soberups
Pees in the brown Koolaid
I am lucky enough to live in a town that has one of the less that 400 remaining drive-in movie theaters left in the whole country. My wife and I are big fans of the drive in and try to support it as much as possible.
Last night we went to the annual post-Labor Day "retro night" at our drive in. Every year on the weekend after Labor day it shows "Grease" and another 70's or early 80's classic family movie, this year it was "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
Its a neat place to go on a warm summer evening. A local car club had brought a bunch of restored classics hot rods; there were lots of guys with leather jackets and 50's hairstyles, and lots of girls in poodle skirts and saddle shoes. People bring their kids and dogs.
I fired up my old '76 Chevy 4x4 truck for the evening, and we took the back seat out of our minivan and used it for a couch. I park the truck facing away from the screen and we sit in back on the minivan seat so we can see over the cars in front of us.
We always support the concession stand. Its worth going in there even if you arent hungry; there are 50's vintage candy machines and movie posters and its like going back in a time machine. The owner of the drive-in buys old movie trailers and memorbilia off of E-bay to display and run during intermission, there are old clips of the dancing hot dogs and actual concession-stand advertisements from the 50's and 60's. If you have ever seen "Grease" and the scene where John Travolts sings at the drive-in with the dancing ice creams in the background, that is exactly what we get to enjoy at our drive in. The only difference is that, instead of the speakers on poles that you attach to your window, the drive-in broadcasts the sound on a low-powered FM radio station so you listen on your car stereo.
Drive-in theaters are a dying breed, the economics are such that most get sold off because the land is too valuable to sit empty for half the year. The only reason our drive-in survives is because the owner is a fanatic who runs it as a labor of love. There is also an indoor theater on the property that generates enough revenue to allow him to survive in the winter.
If you have a chance to take your kids to a drive in movie, do it!!
Last night we went to the annual post-Labor Day "retro night" at our drive in. Every year on the weekend after Labor day it shows "Grease" and another 70's or early 80's classic family movie, this year it was "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
Its a neat place to go on a warm summer evening. A local car club had brought a bunch of restored classics hot rods; there were lots of guys with leather jackets and 50's hairstyles, and lots of girls in poodle skirts and saddle shoes. People bring their kids and dogs.
I fired up my old '76 Chevy 4x4 truck for the evening, and we took the back seat out of our minivan and used it for a couch. I park the truck facing away from the screen and we sit in back on the minivan seat so we can see over the cars in front of us.
We always support the concession stand. Its worth going in there even if you arent hungry; there are 50's vintage candy machines and movie posters and its like going back in a time machine. The owner of the drive-in buys old movie trailers and memorbilia off of E-bay to display and run during intermission, there are old clips of the dancing hot dogs and actual concession-stand advertisements from the 50's and 60's. If you have ever seen "Grease" and the scene where John Travolts sings at the drive-in with the dancing ice creams in the background, that is exactly what we get to enjoy at our drive in. The only difference is that, instead of the speakers on poles that you attach to your window, the drive-in broadcasts the sound on a low-powered FM radio station so you listen on your car stereo.
Drive-in theaters are a dying breed, the economics are such that most get sold off because the land is too valuable to sit empty for half the year. The only reason our drive-in survives is because the owner is a fanatic who runs it as a labor of love. There is also an indoor theater on the property that generates enough revenue to allow him to survive in the winter.
If you have a chance to take your kids to a drive in movie, do it!!