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.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0710-then-20110710,0,2471851,full.story
 
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.

http://www.drive-ins.com/detail/fltftpi
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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.
 
 

The drive-in here closed years ago, the structure no longer exists.  There were two in a larger town nearby, also long closed.
 
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.
 
Funny this thread would come up. Workmates and I have been talking about going to the Drive-in this summer & fall.

While most are long gone (Stratford had one I would go to weekly, until 1980 when the lot corner at the edge of town was converted to a transport truck parking lot) quite a few are still in operation here in Southwest Ontario mostly closeby the beach and vacation cottage areas.

The one I grew up going to is the Mustang outside London. The neon sign got re-furbished a few years back, they put up a new screen and of course the key to their survival was welcoming free admission for vintage car nights.

Dave

http://www.mustangdrive-in.com/
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None in Fresno anymore, which is really depressing. I LOVE drive-in's. But there is one in Madera which isn't too far away and one in Hanford.
 
Whirlcool, you know my turf

My childhood home was directly across from Wesson Oil. Look out my front window and there it was.
And I can still remember virtually every inch of the Community store... and da Jewel store too.
We used to take Gram's cart, walk over the bridge, shop and walk on back over. It was a nice time.
 
There's only one drive-in theater still operating in Las Vegas. Actually, it's located in neighboring North Las Vegas. The West Winds Las Vegas Drive-In first opened in 1966, and has been revamped several times over the years, with a total of five screens.
My childhood memories, however, are those of the drive-ins in California's San Fernando Valley, where I grew up. The drive-ins in Canoga Park, Van Nuys and Reseda were the ones my parents and friends would go to. Those speaker boxes you attached to the car! I loved the snack bars and (really fun) playgrounds right under the giant screen gave you somewhere to work off excess energy before the movie started at dusk. Many a time I fell asleep in the back of my neighbor's station wagon with friends after the second feature began.
Ah, memories!
 
The ONLY Drive-In Movie Place that I have ever been to--

--was a FLEA MARKET during the day on Weekends (Sat, Sun & Fri--I think) and of course, was a reg. "Motor Theater" at night!

I have never actually seen a drive-in movie (maybe because I didn't have an older brother to hide in the back seat of his car on dates with--LOL!)...

There used to be one near my house with a vacant lot behind it, and a friend of mine & myself used to ride our bikes in the vacant lot, of which there was a tall wooden fence surrounding the drive-in w/ enough holes & cracks in it (not to mention neighboring houses behind it) to see (but not hear) a movie for free! The screen was also visible from down a street leading to it, too--before reaching a "dead end"...

Too bad that theater is gone--and too bad I got hooked on riding my bike in that vacant lot before I got "Phil Ochs-ed" for my bike and was lucky to be able to walk out & go back home just for my mom & dad who have long told me how unsafe it was to be going to that vacant lot (probably a MILE or more from my house!) and that "I had NO BUSINESS going there!--direct quote from my mom!)... Luckily, too, a friend of mine at school who lived down the street from me told me that he saw my bike hanging at the police station, too; he was there to retrieve a bike stolen from him--from his own back yard!

Lastly, there was a 1981-1983 Chrysler Imperial 2-Door (probably NOT a Frank Sinatra Edition!) that was on the street leading to that vacant lot--and a "highlight" of that location...

-- Dave
 
Paul:

It is a small world, isn't it?
That 31st bridge is a long one! My mom & aunt used to take me to a place called "Birdie Pak" that had a lot of frozen meat for sale. The hamburgers you bought there were pretty good. I still remember all the sawdust on the floor in that place. I think it was 1 block or so east of 31st & Pulaski.
 
It is a small world

Yes I do remember "Birdie Pak". Every cookout on 31st probably used their stuff. It probably was just East of Pulaski. Arlene's bake shop was also nearby.
You're walking up and down my block. I did live on 31st Street, went to school with the Perrinos (who own Home Run Inn) and did all that stuff.
I'm surprised you know that stretch so much. I thought you were in the Hinsdale/Oakbrook area (which turned out to be my High-School years stomping grounds).
The "Cicero "bridge made life somewhat interesting. As you know it was a truck route and accidents do happen. One time there was meat all over the bridge and other time hair-spray went rolling down the bridge. Never a dull moment! LOL!
 
none that I know of in San Diego and Orange Counties

The two in the area where I grew up in San Diego (Midway and Frontier Drive-ins) disappeared by the early 1980s. Orange County had the Highway 39 Drive-in operating into the early 1990s, but it's gone as well. The Orange Drive=in Theater still exists as a swap meet, but hasn't shown films in years. Land is just too valuable here to use for drive-in theaters.

I suppose in the 40s and 50s, drive-ins may have been more popular in California than in colder regions, for the simple reason that one could comfortably use the theaters nearly year round. One might have to wear a car coat or sweater in winter to stay warm, but I don't remember the theaters shutting down for winter. The show times changed a bit because it was dark earlier during the winter. I also remember lower prices in winter: sometimes a flat rate per car, like $8, rather than charging per person. The Midway had a children's playground in an area in front of the screen (screen was high enough that play equipment didn't block the view).

I never went to a multi-screen drive-in. There used to be the Tu-Vu Drive-in in Kearny Mesa section of San Diego, near present-day Montgomery Field Airport. There is also a dilapidated surviving two-screen drive-in in Oceanside, CA (also near the Oceanside AIrport), but it appears to be used only for swap meets, and the screens are crumbling.

Below is a delightful article on the history of San Diego drive-ins, as well as a typical ad (probably from the San Diego Union or Evening Tribune) featuring all of the area drive-ins.

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblo...in-theaters-in-san-diego-complete-illustrate/
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One time there was meat all over the bridge and other time hair-spray went rolling down the bridge.

And I bet it was Aqua-Net hairspray too. The Demert & Dougherty company was on Cicero Av just north of I-55. That's where they made Aqua-Net.

I went to Hindsdale Central High, class of 69'. Which school did you go to?
 
We used to have many.

Now we have but one.  The Starlight. 

 

I remember as kids, Mom would pop a brown grocery bag of popcorn, fill the cooler with Shasta pop from Safeway 10 for $1, and we would go to a tripple feature. 

 

Back in the late 80's one of the last closed down with a "Friday the 13th" marathon.  Let me tell you after about the third one you are rooting that Jason "does it for mommy". 

 

 
 

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