Last night, my wife and I packed up the CRV with chairs, pizza, other snacks and a cooler and went out to the local drive-in theater. “Ice Age 3” & “The Proposal” were showing on the big screen. I’m not a real big fan of sitting through two whole movies in one evening, much less away from the comfort of my couch! Since it was one of Debbie’s last days of vacation from work, I decided to brave the humidity and mosquitoes. You have to get there pretty early to get a good spot since cars begin lining up about 7:00 (It doesn’t get dark until about 9:30!) So we backed the car in, opened up the hatchback and set up our big lawn chairs and table. With the ability to hold more than 300 cars, there were maybe 50 cars already parked before us. The majority of kids were up on the hill by the screen playing and meeting one another. Couples were walking around, teenagers were laying on blankets, and some people had even brought their dogs with them. It's a very inexpensive and great family atmosphere.
I even had a couple of students come running over to visit after spotting me.
When it finally got dark, the first movie began as we sprayed on bug repellent and tuned in the radio to hear the movie. The never-ending concession line had begun to diminish a bit so Deb decided to run a get some popcorn. While she was gone like what seemed forever (due to a dying popcorn machine), I was left alone for a moment to take in the darkness around me. What a beautiful evening it was, such a clear night and I guess since there were no street lights around, you could see hundreds of stars in the sky above. It was nice to take it that peaceful moment and forget about everything for a little bit. Before we knew it the second movie was over and everyone was packing up their cars and heading home into the early morning. When we climbed into our car, it was 1:30 a.m.!
My cousin, Barry Floyd, owns and runs a drive-in theater in Middle Tennessee:
Wow, drive-in movie theaters. I haven't been to one of those since my youth, but I hear they are enjoying a revival. Your description brought me back, although I don't recall any people out of their cars unless it was to get food. My brother-in-law is currently photographing drive-ins around New England, both still in use and abandon. Some of those latter images are quite interesting.
I love the drive-in. I have one that is only 10 minutes from our house and we do go every once in a while. I remember going with my parents as a kid and hiding under a blanket on the floor in the back so they wouldn't have to pay for me and then jumping out as we parked as if to mock them and say "HaHa suckers! I'm in!!!" Back then we had to roll down the window just enough to hook the speaker on. Since then, they removed the speakers and now you just tune in the station on the car radio. I don't like that so much, it seems to lessen the total experience. I wish they still had them so my son could see what it was once really like.
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Wow, drive-in movie theaters. I haven't been to one of those since my youth, but I hear they are enjoying a revival. Your description brought me back, although I don't recall any people out of their cars unless it was to get food. My brother-in-law is currently photographing drive-ins around New England, both still in use and abandon. Some of those latter images are quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteI love the drive-in. I have one that is only 10 minutes from our house and we do go every once in a while. I remember going with my parents as a kid and hiding under a blanket on the floor in the back so they wouldn't have to pay for me and then jumping out as we parked as if to mock them and say "HaHa suckers! I'm in!!!" Back then we had to roll down the window just enough to hook the speaker on. Since then, they removed the speakers and now you just tune in the station on the car radio. I don't like that so much, it seems to lessen the total experience. I wish they still had them so my son could see what it was once really like.
ReplyDelete