Dont remeber the movie but it was at the BelAir Drive In in Pontoon Beach<Illinois. it was in the 70's. I take my family to the only Drive-in Operating on Rt 66. So Im told. Its the SkyView in Litchfield Illinois.
Spent damn near every Fri or Sat night all through high school at the Midway Drive-In in Reedley CA. Late 70's/early 80's. Looking back now that would explain a lot about where I am in life now. Gulp!
My first drive in I remember was the 183 in Irving , must have been in 1954 and my folks took the family to see 20000 leagues . I worked at that drive in in1965 and loved sneaking up on my friends when the fog was rolling from the inside . Not many open now days . Picture is of one that my wife and I go to some times , only about 250 miles from the house .
Way back in the mid-1950s the show began with "Spotty", a cartoonish character who ran around the screen. We try to shine our spotlights on it. Many of us had ye oulde Appletons. Sometimes Spotty would run off the screen. A few seconds later he'd reappear on a different edge. Haven't thought of this in ages.
Robert Mitchum in Thunder Road, a cult-cl***ic in the South. Supposedly this scene was in Memphis, but if you look closely at the window behind him it says Asheville Pharmacy!....Oops!
The big sky drive in is still open. Located in the Wisconsin Dell's area just outside of town. I thinks it's on hwy 16. Jefferson Wisconsin still has one so does door county Wi. The pic is from big sky.
My Mom, older Sister and I went to the Drive-in outdoor theaters often starting in the 50's. When I turned 16, 1964, had my car, a girlfriend, went often, never saw much of any movies, but what a great date venue, the stories I could tell. All of us kids called them p***ion pits, appropriate name IMO. I don't think any survived in the Milwaukee Wisconsin area, Us Baby Boomers have lived in the best of times in so many ways.
I can't even remember the movie but my Buddy loaned me his 57 Chevy 2 Dr Hrtp to take a date to a Local Drive In... After the date I dropped chicky off and went to my Moms place for a short visit at her Apartment on the 8th floor overlooking parking on road below where I parked the car to wait for my buddy to come and get the car. I did car checks off the balcony and after 20 or so minutes I looked out and the car was gone...I freaked ran down the stairs gone...WTF...went back upstairs called the Cops reported it stolen and called my buddy no answer... This was way before Cell Phone days...so I went back down to wait for the Cops and after several minutes my Buddy shows up and I let him know what the heck is going on and he tells me he moved it down the street as a joke...I was not f'n amused let me tell you and then the Cops show up what a mess...I told him to tell them what happened with some choice profanity inserted...Honestly its a foggy memory now but wow I was messed up that night... Credit to Photographer, Owner
I take the kids to the one down in Winchester Virginia all the time during the summer September is their cl***ic car show hope I have the fleetline on the road by then https://www.facebook.com/139468879400524/posts/2626900583990662/ Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
We have the Black Hills twin just down the road in Hermosa. We went down and sat in the bed of my pickup and watched the new "Incredibles" movie when it came out.
When I drove the 40 dodge pickup to the out door we sat in the back . The truck had no radio so I purchased a pair of drive in speakers that plugged into a boom box. I set the radio on the roof and ran a speaker that hung to each side of the box. I usually stopped on the way there at little ceazers pizza. I bought two pies one for the first movie one for the second. The truck had the original 218 flathead in it. The engine compartment was super clean. Putting the second pizza on the engine kept it warm for the second movie. Of course it was still in the box.
Hard to believe it but a new $2, 000,000.00 Drive In Theater just opened in La Grange, Kentucky. Theres also another one in Georgetown, Indiana pretty close by. Might go if American Graffiti is playing. Gary
Do not remember what was on. First one was about '49 or '50, (10 years old). We dug under the back fence that was on the riverbank. Went all along the back row turning up the speakers to hear the movie. Did that for a couple of summers until they discovered what we were doing. They then let us in free and allowed us to sit right up front in the kids paly ground. Then as when we hit high school some of our school buddy's got paying jobs there and they let us in free. First one I clearly remember was, "Rock around the Clock".
The Panther Drive-in In Lufkin, TX was supposedly the largest in the country. Capacity for something like 3000 cars. Went there as a kid when visiting relatives. It's gone now.
The TopHi drive was 3 miles from my house here in town and is probably the one my folks took me to long before I was old enough to remember what was showing. I went there through high school. it's a self storage place now but has the same sign out front. First movie I remember at a drive in was when I was Psyco at the Poulsbo Wa drive in theater in 1960 My sister came home (she was 11 at the time) from school telling about this movie her friends were all raving about and she just had to see so Mom pops a couple of #46 grocery bags full of pop corn and gets some drinks at the store and loads my sister, I and our little brothers and sisters in the 68 Mercury colony park wagon and we go to the drive in. Wasn't the kind of movie Mom or I thought we were going to for sure.
