What Ever Happened to Drive In Movies

So what ever happened to the Drive Ins? Talk about a tragedy! Drive Ins were great! You could go to a movie with all the kids in your backseat, just pile in blankets and pillows and they could run around until it was dark and the movie would begin to play and then it was snack bar time! Yup a cooler full of aluminum wrapped hot dogs and popcorn from the snack bar, ice cold sodas in a can... oh it makes me sad to think about it. You would attach the little wire from the pole to the antenna of your car and the car's radio would crackle until the sound synchronized with the film on the big screen as you tuned it in. The woop-dee-doo rows of cars lined up towards the screen and under it a swing set or small playground for kids to play on.Then they had double and even triple billings! Two or three movies for the price of one!

At a drive in you didn't have to worry about leaving your kids at home or finding a baby-sitter. They'd pass out in the backseat before the movie ended and you could just throw blankets over them. Guys and girls could go out on a date and not worry about bumping someone as they made out or felt strange about a public display of affection! The Drive In gave you your own space to enjoy a movie on a big screen. Before I even hit eighteen almost all the drive ins had closed down. To think about it, I think that is when things in our country had begun to change and take a down turn. It was the beginning of the .com era, the start of grunge, the overload of media had begun. It was the time of the walk in movie with all the glamor and lights and movie posters... a ploy of marketing if you ask me. I mean I get it from a business strand point. These megaplex movie houses with fifteen screens and ability to host thousands of viewers... it's economics. Not to mention Drive Ins had to be seasonal... spring to fall operations, try watching a movie in a thunderstorm or on a foggy night. But there was still something to the experience of seeing a movie at the Drive In. I saw The Empire Strikes Back at the Van Nuys Drive In as a kid and Star Wars has been a theme for me my entire life!

We have forgot who we are America. We have to much to consume and then we wonder why we feel so confused and alone. I wish I could take my kids to a drive in. I wish I could feel safe letting my son ride his bike across town without the worry that I'll never see him again. I'd just like to share those fond experiences with my own kids is all. Those days were times when families still ate at a table, they watched television together. They all used the same phone and there were no text messages, or emails. There is something to it, a piece of our past that has been it seems forever lost, perhaps you feel the same. I just wish we could bring some of that back to our nation.