Drive- In Movie Theaters

[Limecreek]

 

On my way back from Fredericksburg yesterday, I spotted an old drive-in movie theater along Hwy 87. The movie screen doubled as a billboard where the theater name was prominently displayed; 87 Drive-In . When I got home I typed in 87 Drive-In into Google and found out the theater was built sometime in the 1950's and closed in the early 70's. I also found out that the drive-in had a capacity for 300 cars. I searched for about an hour, but couldn’t find any old photos or advertisements. Before leaving I took a few digital pictures and then I stood in the field with my eyes closed for a few minutes and tried to imagine what it must have been like during the peak of the 87 Drive-In experience.

 

As a child my folks would drag me along to the drive-in when we lived in central New Jersey. Once there I would immediately beg my dad to let me ride on the little train that made a circuit around the parking area. In front of the massive screen was an area for kids to play; swings, slides, and the crown jewel was the train and of course that cost extra, requiring the obligatory begging from my father.

 

As dusk gave way to complete darkness car horns would sound off, usually 1 or 2 at first, but eventually it seemed nearly every car in the drive-in would join in; encouraging the projectionist to get on with the show.

 

Usually a few minutes after the show would start my father would return from the long line at refreshment building; loaded down with cotton candy, popcorn, good and plenty and other assorted goodies that would always give me a stomach ache. He would hand my mother the refreshments through her window and then slip in on his side of the car, making adjustments to the window speaker as he settled in to enjoy the show.

 

 

Soon boredom would set in and I'd crawl in the back seat and pull the blanket, my mom brought along, up over my shoulders as a barrier against the cool night air. The night time air would seep in through the windows, picking up the smell of the field adjacent to the drive-in. Within a few minutes I would fall asleep interrupted every so often to the sound of the music coming from the metal speaker hung on the inside of my father's car.

 

Today, 87 Drive-In is a bone yard for the business next door. In place of 300 family packed cars honking their horns for the show to begin sits a broken down old crane, assorted air conditioning units, refrigerators and other unidentifiable junk.

 

 

I’m glad I ran across the old theater. It brought back some great memories for me.

 

[WestTX RT]

http://www.driveinusa.com/index.php

 

Next time you head west, try the Stars and Stripes. No one could believe it when the kid that owns the drive in opened up, but he has a great business out there. The cool nights of the Llano Estacado make it a lot of fun in the summer. Their specialty in the 50's Cafe is the "Chihuahua" sandwich. 2 corn tortillas, pimento cheese, shredded cabbage, and onions with a jalepeno on the side. It's an offshoot of the Skyview in Lamesa, which his grandpa owned.

 

We used to have some good times at the drive in. Sneaking kids in the trunk and drinking beer on the back side of the lot. Steamin' up the windows when it was cold wasn't bad either.

[RichEdwards]

Some nice memories. Steamed up windows on Saturday night. And then my local Catholic church used the drive-in for Sunday mass when they outgrew the capacity of their church building. One had to walk up and down the 'humps' to get up to the altar for communion. That was about 50 years ago. Here in the Tampa area there are still three operating Drive-ins.

[Huzband]

Greg, you should be a novelist.

 

You brought back the sights, sounds, smells, & feelings of old time drive-ins perfectly.

 

I miss 'em.

[Laura]

As a child my folks would drag me along to the drive-in when we lived in central New Jersey.

Where, where? It was probably one I went to also. Newton? Jersey City?

 

As a kid my mom and dad would pack all five of us kids into the station wagon in our jammies. The mosquito repellent PIC was on the dash and we just loved the time together.

 

As a teenager, I enjoyed the drive-in with a bunch of friends (who hid in the trunk so they wouldn't have to pay) or just one special friend and a couple of bottles of something special. Hey, I was a kid.

 

How many of you forgot to remove the speaker and almost tore it out of the post or broken your window?

