Why did Drive-In's die off?

If you ever went to one you would not need to ask

 

Expanding on what you said, when we grew up in the 60s and 70s, it was more entertaining and there was more to do outside the house than inside. You had your handful of TV channels, the radio and the stereo and that was it. Now, its far more entertaining to be inside and there are way more options, not to mention comfort. Why watch a movie or sporting event somewhere and pay a lot of money when you can see it better and more comfortably in your home?

 

And their "feud" with the hot dog place has been going on for years. Reminds me of a similar local situation many years ago when a nearby bar (located next to a White Castle) put up a sign in their window which read, "Slider Palace has not reimbursed us fairly for damage caused by their construction." I know I'm going off the subject here, but next to said White Castle was a long-standing KFC which was eventually knocked down and replaced with a Checkers. Then a few years later, they knocked down the Checkers and built a KFC.

 

I don't recall it ever being a big problem, but I'm sure a fair chunk of the audience on any given night was well-fortified with various libations and consequently not too picky about such things.

 

I remember that place. North end of the airport. Saw ET there & a couple of others that I don't remember.

 

Passion pits, now those were good times I remember the mother of a girl I was dating asking about the movie. "Uh, movie, what movie?"

 

Maybe the whole "Drive in thing" was just a fad to begin with, that just slowly petered out, especially when home video watching took over...?

 

The Jolly Roger where I spent so many evenings from childhood to dating. Screen fell in a wind storm and it never came back. An empty lot for thirty years.
This was its opening night in the fifties.

 

I went to maybe two drive ins when I was a kid and remember more about those than virtually any other movie theater experience

 

Probably the last time I went to a drive-in was in the mid-80s when I was in college. If not on a date, a group of us guys would go together in the biggest car with the biggest trunk and a few of us would sneak in by being in the trunk while the others were in the car. Usually the ones who weren't of drinking age were the ones who had to be in the trunk with the beer and booze.

I'm not quite sure but either there is still one drive-in in operation in the Greater Cincinnati area or it just recently closed. There used to be 2 drive-ins near my house but one closed back in the late '80s or early '90s and the other one closed shortly after. The land was sold to developers. One location is an area of apartment complexes and the other has an office building containing various businesses. Other drive-ins in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati also faded away over time for various reasons.

As a kid in the '70s, my parents used to go to the drive-in all the time in the summer and I remember my brother and me sitting in the back seat watching the movies (or falling asleep during the late picture of the double or triple features.) We would take our snacks, drinks, pillows and a pee jar (too young to walk to the projector house/concession stand by ourselves after dark and usually it closed down halfway through the final picture.)


Edit:

I just remembered. One of those two drive-ins near my house that were sold to developers actually caught on fire and burnt down. There was speculation, but no proof, that it was arson. Soon after that the land was sold.

 

Live long enough and everything was just a fad to begin with.

 

Cheech & Chong - Pedro and the man at the Drive-in

 

Skowhegan Drive In – Skowhegan's Premier Drive-In
There is still one running by us. It is fun for a change of pace once in a while.

 

So it was"Gone with the wind"?

 

As a kid, the Highland Drive-In in Salt Lake City was my favorite. Many evenings were spent watching movies in the back seat of the car, at this locale. The drive-in closed in the fall of 1982, and torn down not long after. These days, an apartment complex, and a housing subdivision now occupy the site. The only drive-in that remains in the Salt Lake valley is the Redwood Drive-In.

 

When I moved to Hickory in 1984 there were two extant drive-ins, and one that still had it's sign, but was already a flea market. One of those two was an adult drive in, and right up the road from my high school. How they ever got away with showing hardcore on an outdoor screen, I'll never understand. There was a trailer park where you could see the stuff right out your window! A year or two later a "community standards" Supreme Court case came down and closed almost all adult theaters (indoor and out) in NC.

 

In 1972, there were 137 operating drive-ins in Michigan. Today, there are eight.

www.waterwinterwonderland.com

 

There's a dozen or so places around the Puget Sound that do outdoor movie screening series during the summer months. They're definitely more popular than the small handful of drive-ins that still exist around here. (Probably because they're free.)

 

There's one about 20 miles away I haven't been to yet. I looked at their page a month or two ago and the first show of a double feature started at 9:30 pm, so I thought I'd check back around now while it's still warm and night falls around 8. They're closed for the season. Dummies.

 

Plus, years back, they had dollar cinema's, which ran 2nd run movies, for less than the cost of a drive inn theater.

And the mosquito's were not eating you alive in the dollar theaters.

 

And I'll bet they never did much in Alaska, daylight savings time or not !


By the way.....we have one here just outside of town !

Hi-Way 50 Drive In | Located in Lewisburg, TN

The rules are a drag though.....number 11 takes the cake.

1. Turn off headlights, use only parking lights while driving if movie has started.
2. SPEED LIMIT: 5mph - Watch out for children!!
3. No profanity, yelling, or disorderly conduct: Do not interfere with other movie patrons experience.
4. No free re-entry. If you leave for ANY reason, you will have to pay again.
5. Pets are allowed as long as they are leashed, non-disruptive and the pet owners are properly cleaning up after them.
6. Parents: watch your kids, do not let them wander off or play in the roads.
7. We are not responsibly for damaged or stolen property.
8. Laser pointers are strictly prohibited.
9. Outside Food is NOT allowed unless a Food Voucher is purchased at the gate ($6 per vehicle). Outside food cannot be prepared at the Drive-in or shared between cars (no open flames or tailgating parties.)
10. No alcohol
11. Anything beyond making out such as heavy petting and 'going around the bases' is punishable by public humiliation and a call to the young girl's parents !!!!!

 

As a teen, I worked at the local Drive In repairing speakers and the like, 1969 to 72. The stuff I found there could fill a book.

 

The only reason I had to go to a drive-in theater was because my mom was a heavy smoker and smoking is prohibited in regular movie theaters. As a kid, I always went to a regular theater to see movies that interested me.
Looking back, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to see the movies my folks saw at the drive-in!

I remember going to a drive-in 3 times after turning 16:
With my new girlfriend to see “Garp”. We ended up really liking the movie instead of the planned reason we went....
Saw a double feature of “Animal House” & “Airplane” with friends and a cooler of beer.
Took my wife and daughter to see “Lion King” for the novelty of it cuz neither of them had been to a Drive-In!

That’s it. I don’t miss ‘em.

 

I used to go to the drive in all the time. I remember the last movie I saw there was Apollo 13. It was a double feature with another Tom Hanks movie, but I don't remember which one. I really miss it.

 

In the area I grew up going to Drive-In's , they were done in by urban sprawl and increasing land values. When they were initially built in the 50's and 60's they were well beyone the outskirts of the city in question. As the city developed and the suburbs built up in a large way, the land the drive-in's set on became increasingly valueable.

At some point, the independant drive-in's were sold to the large movie house chains. Once this happened, the beancounters quickly determined there was a better return on selling the lands in question for re-development for townhouses than for operating the drive-in's as movie viewing venues. Once the first sale was completed it was quickly became the first domino to fall in the chain.

Very sad as even at my age I have some great memories of going to the drive-in with both my family (in my youth) and my friends (in my mid-to-late teens). Both were very different experiences but both are extremely memorable. I'm sad my kids won't have the same experience .....