On June 6, 1933......

I remember going with my mom and dad as a young child. My mom would give me a bath and get me into my pajamas so when I came home they would just put me to bed. I rarely remember how I got in bed.
Sometimes there was a problem with that little speaker box and my dad would have to move to a different spot or the people next to us were noisy.
They never went to the concession stand ,we always brought along our own snacks which was a treat for me. Eventually I would lay down in the back seat of the car with my blanket and pillow and fall asleep.
 

My parents took us to the drive-in one time each summer. I think it took my mom a year to stop twitching from the experience.

Like others, we went in our pajamas on the theory that we'd be put in our beds directly on returning home. Nice idea; too bad it didn't work.

There was a rickety old playground in front of the screen. As soon as we saw the other kids playing up there in their pj's, the cries arose to go play, too. Eventually, my parents would give in and we'd return to the car, sweaty, filthy and occasionally bleeding (I did mention the equipment was old and rickety, didn't I?)

There were also trips to the bathroom. Nobody could ever find their shoes without having to turn on the overhead light.

No treats from the concession stand. We always had a jug of Kool-Aid and a bag of home-popped popcorn, both of which ended up on the floor and seats of the car and the afore-mentioned pajamas.

There would be constant jockeying for the best positions and much whining about how someone was taking up too much room, getting in the way, singing along with the movie, etc, etc.

Then, when we got home pajamas would have to be changed and dirty hands, feet, faces would have to be washed.

My mother would swear "NEVER AGAIN!!!!!" but we'd go again next summer.
 
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My mother would swear "NEVER AGAIN!!!!!" but we'd go again next summer.
My God, jujube, you were in the back seat with me. Yeah, the crummy swing set brought back memories. Only one side of the swing's chains was hooked up, so the seat hung down, pointed at the ground. They had a "kiddie pool," about 4 feet wide. It hadn't had water in it since Lincoln was President. I had forgotten about the jug of Kool-Aid. That brought back memories. Kool-Aid uses a lot of expensive sugar, and my mom was cheap, so our stuff was sour as hell. Of course, we never went to the overpriced concession stand. Plus the sound from the speakers was lousy. It was better to roll down the windows, and listen to the sound from the hundreds of other speakers. There was always this one great spot, right in front of the screen, and close enough to the restroom, but when you pulled in, the speaker was missing. I hated the "Intermission" clock on the screen, supposedly, it was ten minutes, but it seemed to be a couple of hours. The only spot you could really see the screen from the back seat was sitting between the front seats, and of course, the rear view mirror blocked out part of the screen. As a kid, I wasn't interested in most of the movie, it was all "mushy stuff".
While, we didn't do it. I knew other families, where kids were in the trunk to avoid paying for them at the entrance.
 
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I went with my parents a lot when I was little. It seemed such a treat. As a teen I went also. Once I had to hide in the trunk with my "date" to avoid having to pay. A guy exposed himself to me at a drivein. My first experience with something like that. :oops:

My last date at a drivein was in 1974. My date took me to a drivein in another city but when we got there it was just a vacant lot. He swore up and down there had been a drivein there. I can't guess when. We amused ourselves otherwise. I really liked him. :giggle:
 
While, we didn't do it. I knew other families, where kids were in the trunk to avoid paying for them at the entrance.
All the drive-ins here charged $3 per carload. A rumor had started flying around that it was because 2 teenagers left 3 friends in their trunk through the whole movie as a practical joke, and one of them suffocated. But I think it was just a rumor. I think they charged $3 per carload so that kids would stop sneaking people in.
 
Mosquitoes. It helped when you could roll up the windows and get the sound through the car speakers. On hot nights the windows still had to be opened and those little nippers arrived.
 
In high school, Friday night was always "run-around-with-your-friends-night" (Saturday night was Date Night).