Our late friend Randy Nash was with his dad in Asheville, North Carolina when they were filming the movie. Most of the scenes were filmed in Asheville, Noth Carolina along Highway 19 and others at Lake Lure Some scenes were filmed in Beech, east of Weaverville. Scenes include Reems Creek Road, Sugar Creek Road and the Beech Community Center. A interesting side bar --- The role of Robin Doolin, Lucas's younger brother, was originally written for Elvis Presley per Robert Mitchum's request. Mitchum personally submitted the script to Elvis in Los Angeles. The singer was eager to play the role, but his manager Colonel Tom Parker demanded Elvis be paid an enormous sum of money, more than the entire budget for the movie, which ended negotiations. Robert Mitchum's son James got the part, which worked well due to the close physical resemblance. HRP
Dromana Drive-in on The Mornington Peninsula, Victoria Australia is on the National Heritage Register. Opened in 1961, 485 parking bays. still going strong ( mainly in the summer season from the beach/vacation crowd ) and still owned by the same family. I was born in Dromana in 1953 and remember going to the drive-in as a kid in the family Holden ( my avatar ) Can,t remember the movies. Probably Disney. When we moved to the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne in 1964 there were drive-ins everywhere. We had 3 within a 10 mile radius. Wantirna, Croydon, Springvale, When i was 17 the Vincent Price horror movies were the rage.
The first drive in movie I can remember seeing was Alfred Hitch****'s "The Birds", probably saw some earlier , but that one stuck with me .
Don't remember the first movie but each movie was preceded by a few minutes of "Spotty", a small caricature who would run around the screen. We were supposed to follow him with our spotlights. Everybody had a "spot" or dual "spots", right?
Sixty four drive in South of Muskogee, Home from the Hill, starring Robert Mitchum. Was about 1960 and North to Alaska, with John Wayne. Was a good year, got to go to the show twice!. I remember Thunder Road around 1958, but not as good, was a wee lad at that time. Bones
home of the white cap/white coat peepers... Hello, Much has been written about the myriad of drive in theaters everywhere in So Cal. There were 4 different locations in every designated comp*** sections of Long Beach, W,N,E,S. They were packed every weekend. Spotlights were fun at the pre-movie blank screen and at intermission. During the early years as little kids, that was the main draw at the drive-in theaters, plus, we could hang out in our PJs napping on the way home afterwards. It just seemed like every community in So Cal had a drive in theater. But, in the teenage years, 57-64, we found out that unless there is an actual fight, near riot or impending gang h***les, the Long Beach City Police just sat outside of the drive-in property, waiting for said “perps” to get on the city streets. (after being pointed out by the white coat/cap crew) Then the clamp came down for a bunch of car defects and treasure, inside of the cars. The hordes of white coat, bicycle riding, drive in security people were usually enough to handle most problems inside of the drive-in proper. But, they were powerless outside of the property. They were, what we teenagers called “peepers.” They rode around in their white caps and long white coats with their flashlights shining in the back rows. Our hot rods and cruisers were definitely cars that stood out and were given more scrutiny that a family 4 door sedan or wagon. Being teenagers was the main draw for these drive in security bicycle riders. Teenagers equals trouble: what a business sense in those days. Jnaki Our neighboring county, Orange County, had their own numbers of drive-in theaters located in the vast area from the Long Beach city borders, East. Los Angeles County (LB included) had the most, spread all over for as far as the eye could see, from the ocean to inland, mid valley regions. Santa Barbara/Goleta area: We have been coming to this place up North, since it originally opened during our surf/family travels up here for a vacation. The Saturday swap meet is/was famous for having tons of great stuff not ***ociated with commercial enterprises. They were family garages cleaned out with some cool stuff. The late 60s stuff was priceless. A new Sims Skateboard with trucks and wheels: $1.50 A surfboard shaped oak skateboard $.50, deals galore… In November of 2017, we drove by this location and it looks like it is still in business with a few changes. It is no longer called the Goleta Drive-In Theater Swap Meet, but the (upscale ***ociation) SB (Santa Barbara)Public Market.
Bad news in Kentucky. The brand new LaGrange $2,000,000 drive ins screen collapsed in a wind storm. Hopefully it wi;; be rebuilt and up and running in 9 monts to a year.
The Jalopy Journal
