How many Drive-In theaters (still showing movies) are left in your city??

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revvinkevin

revvinkevin

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I ‘ve seen a number of them turned into outdoor swap meets over the years.

In all of the sprawling metropolis known as Los Angeles county, there is only one remaining and still operational Drive-In movie theater (link). How many are in your city? Or is this just a West coast thing?

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A few specs on LA County to give you an idea what we're talking about here(Paraphrased from Wikipedia):

LA county is home to 88 incorporated cities and many unincorporated areas. At 4,083 square miles (10,570 km2), it's larger than the combined areas of both of Rhode Island and Delaware. It also had a population of 9,818,605 (2010), making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states.

 
Here in the Phoenix, Arizona area are two. One 9 screen and one 6 screen. The 9 screen one during the day also hosts a swap meet. In a town about 90 miles east of here is a one screen. The two here in Phx have changed to where you use your fm radio. Last time I was at the one in the town east of here it still had the speakers. Not sure if they still do or not. There used to be one in Tucson but they closed down. I heard that the one in Tucson is supposed to be reopening up in a different location. Those are the only ones I know about here in Arizona. When we moved to Minnesota back in 89 there was one in a small town near Rochester, but it was already closed down at that time. They eventually tore it down.
 
We have one in Vineland, about 5 miles away, was closed down for years, and has now re-opened, have not been there yet, but I hear the prices are per person, instead of per car, or a car load.....

not sure of the sound system either, but it used to be the speakers you hang on the window.......

and they inspect your car for coolers of food, if you tell them up front that you have a cooler its 10.00 per cooler, if you don't speak up, and they search and find it, its 25.00 per cooler.......

with all this in mind....its not worth going!
 
There are two drive-in theatres still in operation here in the Twin Cities.  The Vali Hi is in Lake Elmo, east of St. Paul and the Cottage View is in Cottage Grove, southeast of the Cities.  I grew up in Cottage Grove and spent a couple summers working the concession stand there.  

 

A couple pics from the facebook page...

 

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That Cottage View sign is really fabulous!

Does anyone else remember the character Todd Tomorrow from the movie "Polyester"? Played by Tab Hunter, Todd is the wealthy owner of an upmarket drive-in theater where the concession stand announcement goes like this "Visit our concession stand. We feature boluga caviar, suculent oysters, and champagne. Take a tempting taste treat and ponder the intellectual meaning of cinema."

We need more drive-ins!
 
In Fort Pierce Florida, we had the Angle Road Drive In, and the Fort Pierce Drive In, Angle Road Drive In may still have the screen, but knowing the teardown rate here, not likely. Fort Pierce Drive In screen is still there, and a gigantic Taj Mahal-like car dealership is there now. The dealership has never been open for business, typical county thinking here. I've never been to Angle Road, and the last movie I saw at FPDI was "Night Of The Living Dead" with a friend, and we were stoned.


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Sad fate for Drive ins----so many ways to see movies at home.It was thought the VCR was the first thing that essentually killed the drive in.Now with all of the ways we can watch movies at home---are "hardtops"next?In the times I went to drive ins-they were fun.When flying into Charlette NC-flew over an abandoned DI theater.the screen tower was long gone-you could see the outline of it.and piles of dirt where the cars would be parked-does anyone in charlotte area know about this theater?Must be close to the Charlette,NC airport.I do miss DI theaters-they were just fun to go to.Remember one in Vermillion,SD.Was a great place for college folks to go to-low cost entertainment.Sometimes they played movies all night!For the ticket price you could stay all night and watch movies until it got light outside.
 
Chicago

I think they are all gone.
As a child I lived virtually nextdoor to the BEL-AIR Drive In. It was fun to see movies as we drove by.
We actually only saw a movie on-site once... maybe twice. Perhaps my parents didn't like "the element".
It was built on a garbage dump so it was on a sort-of hill. They just removed the whole thing a few years ago. Was there since the 1950s I think.
 
Actually just south of 31st Street on the east side of Cicero Av. and about 5 miles north of Midway airport. Around 1961 or so my parents took us there to see a movie so we could have a drive in experience. I liked the playground that they had right under the screen where you could play before it got dark outside. Then when it was dark enough the movie started. After the movie we went to the original Home Run Inn pizza right over the bridge in Chicago.
To tell you the truth, I didn't like the drive in concept. The sound wasn't very good out of the door hung speaker and the glass on the windshield kind of distorted the film from the back seat. I was bored.
 
You were probably by Best Foods where they made Hellman's Mayo for many years until Unilever bought them out and moved production elsewhere. Also, Wesson Oil was made just at the bottom of the bridge.

I have a cousin that used to live in Cicero that's about 10 years older than I am, I'm willing to bet she'll know when that opened.

BTW, the old Community Discount store across from the Bel Air was torn down some years ago. Years after the Community chain folded.
 
I've driven past the Vali Hi drive-in for 42 years.  We pass it on I94, on our way to I494 when we travel to visit cousins who live southwest of the Twin Cities, in Arlington, MN.
 

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