Drive-in movies used to mirror your personal evolution through life.
When you were a kid, you went to the drive-in with your parents and were relegated to watching the movie from a blanket laid out on the gravel next to the car.
When you were a teen, the drive-in was where you, and as many of your friends that you could pile into the car, all went to drink mass quantities of beer and liquor, with no idea of what movie was playing on the screen.
As a college student, the drive-in is where you went with your special friend, often to steam up the windows, again with no concern as to what movie was actually playing.
As a grown adult, you went to the drive-in, complained endlessly about all the kids laying on blankets, all the drunk teenagers stumbling in front of your car, and would grumble at the sight of the row of cars at the back of the drive-in who’s windows were all steamed up.
What memories!
I remember loving to go the Drive-In. A Drive-In meant a late night out, eating in the car without fear of getting in trouble, and two movies!
When I was in High School in Salem, Oregon….our town had a Drive-In with 4 screens! And it was a newer High Tech Facility that used radio instead of the rusty old speakers that hung on your window. Having 4 screens was great in that you could pay to watch the newest Disney movie….while you were instead all staring at the neighboring screen showing a rated-R movie that you had been assured contained lots of gratuitous nudity…..without fear of being thrown out! Life was good!
You would have thought that the theater owner would have thought to put high fences between the segments of the Drive-In, but nope….there we were….paying for a rated G Family Flick while happily drinking ourselves silly while watching Jason hack to shreds more campers in the latest Friday the 13Th flick on the next screen.
Then, with the age of 24 screen multiplexes, DVD’s, VCR’s, 35 Movie Channels on Cable, Blockbuster, NETFLIX, etc…….Drive-Ins all but died off.
There are very few left in the country.
Here in Texas, there were 388 Drive-Ins in 1958.
Now…..there are only 13 left.
One of those is located about 1 1/2 hrs from where we live. A few years ago, we packed up our son and took him to the Drive-In for the first time in his life. Beforehand, he thought watching two movies from our car was going to “totally suck big time!!” as he put it.
He had the best time. He watched the first flick from the back seat. By the second, he was laying on the roof of the car on a blanket. He thought the Drive-In was the coolest thing since sliced bread. We have since taken him back and he loves the place.
Surprisingly, the place is crowded every time we go. Obviously, many others also miss the fun of going to the Drive-In. Maybe they will make a comeback.
I sure hope so.
Now…if those damn drunk, oversexed teenagers would just quit walking in front of my car every 5 minutes!!!
And get all those screaming little kids back into your cars!!!
I went to a drive in once when i was a teenager visiting america and the boys i went with stuffed two of their friends in the trunk of the car so that they got in for nothing! I was shocked, sure we were going to get caught!! I love drive ins too but with these big monsters of cars they have nowadays i would not like to get stuck behind an SUV in my wee VW c
By: ceciliag on October 20, 2011
at 1:57 pm
Ceciliag – This is true. When we have gone recently, we noticed a lot of people backing up their SUV’s and then opening the back end….. thereby blocking half of the screen for all the cars directly behind them…… They need to put all the huge cars in the back…..and the small cars up front …..
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 1:59 pm
We still have the drive-in in Dallas…….. Dallas, Oregon that is.
We do the SUV thing: Blankets, sleeping bags, pillows, ice chest, etc. And before you get all up on me about blocking views, this drive-in DOES make the bigger rigs go to the back. 
It’s always been fun for the kids. Us adults too, until about time for the 2nd movie to get started. Then I’m usually ready to go home and crawl into bed. We don’t though. By the time we get home, it’s usually around 2:30 – 3:00 a.m. Things you do for your kiddos. 
By: Blonde Cousin on October 20, 2011
at 2:36 pm
The reason that for the foreseeable future there will be no new drive ins is because any chunk of land large enough to contain a drive in theater that is even remotely near a metropolitan population either already has a Walmart on it, or very soon will.
My very first drive in movie was “Mary Poppins” during its first run. The last one was “Spies Like Us”. In between, many were the Saturday/Sunday flea markets/swap meets.
Gawd I miss the drive in !
By: FichenDich on October 20, 2011
at 2:56 pm
Blonde Cousin – So I guess that means the South Salem Drive-In on Lancaster is long gone?
Bummer!
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 2:57 pm
Wow, I can’t even remember the last time I went to a drive-in. I don’t think there are many left here in Kentucky either.
Kathy
By: Kathryn McCullough on October 20, 2011
at 2:58 pm
Fichendich – Yep….. I saw some great double features at the Drive-in…… I remember “The Blues Brothers” and “Airplane!” being a great double feature. I wish they would make a comeback. I know my family really enjoys them, though the Texas heat in summer makes the sitting in the cars pretty uncomfortable….
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 2:59 pm
Kathy – But, like me, you probably remember when there were Drive-Ins all over the place right? I remember even the tiny towns used to have them. I can’t believe that the entire Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex…with MILLIONS of people…..does not have a single Drive-In left…. We have to drive to a small town out in the boonies to find one still open….
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 3:02 pm
Speaking of remembering… my first time I don’t. My mom told the story whenever the subject of how tall I am came up. “Your first drive in you stood on the carseat for the entire movie !”
The last one I remember because my girl friend threw up in the back of my van. The stench was so freaking gawdawful that we had to close the doors and sit outside on lawn chairs !
And speaking of double features, I forget the first movie, but my mom made my brothers and I put our heads behind the seats during the rape scene in “Billy Jack”. (To this day I have never seen that scene !)
