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Drive-In Movies Thrive In a Streaming Digital World
Florida Diary ^

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 ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Music/Entertainment; Society; TV/Movies
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To: Alcibiades

That is too cool! What state is this in?


41 posted on 06/17/2017 8:35:34 PM PDT by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: Maine Mariner

Ya I remember that one...kinda. It was barley pop and kissy face at some of those shows.

The thing with the Texas CSM is that it was better on the outdoor screen than in a show house.


42 posted on 06/17/2017 8:37:13 PM PDT by crz
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To: dainbramaged

I am of the opinion air conditioning and daylight savings time slowly strangled the drive-in theaters. Nice to know a few still survive.


43 posted on 06/17/2017 8:41:08 PM PDT by FiddlePig (Who needs Truth & facts when you have narrative?)
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To: Maine Mariner
Hey, did you have the speakers with a long cord? When my buddy and I would sneak in, more fun that way, we would park so we could hang a speaker on each window.

Sit back with a case of beer and a quart of Boone's farm wine and.

Either in his 57 nomad or my 65 dodge. His had a 327 with dual quads on a high riser and mine was a 440 magnum with three deuces. Both with four speeds.

44 posted on 06/17/2017 8:43:58 PM PDT by crz
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To: drewh
The one in Ennis, Texas:

Galaxy Drive In

45 posted on 06/17/2017 9:50:49 PM PDT by Dalberg-Acton
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To: drewh

Planes watching Planes at Oshkosh

46 posted on 06/18/2017 4:37:37 AM PDT by Daffynition ("The New PTSD: Post-Trump Stress Disorder" - The MLN didn't make Trump, so they can't break Trump.)
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To: drewh

Today’s drivers are being sold tiny cars with no room. No room for sex/making out (Elvis said there’s no room to rhumba in a sports car) but it’s not a good spot to sit for 2+ hours anyhow anymore.

And the existing drive-ins have had to “upgrade” (buy new) equipment as the studios are all going to digital projection and distribution.


47 posted on 06/18/2017 4:51:35 AM PDT by a fool in paradise ( Mr. Comey, did you engage in or know of ANY OTHER leaks?)
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Comment #48 Removed by Moderator

To: TomGuy

I have 3 of them near my house.


49 posted on 06/19/2017 6:00:34 PM PDT by gnarledmaw (Hive minded liberals worship leaders, sovereign conservatives elect servants.)
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To: American in Israel

Drive ins dont necessarily have the window hanger speakers (or heaters) any more. They transmit an FM signal and you listen on the radio.


50 posted on 06/19/2017 6:03:59 PM PDT by gnarledmaw (Hive minded liberals worship leaders, sovereign conservatives elect servants.)
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To: a fool in paradise
"Today’s drivers are being sold tiny cars with no room.

Its still a better experience at the drive in. The last couple of movies I went to in the theater, I wound up sitting near some brood sow with the endless trough of corn just corking and swilling with her mouth open like she had never eaten before. There was also the enjoyment of some moron dancing in an aisle at one show with of course a chorus of idiotic friends egging him on. When youre real lucky you get to sit by the kids who dont like the movie and play games on their phones.

51 posted on 06/19/2017 6:10:55 PM PDT by gnarledmaw (Hive minded liberals worship leaders, sovereign conservatives elect servants.)
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