I got intrigued by the dissapearance of drive-thru's in the other thread when LeDaemon started talking about them. They were something I have only heard about or seen in the media...and being born in the early 80's, I think they were gone well before I came around....guess they got too expensive to host with rising land prices. But of course, Wikipedia is a good start but I'm sure there's more details behind it.
Posted by LeDaemon (Member # 198) on :
They would charge admission per person, but a way around it was people would sneak friends in the trunk of their car. Back then a car trunk was fairly big like in an old Caddie compared to today's little, lets say Smart Car. Posted by bluetoelover (Member # 14736) on :
We have one here in my province. It's only open for the summer(June-August). The amount of money they would make would scare ya! And yes, people still sneak in people in their trunks Posted by diamond johny (Member # 27586) on :
We used to go every weekend & it was $5 a carload. I had several in my neighborhood & all were gone by around '83. The local rock station used to have a "All Night Blow-out" once a year & was a HUGE party showing The Wall & The Song Remains The Same, Easy Rider, etc., from 8pm till around 5am. The Drive ins would broadcast the sound on some FM channel as well as the speakers so it was loud & everyone had it cranked up. Those were the days!
Posted by Keyfeet (Member # 27313) on :
i guess the closest i will ever get one is to actually watch a movie in my car. but it has a dvd player in it.
Posted by sofatater (Member # 4209) on :
They started to disappear about the time that VCR's became popular. Most of us went to drive-ins because it was an inexpensive night out with the family. We'd take a cooler full of drinks and snacks (you can't do that in a theater). And most of them had a playground for the kids in front, below the screen so they'd be occupied until it was dark enough to start the movie.
Then VCR's hit the market and you could just bring the movies into your living room. Ta-Da, no more drive-in's. Posted by Maverick Matrix (Member # 2989) on :
There's one that I can think of in the Detroit area (yes, really) but most of them are long gone. I'd be surprised if that one is even still open.
Posted by sofatater (Member # 4209) on :
I used to go to the drive in with a cooler full of beer and a couple of lawn chairs in the back of my pick up truck. I'd back into the space, set up the lawn chairs in the bed of the truck (they wouldn't let you put them on the ground), and pop open the cooler! It was great on a warm summer's night!
Posted by A&F_FootDude_05 (Member # 2999) on :
Maybe they will come back in the 2010's Posted by Drunk_24-7 (Member # 21781) on :
I don't think there's any around up here but back home it's still running strong in the summer. They do from Dusk till Dawn's every holiday where there's like three movies and a giant party at the drive in. Then there's carload nights and something going on every night of the week in the summer. Makes for an awesome date or a great party, or even a good family experience with the kids depending on what you're looking for. I had tons of great times at the drive in over the years and I think they blow theaters out of the water.
Posted by sofatater (Member # 4209) on :
I think we need to start a "Grass Roots" movement and bring back Drive-In's. Anybody got an empty lot on hand? Posted by Toetapper (Member # 6473) on :
The last one in my neighborhood closed about ten years ago; it's now a housing development. I do miss it.
As our restaurant was slowly failing (due to relentless police patrols over-enforcing DUI laws) my father would console himself by saying with a sigh, "I could have bought a drive-in theater or a slide-rule factory".
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