» drive-in Yesteryear Remembered

My memories of drive-in theaters stems from movie night out with my parents and sisters. I remember we drove into the theater parking lot while it was still light, driving around to find that perfect spot in the middle of the screen and then my dad would roll down the window and setup the speaker by grabbing it from the pole that it’s stored on and hanging the metal speaker enclosure on the window and rolling the window back up. There was one time I remember the speaker didn’t work, so my dad had to move the car to another spot till we found a working speaker.

I thought the concept of the drive-in theater was pretty good. You could bring all the comforts of home with you, like blankets, pillows, food & drink, right in your car. If you wanted something more, you just took a short walk to the refreshment stand. This could actually be a pain to do if your taking a trek while the movie is playing. It’s dark and all the rows begin to look the same, so it’s easy to lose your way back to the car if you’re not careful.

One downfall of having all the comforts of home in your car, is you can actually get too comfortable and fall asleep during the movie, not that I’ve ever done this.

The only movie that I recall seeing at the drive-in was the 1963 film, The Nutty Professor, starring Jerry Lewis. I know we saw others, but this is the only one that sticks in my mind.

Unfortunately, the popularity of the drive-in theater declined and many shut their doors. Resourceful theaters like the Roadium Drive-in in the city of Torrance, California, were dual purpose venues that showed movies during the evening and had swap meets during the daylight hours.