Long ago, far away, sounded so much better than it does today
Attack of the killer tomatoes, welcome home soldier boy, the
texas chainsaw massacre, just a start of our enjoyment in the 70’s.
When I got to Groton CT. in ’85, they had a four acre PORN drive-in
next to the highway. It was hilarious. It was gone soon after that for
a super shopping center.
Always missed whatever hot dog they sold at them, they were just GOOD.
The 101 cartoons or all night 3 Stooges fests were either the best or the worst depending upon how you looked at it. And $1.75 a car load and we were still smuggling some of our buddies in the trunk of the car into the drive in just because back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. And talk about a date killer, I once took a girl I was dating in 1972 to see the French Connection and Vanishing Point in my 1956 Ford F100 pickup truck, I probably could’ve picked better movies but at least she watched them with me. And Kelly’s Heroes at the E. Sprague drive in theater in 1971. etc. etc., way too many good memories from growing up back in the 60’s and 70’s.
I was the projectionist the last year of our last operational drive in. Part time job. Business was fine, the parent company was imploding from an embezzling owner.
And yes we did have a drive in theater that showed really cheap cheesy semi pornographic movies and the ubiquitous movies like Reefer Madness and the old anti VD movies and other junk but we still went because it was cheap thrills to us knuckleheads back then. The lot where that drive in was is now a large car dealership. Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes was still one of the worst.
Good times, Woody Woodpecker cartoons, the old man griping about how much soda costs ‘these days’
And if you ever drove off with one still in the window, you were probably old then.
I miss them, never go to indoor theaters anymore. Can’t stand the filth, the loudmouths and the crowding. It was nice to be in your own space and enjoy the movie with the five people you smuggled in the trunk.
Older cars did have large trunks back then and we’d smuggle them in hiding under blankets and other junk while lying on the floor of back seat.
We watched the entire Planet of the Apes trilogy, sun down to sun rise . Free donuts and coffee for the survivors. On the way home everyone kinda had an ape like appearance.
O man, what a time. Newer movie but my all time favorite was Dr. Detroit with Dan Ackroyd – it was so bad it was good!
Old sci-fi, slasher movies, and “play misty for me.”
And mom always made big grocery bag of popcorn. I understand now why my sister and I weren’t allowed to go to the playground down front near the screen but it sure looked inviting. Whine about it? Are you nuts? There was the threat of a butt blistering from dad when on a road trip but in a parked car, it didn’t enter our minds to backtalk.
Adrian Barbeau on the HUGE drive-in screen in “Swamp Thing.”
That is all. 🙃
They never let me outta the trunk…
The mosquito coil smoldering on the dash
Never used one but I know what it is.
MMMPH!?
MMMMMMMMMMMM!!!
Lots of god memories at the drive-ins, also a couple of not-so-good.
As young teenagers, my cousin and I once staked out a spot with a blanket and set 4 speakers on the ground facing us while his sisters and Mom were at the other half of the Twin Drive-in. they were watching some kind of Romeo & Juliet movie while we watched the Dirty Dozen.
The sound for R & J bled through a little bit and it was funny to hear “Oh sweet love…” followed by RAT A TAT TAT! KABLOOEY!
Watching a spooky movie with Dad and a secret door slowly opens up in a bedroom. The suspense was intense… “SNACK BAR WILL BE CLOSING IN 10 MINUTES” Well, there goes that moment.
Worst: Being about 5 and playing on the swing set below the screen. Looking straight at our car when the lights were about to go out and the movie start so I knew where to go… Blam. Lights out. Can’t see a damn thing. Mom and Dad swallowed up in the darkness. I screamed and screamed.
They stopped the reel and turned the lights back on. I ran like the wind to get back to the car. Never considered the playgrounds again.
I thought broadcasting the sound on a radio channel was genius. Too bad it was so near the end of the era. All those years with tinny mono sound. Was part of the magic, though.
My Dad took me and two friends out to dinner on my 16th birthday in 1969 and then we went to the West End Drive in theater and watched The Battle Of Britain.
Now I have to crank out the sound on my 5.1 Dolby surround system to catch all the action.
However, I still remember the family going to the drive in theaters ($1 a car load) for a double feature sitting in a hot car, listening to the tinny sound of the speaker hooked to the car window, and fighting off mosquitoes.