 

 

[Wheels Rollin']

As a kid my mom and dad would pack all five of us kids into the station wagon in our jammies. The mosquito repellent PIC was on the dash and we just loved the time together.

You captured it exactly for me with your memories, Laura... We had a '57 Chevy Station Wagon... My brother and I would stay up as long as we could before just dozing off, my folks still up front doing what folks did back in those days... Because it never seemed to get dark enough to show anything until 8:30+, we were usually never 'long for this world'... For our 'you-boys-be-good-now-and-we'll-get-you-a-treat' payoff, we'd get 'bought off' with some popcorn and a soda, happy as happy could be and excited just to be a part of something as 'different' as that... Living the life of young, always-in-motion kids, though, came with a cost... We were just plain, as the Brits say, 'knackered' by the time we got to the drive-in -- the excitement only carried us for... oh... maybe a half hour... Then? A nose dive to la-la land <>... We'd wake up in our beds in the morning completely amazed as to how we'd gotten there... I guess my Dad was quite the 'transporter' <>...

 

Cool memories <>... Thanks so much for resurfacing them with your comments...

 

~ Bill

[ericfoerster]

Nice snaps, Greg. There are still a few around in West Texas. Abilene, Lamesa, and few others still have them going. They seem to draw pretty well.

 

 

[Limecreek]

Where, where? It was probably one I went to also. Newton? Jersey City?

 

It was the Somerville Drive In along Rt. 22 sometime in the late 1960's.

[Hoover]

Brings back great memories. Our Drive-in back home in WVa was the Valley Drive in in St. Albans. They tore it down many years ago and built a UPS shipping warehouse in its place.

 

The local drive in here in Denver just closed a year or so ago. I at least had the chance to take the kids a few times and have them enjoy some of the memories that I had as a kid. They still ask to go, and it saddens me to tell them its gone.

 

[TyTass]

Thanks for sharin' the memories ... got me thinkin' about going to the drive-in during my high school years (mid-70's), cramming a bunch of my buddies in the trunk of my old '65 Fleetwood so we could save money (and hide the beer). The good ole days, right?

[keithb]

We use to have 3 here locally in Orange Co. (Westminster, and 2 in Orange). All have been gone for about 10 years. When I was courting Mrs. B we went to a few movies there and enjoyed the experience.

[Harry_Wilshusen]

There's an operating Drive-In in Tompkinsville, KY on 163. Whent by it on Sunday on the way home from the Smokies. "Get Smart" was playing.

[Les is more]

The Campus Drive In was the one closest to my childhood home. My memories range from the playground down in front of the screen and being allowed to go to the snack bar by myself for the first time to the smells of the vegetation from the surrounding canyons.

 

I remember watching the movie The Cyclops. The smells on the damp night air permeated my memory to the extent that whenever I smell the canyon plants at night, that trip to the drive in springs instantly to mind.

 

 

Here's the story of that theater.

 

The Campus Drive-In was built in 1947. It had a capacity for 900 cars. This drive-in closed around 1983 and was demolished. A shopping center was built on its former site.

 

One of the most memorable features of this drive-in was the 46 foot high drum majorette outlined in neon lights that twirled a baton. Today the neon lighted drum majorette is "alive and well" and resides at the College Grove Shopping Center which replaced this drive-in.

 

[Joel]

Fort Collins still has the Holiday Twin Drive-In. It operates during only part of the year and sits on what must be some valuable real estate, so there's no telling how long it might last. Sure is popular on weekend nights, and overwhelms the 2-lane road where it is located.

 

My strongest drive-in memory involves high-school mischief, of the beverage and buddy smuggling variety. One particular buddy thought it was pretty funny to roll up the windows and lock the doors of my car when I went to respond to the diuretic effect of the beverages we consumed. When it was his turn, I waited until his hand reached for the door handle, then dropped that Olds 455 Rocket from Neutral into Drive. The resulting screetch and hail of gravel drew the attention of a LEO. My buddy ran off, scared. I managed to avoid a citation, but my buddy wandered around a while, making it impossible to find him, and he ended up calling home for a ride, at 1:30 a.m. Although we remained friends, I was not well-liked in his household after that.

