Saturday, October 21, 2006

Movies The Old Fashion Way

Drive-in theaters are a thing of the past in much of the US. Land prices have gone so high that many have been converted to shopping centers, condominiums, and such. Those that do survive tend to upgrade with expensive snack bars, the removal of speakers, and installation of broadcasting systems where you tune your car radio to a certain channel. None of this is true in Delta. This theater is straight from the 1950’s. Each car hangs a speaker on the window, and as you walk to the snack bar to buy very reasonably priced snacks, the sound from the speakers spread all over the place create a very unique listening experience. Couple all this with the cool fall air and the great sky show put on behind the screen, and you have an evening that is hard to beat, especially if you also get a distant lightning storm to jazz things up a bit! Do be patient however, as you will likely get the coal train making a couple of passes during a double feature.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

from what you described it can be quite distracting, but i would love to experience this one day .

Ann said...

Looks great! I wish there would be such a theater in my city...

Eric said...

What a shame that these have gone away in the USA. For us it's truly "American"!

Bill said...

While they have not gone away, they do seem to be getting harder to find. They seem to be found mainly in smaller towns where land is still relatively inexpensive

Back when Star Wars Episode I came out, we were passing through a small town in SW Wisconsin, and we came across a drive-in that was playing the new release. We gave them a call, and they let us come to the theater in our motorhome. We parked in the back, got out the lawn chairs & blankets, turned on the outside speakers that rig had, and watched the movies! The manager came by to see if everything was ok, and we asked if we could park there overnight after the movie. He said that was fine, so we ended up with a nice campsite, a double feature, and it was cheaper than a regular campground!

Curly said...

It's great that this still exists, we are totally benign and ignorant of "drive in theatres" in the U.K.

Curly's Photoshop

Anonymous said...

we had some drive in theaters too in the past. But nowdays people prefer to watch DVD at home.

Annie said...

You've brought back some wonderful memories for me.

It's true, there are no drive in movie theaters around where I live. Not anymore.

Chad Oneil Myers said...

Very cool.

Victoria said...

It's great to see that there are still some drive-in theaters around. The town I grew up in had one, and it provided many great memories. You've inspired me to take a drive a few towns over to visit one. (Plus, that is a beautiful photo).

Felicia said...

Hi, I'm a little late seeing your post. I chose a drive-in for my Nov 1 theme day photo, but your photo is much better.