Now, I record the same old movies on the DVR and watch on the big screen.🍿🍿
American International flicks at the drive in….those were the days.
I loved drive in Theaters.
We would see mostly horror films there.
It’s so American. 🙂
Sometimes it seemed like they only played American International movies at drive in theaters.
Yep. Old as shit.
Went to first drive in in 1952 Pittsburgh. Loved intermission commercials.
Back in the day when you could watch a movie without being preached to or castigated about your political beliefs.
Back in the day when Hollywood was the “Entertainment” capitol and not the center of the “Resistance”.
We had Wineland’s ABC, the SuperChief, and over off Branch Ave. the Ranch.
Great times.
izlamo delenda est …
Yep! I am old too. Fun times at the drive in.
Grew up next to the Twin Drive Inn in Cincy. I could watch movies from my room. Sound was about a second or so late, but free is free.
Geoff the Aardvark, lucky is the man who was taken to the drive-in by his parents, and then grew up to go to the drive-in with his friends. I can barely remember watching “Thunderball” at the drive-in with my parents. They tell me I fell asleep after the first half hour.
I can also barely remember watching Cheech & Chong at the drive-in with my buddies. They tell me I fell asleep after the first half hour.
Drive-in date night.
Don’t remember the movie so much.
I’ll always remember who I was with, ahhhh young love.
She’s upstairs as I type.
Got one sitting on the shelf next to me right now. All wired up, it probably still works.
Been meaning to sell it.
The speaker played in the front seat, while we played in the back seat!
If you saw That Darn Cat! on the Big Screen…
You’re in the Club fee free
The Young’uns Dues will be paid over Time
We still have a Drive In Theater… and it is glorious! When my kids were small, I’d give them glow stick necklaces so I could keep track of them on the playground. Last time I was there, they were still showing the dancing hot dogs at intermission! If you’re ever passing through KC, check it out!
The only drive in left in this area is in College Place, WA. just S. of Walla Walla.
Uniquely American blend of two uniquely American creations: automobiles and motion pictures.
“Kentucky Fried Movie” and “Cheech & Chong” double feature. Good times.
If you’ve ever been smuggled into a movie theater, you’re awesome!
The place for teen sex in the early to mid 60s.
grew up above the pacifica drive-in in the 60’s. friday nite, every family on that hill gathered in their station wagons and went to the see the new movie. my dad would call the manager to make sure it was a clean film before hand. one movie was not and my dad was prepared. he had a blanket he would throw over us if the scene was unacceptable.
Rte. 114 drive-in, Middleton, Mass (early 60’s, no zip code).
Intermission ad for “Your Market” grocery store. Catch line was “You just can’t beat Your Market meat!”
Every car – Beep, beep, honk, honk, beep, beep, beep!
Little flower shop of horrors, Alice in wonderland, to kill a mocking bird, westerns, Wiley e coyote, great memories of cars friends and movies.
They paved over the nursery where I had my first paying into Social Security job, plants not kids.
Made a “modern’ Drive in.
It had air conditioners and heaters, really.
Pic on the dash for mosquitos. Didn’t even know they still made it, when I checked into a ‘hotel’ in Belize, they gave us a box.
It’s a Sam’s Club now, the drive-in, not the hotel.
Saw The Graduate there, too racy for the walk-in.
Speaking of old, who among you ever used 6 bottle caps to get into an all day kids matinee?
The neighborhood moms would load all the kids into a POS car and drive us all downtown,
The rest of the moms followed in a respectable ride.
They got a nice time shopping together, the kids got amped up on candy and action flicks.
Hence the POS car, I wonder if they drew straws for the return trip.
Living in Orange County CA when The Godfather premiered. We threw our little kids on the fold-down of our VW Bug, bagged our dinner (husband was in the Marine Corps) and got to the drive-in at 4 pm (in Fullerton, I think). Wow. It was 45 years ago. Yeah, I’m old.
Drive-In was called the passion pit in my day.
Back when my kids were young, my wife and I took them to the Drive-in almost every week throughout the season. Cheap entertainment, a playground for the kids when they got bored, and many times we had more fun watching the crowd than the movies!
I really miss the Drive-ins.
Born in 54 might have been in a car at a drive in as a youngster. But never drove to a drive in myself.