[StuGotz]

your attention please...

 

The snack bar will close in 10 minutes.

 

MB>

[Bullett]

Yep, wonderful memories of the drive-in moving picture show.

 

My brother and I would beg our parents to drive the pick up truck so we could sit in the back in lawn chairs.

 

I remember seeing the Guns of Navarone and The Pink Panther at the drive in . . . we have at least one left in Salt Lake City, the Miata club went last month, but we were out of town.

[Pilgrim]

Good post, Greg. I've sat in a few myself and have a lot of the same memories.

 

Coincidentally, I saw something today that was new to me, and pretty neat.

 

Space constraints at home have compelled me to do my motorcycle work and some storage in a couple of 12'x22' rented storage units close by. It's an old place, dusty, sort of run down, but it's cheap and it's secure, so . . .

 

Anyhow, I was pulling out of it today when I saw that the door was open on another unit, actually two. I'd seen a pink Thunderbird from the late '50s in one of them before so I stopped the chat the guy up and have a look at his 'bird.

 

Waaaay cool! He has two adjacent units and has knocked out the wall between them to make a nice, big shop. The floors are tiled black and white checkerboard, the walls are nicely painted, and he has a good home-type bar with one mirrored wall in a loft space he built in there.

 

But the best part was this: He backs the T'bird all the way into one bay, closes the overhead door, lowers a humongous screen from the ceiling and projects movies on it from a projection TV setup on the back wall. He an his wife (I guess she is) sit there in the 'bird and watch movies, complete with a genuine drive-in speaker on a post that he bought at a junk sale.

 

Pilgrim

[Peter W]

Excellent thread. I remember in Syracuse NY going to the drive in right next to Heid's hot dogs (Liverpool, NY). Best dogs and coneys around, and they are still there, but the drive in is dead. One night I borrowed my mom's Pontiac station wagon (you know, the kind with the indestructible pointed bumper in front) with six girls and just me. Course, one of them was my GF so I had to limit my fun, but what a night!. My mom had a fit the next day when she saw all the popcorn, spilled soda and candy-smelling perfume in her car. It was worth it.

 

Every second feature was "Vanishing Point", a cult classic I love to this day.

 

Very cool.

[StuGotz]

I kicked around Theatres for years....movie houses and drive -ins...I was an IATSE projectionist, and did sound service for the RCA company. Got more stories than you'd believe. Loved running 70mm film. Ran equipment manufactured from the early 40's to the latter 80's. Carbon Arc, Xenon, Manual, Automated, 16,35, 70mm., each movie house was different.

 

As for the drive-in's, you'd be surprised at how many people saw the need to take the car speaker and/or heater home with them.

 

*******The snack bar is now closed.***********

 

MB>

[hANNAbONE]

gREAT pOST, Lime...

 

we had a drive-in in Oskaloosa...it was THEE place to go...sweet sweet memories.

[sebjones906]

My buddy had a birthday party last week. I was sitting next to another BMW type and somehow we got talking about drive-in. In Pomona, the drive-in on Mission Blvd., I think it is called the Mission, is open and back in business. He and the kids have gone. Says it's cheap, and exactly like it ever was, except that there is no playground for the kids.

[Jerry Johnston]

In Spokane we used to have about five driveins and all were eventually turned into fleamartkets. I remember how crummy the speakers were - if you happenned to get one that worked. I was thankful that one of my vehicles had a sun visor so I could watch the movie in the rain. Mostly the driveins were something for us teenagers to do with our time and many times it was to make out. Good memories.

I also remember when 16mm movie projectors became accessible some people who owned them were sowing movies in vacant lots every weekend. The side of a building was the screen.

[tallman]

Raise your hand if you took a date to a drive-in and watched the movie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought so.

[StuGotz]