Often that involved six girls going to the drive-in, checking out the boys, who were also there stag. It wasn't unusual to go with your friends and leave with a guy (someone you knew, of course). Sort of the fore-runner of on-line dating.
 
Ha ha! We were only allowed 6 people in the car. So the rest of us crammed into the trunk! (with the beer)
Crazy Summer nights! Gads! That was FUN!!!
Wouldn't it be WONDERFUL if they brought back Drive-in -movies?
Course I don't have a honey to share it with, but for those who do, how romantic is that?
 
All the drive-ins here charged $3 per carload. A rumor had started flying around that it was because 2 teenagers left 3 friends in their trunk through the whole movie as a practical joke, and one of them suffocated. But I think it was just a rumor. I think they charged $3 per carload so that kids would stop sneaking people in.
Yeah, you're right there was a "carload" fee. But if I remember it right, it was more expensive, than "2 adults, one child' ticket. I think each kid was 30 cents.
 
Ha ha! We were only allowed 6 people in the car. So the rest of us crammed into the trunk! (with the beer)
Crazy Summer nights! Gads! That was FUN!!!
Wouldn't it be WONDERFUL if they brought back Drive-in -movies?
Course I don't have a honey to share it with, but for those who do, how romantic is that?
The city offered to help one of our old drive-ins to open up after the indoor cinemas closed, but the drive-in owner's kids (who inherited it) asked the city to just take the drive-in off their hands. The city didn't want to do that. They knew it would take 3 to 5 years for them to put to a vote, get it funded, hire a company to fix the old place up and make it safe and all that, so it never happened.
 
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Yeah, you're right there was a "carload" fee. But if I remember it right, it was more expensive, than "2 adults, one child' ticket. I think each kid was 30 cents.
While in high school, I worked on a farm over the summer and got this idea that I would ask the farmer if I could borrow one of the many tractors on the farm and hitch up a hay wagon and take it out for the night. He wanted to know what for, so I told him that I was going to ask a bunch of kids from the high school if they wanted to go to the drive-in this Tuesday, which was a buck a carload night, for free because I would let them ride the hay wagon in with me driving the tractor. He laughed for about 2-3 minutes. Finally, he told me that if that worked he would buy the popcorn. I asked him, "The soda too?" He agreed.

It took me a few days, but I finally had 20 guys and girls that agreed to go in with me. When I pulled into the theater, the cashier said that's not a car. I told her that I didn't have a car and that the tractor was my only transportation. She called for the manager and when he came and saw the 21 of us on the hay wagon, he also laughed and was saying, "Let them in." The next day at work, the owner saw us in the newspaper (someone must have called the paper and a photographer came out and took our picture) and gave me a $20 bill for the popcorn and soda.

The owner told me not to do it again and I agreed.
 
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The city offered to help one of our old drive-ins to open up after the indoor cinemas closed, but the drive-in owner's kids (who inherited it) asked the city to just take the drive-in off their hands. The city didn't want to do that. They knew it would take 3 to 5 years for them to put to a vote, get it funded, hire a company to fix the old place up and make it safe and all that, so it never happened.
That's a shame. Drive-ins were great fun.
 
I haven't seen a Drive In, still in business, anywhere in our State, in the past 10 or 15 years. We used to go to one occasionally when we still lived in the city, but they closed several years ago. With this Covid making regular theaters shut down, drive ins would have been a good option.
 
I haven't seen a Drive In, still in business, anywhere in our State, in the past 10 or 15 years. We used to go to one occasionally when we still lived in the city, but they closed several years ago. With this Covid making regular theaters shut down, drive ins would have been a good option.
There's one left in Sacramento, way up at the northeast end so it serves 3 other communities as well. It has 5 screens and is closed for a couple months in winter. I don't know how much they charge, but I bet it's nowhere near as expensive as the indoor theaters.

Most of our indoor theaters opened back up a couple months ago (the major ones. small ones are still closed). A sign says to leave 2 empty chairs between your group and others.
 

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