“workin’ on our night moves, trying to make some front page drive-in news…”
My dad was a little too old for rock and roll. He was more of a Kingston Trio-Glenn Yarborough-Ray Conniff guy, but that song spoke to him. It was the only rock album he ever bought. Last year, I found out why. It turns out he was kicked out of the University of Maryland after being caught in flagrante delicto with his 17-year old girlfriend in the backseat of her car (her daddy was a rich man) on campus. He never told my mom this. The story we all got was that he flunked out. That never washed with me and my sister, as he has always been the most disciplined person we ever knew. My mom, who spent many a night at the drive-in with him, died in 2000, and it took him 16 years to come clean. My birthday is November 21, and I once joked to my mother that I must have been a Valentine’s Day baby, but she just smiled and said, “No, but I do know what day it was.” I never found out, but now I’m thinking I’m a Starlight Drive-in baby.
Oh yeah…The reason my dad and his filly were on campus? The drive-in was closed that night.
…working on mysteries without any clues….
One is really old if one worked at place that used those.
First car: 59 Rambler T&C with push-button trans & fold down seats that made a flat enclosed space from the dash to the tailgate. Two couples could neck in that thing and never bump elbows.
Godzilla! Cat Ballou! Titles I can’t remember b/c I didn’t actually watch the movie!
One couple was more … inside baseball, IYKWIMAITTYD. Passion pit? You betcha.
Now its a mosque.
So, nobody’s going to mention all the giggling among the clouds of pot smoke with rolled up windows?
I KNOW that wasn’t just me.
I absolutely love reading ya’alls comments, and reliving my “good ol’ days”.
Running to get popcorn and licorice, don’t get the large soda “or you’ll spend too much time in the bathroom”.
In Washington late at night we’d have to turn on the car to run the heater, shivering under the blankets, straining to hear the poor quality sound over the engine and defrost. Great times and glad to have had to endure them.
Thank you all for sharing.
Sadly, all of these memories will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.
I used to tune the am radio to the Drive in broadcast on my 63 Impala’s dash speaker and have Stereoponics.
Of course. Used to see all the movies that way!
There was a drive-in theatre in the town where I went to high school, but it was closed down by the time I was actually able to drive.
See
http://mentalfloss.com/article/74017/interactive-map-shows-you-every-active-drive-america
and
http://www.driveinmovie.com/mainmenu.htm
Long ago, far away, sounded so much better than it does today
Attack of the killer tomatoes, welcome home soldier boy, the
texas chainsaw massacre, just a start of our enjoyment in the 70’s.
When I got to Groton CT. in ’85, they had a four acre PORN drive-in
next to the highway. It was hilarious. It was gone soon after that for
a super shopping center.
Always missed whatever hot dog they sold at them, they were just GOOD.
The 101 cartoons or all night 3 Stooges fests were either the best or the worst depending upon how you looked at it. And $1.75 a car load and we were still smuggling some of our buddies in the trunk of the car into the drive in just because back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. And talk about a date killer, I once took a girl I was dating in 1972 to see the French Connection and Vanishing Point in my 1956 Ford F100 pickup truck, I probably could’ve picked better movies but at least she watched them with me. And Kelly’s Heroes at the E. Sprague drive in theater in 1971. etc. etc., way too many good memories from growing up back in the 60’s and 70’s.
I was the projectionist the last year of our last operational drive in. Part time job. Business was fine, the parent company was imploding from an embezzling owner.
And yes we did have a drive in theater that showed really cheap cheesy semi pornographic movies and the ubiquitous movies like Reefer Madness and the old anti VD movies and other junk but we still went because it was cheap thrills to us knuckleheads back then. The lot where that drive in was is now a large car dealership. Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes was still one of the worst.
Good times, Woody Woodpecker cartoons, the old man griping about how much soda costs ‘these days’
And if you ever drove off with one still in the window, you were probably old then.
I miss them, never go to indoor theaters anymore. Can’t stand the filth, the loudmouths and the crowding. It was nice to be in your own space and enjoy the movie with the five people you smuggled in the trunk.
Older cars did have large trunks back then and we’d smuggle them in hiding under blankets and other junk while lying on the floor of back seat.
We watched the entire Planet of the Apes trilogy, sun down to sun rise . Free donuts and coffee for the survivors. On the way home everyone kinda had an ape like appearance.
