The Drive In Theater Experience

[skyvue]

This is something I wish I could have experienced in its heyday.
It wouldn't be the same now.

How so, Val? You'd be surprised how little the experience has changed.

Eastern PA has a lot of classic drive-ins still doing it the way they've always done it. Pay a visit to Shankweiler's Drive-in in Orefield, PA -- just sixty miles outside of Philly. It's the oldest drive-in in the country, the second ever built (it opened in 1934, I think). Believe me, they offer the classic drive-in experience.

So does Harr's Drive-in in Dillsburg, a few miles south of Harrisburg; it's been in the same family for decades. They still use the window speakers (or they did when I was last there, anyway), and they show vintage concession stand ads and countdown clocks between features (so does Shankweiler's, I think).

 

[scotrace]

Good heavens, does no one recognize drive-in theaters for the great necking potential?

 

[John in Covina]

Good heavens, does no one recognize drive-in theaters for the great necking potential?

************
We thought it was too obvious to bring up, but since you have, it's open season!

 

[John in Covina]

I think that the best thing would be to have a vintage car rally at the drive in. That would give you a glimpse at how it used to be...

 

[ValenciaCalling]

How so, Val? You'd be surprised how little the experience has changed.

Eastern PA has a lot of classic drive-ins still doing it the way they've always done it. Pay a visit to Shankweiler's Drive-in in Orefield, PA -- just sixty miles outside of Philly. It's the oldest drive-in in the country, the second ever built (it opened in 1934, I think). Believe me, they offer the classic drive-in experience.

So does Harr's Drive-in in Dillsburg, a few miles south of Harrisburg; it's been in the same family for decades. They still use the window speakers (or they did when I was last there, anyway), and they show vintage concession stand ads and countdown clocks between features (so does Shankweiler's, I think).

I'm sure it would be fun, but I'd only go if they were showing old movies, because I barely go to the movies as it is!

 

[BinkieBaumont]

"Its so much easier now that you tune in on your car radio, rather than drive around looking for a speaker that actually works

http://www.galaxydrivein.com.au/


The very last drive-in in the swan River Colony

 

[John in Covina]

I'm sure it would be fun, but I'd only go if they were showing old movies, because I barely go to the movies as it is!

********
The Mission Tiki Drive In has had a couple of weekend events where they showed 1950's Sci-Fi (Flying Saucers!) B movies.

 

[ValenciaCalling]

Well, if I'm ever in Southern California, I'll check it out!

 

[Marlin Fan]

Are there any drive-in still open in Virginia??

 

[Shangas]

I'm only a young man, but I have actually been to the drive-in a few times. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and we still have a drive-in here. It's a little out of town, but it's a nice place, and still pretty popular. It's called the Coburg Drive-In.

 

[John in Covina]

There were many more Drive In Theatres than now and those that are blest with having one near by should support them with a viewing now and again.

For me I liken the Drive In experience to having those original foil covered TV dinners, they are not the best meals you can have by far, but we had them so rarely that they were in fact viewed as a treat, marking an event or special occasion as kids! The same goes for the Drive In.

 

[Brooksie]

There were many more Drive In Theatres than now and those that are blest with having one near by should support them with a viewing now and again.

For me I liken the Drive In experience to having those original foil covered TV dinners, they are not the best meals you can have by far, but we had them so rarely that they were in fact viewed as a treat, marking an event or special occasion as kids! The same goes for the Drive In.

I whole heartedly agree with you here John - I should see if I can arrainge a Fedora Lounge event sometime over at the one that is a few mile out of Portland.

Brooksie

 

[AtomicEraTom]

We have a drive-in here in my hometown. I like to take my lady-friend there in my car, it's kinda set up perfect for an experience that isn't as common anymore.

Remember sitting in the "back, back" of an old Station-Wagon?

 

[MisterCairo]

Good heavens, does no one recognize drive-in theaters for the great necking potential?

I almost saw the movie "Crash" (1996 David Cronenberg version) in a drive-in....

 

[MisterCairo]

The start of our first visit to a local drive-in with our girls last summer, we saw The Secret Life of Pets and the Jason Bourne one, better than expected (we'd never seen any of the others).

 

[MisterCairo]

And you gotta play in the playground first, of course!

 

[green papaya]

I remember going to the drive in theater with my family during the summer, sitting in the back seat, lots of cigarette smoke, lots of mosquitos buzzing by my ear, I like the cartoons they showed during intermission.

 

[Fading Fast]

I remember going to the drive in theater with my family during the summer, sitting in the back seat, lots of cigarette smoke, lots of mosquitos buzzing by my ear, I like the cartoons they showed during intermission.

The biggest social / cultural change in my life has been either society's rules on smoking or the internet / digital technology.

I was born in '64 and smoking was everywhere in the late '60s / '70s: at work, in cars, on most public transportation, in restaurants, in planes - many people smoked in their homes - and while there were a few early restrictions, there were not that many. You lived your life in a miasma of smoke then.

By the later '90s, that had changed a lot and, today, thankfully, you can all-but avoid it (other than the occasional outdoor blast from someone you didn't see was smoking).

A kid born in '84 - just twenty years after me - probably has no idea how pervasive smoking was only a decade before he was born. That world would be foreign to him, but existed less than ten years before he was born.

 

[LizzieMaine]

When my uncle was running a Drive-In, he sold "Pic Mosquito Coils" at the concession stand. This was a hard, flat waxy thing that looked like a Calrod stove burner. It cost fifty cents, came in a foil wrapper that you unwrapped, set on the dashboard on a little wire stand that came in the packet with the coil, and lit. As it burned it dispersed a cloud of citronella-smelling smoke that wafted up and over your car, and theoretically kept the mosquitoes at bay. Fifty or a hundred of these things burning on a humid summer night overwhelmed the odor of any tobacco that might also have been burning.

I didn't know a single Drive In that wasn't built on land that had once been a swamp. Hence the heavy population of mosquitoes, black flies, and other biting insects.

 

[MikeKardec]

The very last drive-in in the swan River Colony

I'm only a young man, but I have actually been to the drive-in a few times. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and we still have a drive-in here. It's a little out of town, but it's a nice place, and still pretty popular. It's called the Coburg Drive-In.

When I was living in Oz I really liked the "walk in" theaters that were outdoors. I actually saw two movies at one of Australia's oldest cinemas (1916, I think), Sun Pictures in Broome.


I believe there's a funny old picture in the lobby of people sitting in those canvas sling chairs in the 1930s and the tide has come in. "Downtown" (called Japtown in those days) Broome is very low and the tides there are very high, 30 feet at times, so everyone is up to their butts in seawater!

I can remember going to the drive ins in little towns in Colorado in the 1970s. We put lawn chairs in the backs of our pick ups and backed into the parking spots. The sound was wild because you could her your speaker and the delayed echo of the other speakers all across the parking area particularly clearly from the truck bed.