By: FichenDich on October 20, 2011
at 3:16 pm
Hey, I went to a drive in movie a few years ago in Arizona! They still exist in certain. The problem is, you never end up remembering the film…
By: Fat Man and the Bat on October 20, 2011
at 3:19 pm
Fichendich – “Billy Jack”….. now there’s a series of movies I have not heard mentioned in ages….. That brings back memories!
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 3:19 pm
Fat Man and the Bat – Yep…..as you got older….. the actual movie got less and less important……
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 3:20 pm
Aw man, I would have loved to gone to a drive-in movie as a kid. This totally just made my bucket list.
By: H.E. ELLIS on October 20, 2011
at 3:27 pm
The memories flood back. The very last drive in movie that my mom took (my brothers and) me to see was a double feature. Again, I forget the first, but the second was “Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex *but were afraid to ask”. Within ten or 15 minutes my mom was so disgusted that she made us go home. I have since watched it. Yes, my mom essentially is uptight. At the time I remember wondering, “Why do sheep [references] make mom so mad ?”
The topic “Flashback: Drive-In Movies” most definitely a home run !
By: FichenDich on October 20, 2011
at 3:29 pm
H.E. ELLIS – Do you have any within driving distance of where you live? If not….. ROAD TRIP!!
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 3:37 pm
FichenDich – Ah yes…classic Woody Allen……… Gene Wilder in bed with that Sheep was hilarious!
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 3:38 pm
Hey, so here’s a marketing idea. Let’s take the huge, empty parking lots for the big box stores, and make them into drive in movies at night. That would be cool.
We have had a few movies shown outdoors in the parks around here. Mostly kiddie fare, but they love the idea of being outside and watching movies.
We had a playground for the kids right near the screen, and the lucky kids could go play there while waiting for the movie. Our parents never let us do that. We also never bought any snacks, we had stuff from home.
As a teenager, my sister played the game of how many people could you stuff in the trunk and get in free. I am not sure of the record.
By: chlost on October 20, 2011
at 4:02 pm
Reminds me of That 70′s Show when they go to the drive in. such an underrated show!
They need more of these asap!
By: Chip on October 20, 2011
at 4:09 pm
One remains in Fish creek, WI – that little peninsula that jets out into Lake Michigan and its the one thing I miss. Everynight it was packed. Nothing better than those metal speakers !
By: Nonstepmom on October 20, 2011
at 4:20 pm
Queen of the Courtroom – We usually just had 4 of us in the car….as teenagers…..but the big task was trying to sneak the ice chest in…… not easy to do when you are in a station wagon…..and the folks at the gate know that you are trying to sneak stuff in
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 4:51 pm
Chip – Yep….a lot of my best High School Memories were from the Drive-In….. and I started HS in the late 70′s……
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 4:52 pm
Nonstepmom – A drive-in on the lake…. that must be a real neat experience
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 4:52 pm
Aw, you missed the two greatest viewing platforms. If the weather was warm enough (and there were few enough mosquitoes), you lay back against the windshield, with the car nose-high. If the weather wasn’t the greatest, or you wanted a softer seat, you took (ready for this, HE?)…….
The wagon with the tail-gunner seat!
Oh man, the BIG 60s-70s wagons, a garbage bag full of popcorn you had spent a full DAY making beforehand, an old aluminum cooler with cans in the icy sludge, that one little metal speaker scratching and hissing out the soundtrack…….
(Sob.) I’m gonna go take my portable DVD player and sit on the windshield of my car. Then maybe tomorrow, I’ll get the wife to back the wagon up to the garage door, and see what we can do….
By: John Erickson on October 20, 2011
at 4:58 pm
I’ve thought for years that a bang-up drive-in theater would make a fortune. And the beautiful thing is they don’t even need to show current films!
By: John on October 20, 2011
at 5:55 pm
Oh yeah I have very fond memories of the drive in.
By: Booksphotographsandartwork on October 20, 2011
at 6:10 pm
John – You’re right…. and I would think the overhead would not be all that high…. seeing as how you only have a handful of employees and are just open a limited few hours each night…..
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 6:19 pm
Linda – Fond memories huh? Nudge nudge wink wink
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 6:20 pm
Drive ins were just dying out by the time I started seeing them. We used to go with a boatload of cousins and watch “retro” movies like Grease. I think we also saw X-Files or some crap like that. I mostly remember the BATS that would fly around really close to our heads at the drive in theater. We kept the windows and doors closed after that!
By: Dana on October 20, 2011
at 8:35 pm
Dana – Bats attacking your head during Grease……. Sounds like a good blog post!
By: TheIdiotSpeaketh on October 20, 2011
at 8:42 pm
Back in 1969-73 in Bloomington, IN, Then Husband and I would go to the drive-ins to see the “dirty movies.” When I think of them now, I laugh. They seem so tame. You can now see way more on TV.
By: lifeintheboomerlane on October 20, 2011
at 8:54 pm
Yes, they were fun for dates in our late teens. There may be one or two left in South Africa. I must ask around…
By: adeeyoyo on October 21, 2011
at 3:12 am
Aw, my sister in law lives right up the street from a drive in and whenever we visit that is what the kids can’t to do! Great post!
By: Joy on October 21, 2011
at 6:45 am
Those were the days. I got in a car wreck one night when my boyfriend and I were leaving the drive-in. His car stalled. I stayed inside to guide it to the side while he pushed from behind. We were rear-ended by a fast moving car. Fortunately Jim, my boyfriend, dove into the ditch in the nick of time, or he would have been crushed. Inside the car I was jostled around a bit, but no real damage done.
Love this drive-ins.
By: Christine Grote on October 23, 2011
at 5:45 pm