O man, what a time. Newer movie but my all time favorite was Dr. Detroit with Dan Ackroyd – it was so bad it was good!
Old sci-fi, slasher movies, and “play misty for me.”
And mom always made big grocery bag of popcorn. I understand now why my sister and I weren’t allowed to go to the playground down front near the screen but it sure looked inviting. Whine about it? Are you nuts? There was the threat of a butt blistering from dad when on a road trip but in a parked car, it didn’t enter our minds to backtalk.
Adrian Barbeau on the HUGE drive-in screen in “Swamp Thing.”
That is all. 🙃
They never let me outta the trunk…
The mosquito coil smoldering on the dash
Never used one but I know what it is.
MMMPH!?
MMMMMMMMMMMM!!!
Lots of god memories at the drive-ins, also a couple of not-so-good.
As young teenagers, my cousin and I once staked out a spot with a blanket and set 4 speakers on the ground facing us while his sisters and Mom were at the other half of the Twin Drive-in. they were watching some kind of Romeo & Juliet movie while we watched the Dirty Dozen.
The sound for R & J bled through a little bit and it was funny to hear “Oh sweet love…” followed by RAT A TAT TAT! KABLOOEY!
Watching a spooky movie with Dad and a secret door slowly opens up in a bedroom. The suspense was intense… “SNACK BAR WILL BE CLOSING IN 10 MINUTES” Well, there goes that moment.
Worst: Being about 5 and playing on the swing set below the screen. Looking straight at our car when the lights were about to go out and the movie start so I knew where to go… Blam. Lights out. Can’t see a damn thing. Mom and Dad swallowed up in the darkness. I screamed and screamed.
They stopped the reel and turned the lights back on. I ran like the wind to get back to the car. Never considered the playgrounds again.
I thought broadcasting the sound on a radio channel was genius. Too bad it was so near the end of the era. All those years with tinny mono sound. Was part of the magic, though.
My Dad took me and two friends out to dinner on my 16th birthday in 1969 and then we went to the West End Drive in theater and watched The Battle Of Britain.
Now I have to crank out the sound on my 5.1 Dolby surround system to catch all the action.
However, I still remember the family going to the drive in theaters ($1 a car load) for a double feature sitting in a hot car, listening to the tinny sound of the speaker hooked to the car window, and fighting off mosquitoes.
Now, I record the same old movies on the DVR and watch on the big screen.🍿🍿
American International flicks at the drive in….those were the days.
I loved drive in Theaters.
We would see mostly horror films there.
It’s so American. 🙂
Sometimes it seemed like they only played American International movies at drive in theaters.
Yep. Old as shit.
Went to first drive in in 1952 Pittsburgh. Loved intermission commercials.
Back in the day when you could watch a movie without being preached to or castigated about your political beliefs.
Back in the day when Hollywood was the “Entertainment” capitol and not the center of the “Resistance”.
We had Wineland’s ABC, the SuperChief, and over off Branch Ave. the Ranch.
Great times.
izlamo delenda est …
Yep! I am old too. Fun times at the drive in.
Grew up next to the Twin Drive Inn in Cincy. I could watch movies from my room. Sound was about a second or so late, but free is free.
Geoff the Aardvark, lucky is the man who was taken to the drive-in by his parents, and then grew up to go to the drive-in with his friends. I can barely remember watching “Thunderball” at the drive-in with my parents. They tell me I fell asleep after the first half hour.
I can also barely remember watching Cheech & Chong at the drive-in with my buddies. They tell me I fell asleep after the first half hour.
Drive-in date night.
Don’t remember the movie so much.
I’ll always remember who I was with, ahhhh young love.
She’s upstairs as I type.
Got one sitting on the shelf next to me right now. All wired up, it probably still works.
Been meaning to sell it.
The speaker played in the front seat, while we played in the back seat!
If you saw That Darn Cat! on the Big Screen…
You’re in the Club fee free
The Young’uns Dues will be paid over Time
We still have a Drive In Theater… and it is glorious! When my kids were small, I’d give them glow stick necklaces so I could keep track of them on the playground. Last time I was there, they were still showing the dancing hot dogs at intermission! If you’re ever passing through KC, check it out!
http://boulevarddrivein.com/wordpress/
The only drive in left in this area is in College Place, WA. just S. of Walla Walla.
Uniquely American blend of two uniquely American creations: automobiles and motion pictures.
