walmart is now.(1954-1956)
Went to the one in Aztec and saw THE PHENIX CITY STORY.
How do you get the audio feed in your hotel room?
Stayed there twice, once when I was a kid and saw Rambo 3. Don’t remember what we watched the second time with my own kids.
The first time they had a little speaker on the wall. You turned it on and set volume and all good. The second time I think we tuned the radio in the room to a certain frequency. Pretty cool experience overall and the area is beautiful.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.