“Kentucky Fried Movie” and “Cheech & Chong” double feature. Good times.
If you’ve ever been smuggled into a movie theater, you’re awesome!
The place for teen sex in the early to mid 60s.
grew up above the pacifica drive-in in the 60’s. friday nite, every family on that hill gathered in their station wagons and went to the see the new movie. my dad would call the manager to make sure it was a clean film before hand. one movie was not and my dad was prepared. he had a blanket he would throw over us if the scene was unacceptable.
Rte. 114 drive-in, Middleton, Mass (early 60’s, no zip code).
Intermission ad for “Your Market” grocery store. Catch line was “You just can’t beat Your Market meat!”
Every car – Beep, beep, honk, honk, beep, beep, beep!
Little flower shop of horrors, Alice in wonderland, to kill a mocking bird, westerns, Wiley e coyote, great memories of cars friends and movies.
They paved over the nursery where I had my first paying into Social Security job, plants not kids.
Made a “modern’ Drive in.
It had air conditioners and heaters, really.
Pic on the dash for mosquitos. Didn’t even know they still made it, when I checked into a ‘hotel’ in Belize, they gave us a box.
It’s a Sam’s Club now, the drive-in, not the hotel.
Saw The Graduate there, too racy for the walk-in.
Speaking of old, who among you ever used 6 bottle caps to get into an all day kids matinee?
The neighborhood moms would load all the kids into a POS car and drive us all downtown,
The rest of the moms followed in a respectable ride.
They got a nice time shopping together, the kids got amped up on candy and action flicks.
Hence the POS car, I wonder if they drew straws for the return trip.
Living in Orange County CA when The Godfather premiered. We threw our little kids on the fold-down of our VW Bug, bagged our dinner (husband was in the Marine Corps) and got to the drive-in at 4 pm (in Fullerton, I think). Wow. It was 45 years ago. Yeah, I’m old.
Drive-In was called the passion pit in my day.
Back when my kids were young, my wife and I took them to the Drive-in almost every week throughout the season. Cheap entertainment, a playground for the kids when they got bored, and many times we had more fun watching the crowd than the movies!
I really miss the Drive-ins.
Born in 54 might have been in a car at a drive in as a youngster. But never drove to a drive in myself.
“workin’ on our night moves, trying to make some front page drive-in news…”
My dad was a little too old for rock and roll. He was more of a Kingston Trio-Glenn Yarborough-Ray Conniff guy, but that song spoke to him. It was the only rock album he ever bought. Last year, I found out why. It turns out he was kicked out of the University of Maryland after being caught in flagrante delicto with his 17-year old girlfriend in the backseat of her car (her daddy was a rich man) on campus. He never told my mom this. The story we all got was that he flunked out. That never washed with me and my sister, as he has always been the most disciplined person we ever knew. My mom, who spent many a night at the drive-in with him, died in 2000, and it took him 16 years to come clean. My birthday is November 21, and I once joked to my mother that I must have been a Valentine’s Day baby, but she just smiled and said, “No, but I do know what day it was.” I never found out, but now I’m thinking I’m a Starlight Drive-in baby.
Oh yeah…The reason my dad and his filly were on campus? The drive-in was closed that night.
…working on mysteries without any clues….
One is really old if one worked at place that used those.
First car: 59 Rambler T&C with push-button trans & fold down seats that made a flat enclosed space from the dash to the tailgate. Two couples could neck in that thing and never bump elbows.
Godzilla! Cat Ballou! Titles I can’t remember b/c I didn’t actually watch the movie!
One couple was more … inside baseball, IYKWIMAITTYD. Passion pit? You betcha.
Now its a mosque.
So, nobody’s going to mention all the giggling among the clouds of pot smoke with rolled up windows?
I KNOW that wasn’t just me.
I absolutely love reading ya’alls comments, and reliving my “good ol’ days”.
Running to get popcorn and licorice, don’t get the large soda “or you’ll spend too much time in the bathroom”.
In Washington late at night we’d have to turn on the car to run the heater, shivering under the blankets, straining to hear the poor quality sound over the engine and defrost. Great times and glad to have had to endure them.
Thank you all for sharing.
Sadly, all of these memories will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.
I used to tune the am radio to the Drive in broadcast on my 63 Impala’s dash speaker and have Stereoponics.