Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Let's All Go To the Snack Bar: Drive Ins turn 79


Today's Google doodle celebrates the 79th anniversary of the drive-in movie theatre.  If you don't know the history of how they began, google it. I am one of those "midlifers" referred to in one of the dozen or so articles I read, "snuggling on the bench seat of ...cars while watching a B movie".

As a late-Sixties teen, my drive-in experiences, while not particularly torrid, were a big part of dating, a learning curve for dealing with boys and, often, an hilarious group experience with friends.

The San Fernando Valley suburbs of Los Angeles are where I cut my teeth on "adult" things.  The drive-in played a significant role as a relatively safe venue for drinking, smoking cigarettes, smoking pot.  As the passion pit of choice, many of my friends had their first or ongoing sexual encounters there. One friend was busted by cops walking the grounds & peeking in cars for illegal or illicit activity.  Unfortunately, she was in a state of deshabille while in the act with her boyfriend.  If memory serves, they were taken to the police station while their parents were called.  Jeez.  My dad would have put me in convent school if it had been me.

I distinctly remember one night my boyfriend, my best friend, her boyfriend and I went to see "2001".   That movie was supposed to be groundbreaking and ahead of its time.   It was, however,  long and boring.  We did the usual things kids did when bored:  drank beer, smoked a joint, got the munchies, went to the snack bar, bought food and candy, ate it and made out.  My GF was so intoxicated she passed out.  She had thick hair down to her waist.  When it was time to go home, we woke her.  She had a Sugar Daddy stuck in that hair.  We couldn't get it untangled.  It was truly stuck.  And Sugar Daddies were BIG.  

Her mother had to cut that thing out of her hair leaving a rather unsightly cut in the middle of the back of her head.  She took the brush to her behind when she finished cutting.  She later cut me out of her wedding as a bridesmaid.

The Sepulveda Drive In was the cheapest drive in in the Valley.  A car load was $1.25.  They definitely showed B movies but we'd all go anyway because nobody had any money and we always had to pony up gas money for the driver.

If you wanted to see a first run movie at the drive in, you'd hide with several friends, in the trunk of the car or under blankets in the back of the station wagon.  Surprisingly, it worked over & over.

My favorite part was always Intermission when the screen lit up with animated food singing & dancing "Let's All Go To the Snack Bar".   I can still sing it.  And do you remember "mushy roomy rooms"?    
I don't know when drive ins lost their luster.  I know as long as we lived in SoCal, we'd go.  Our first viewing of "Star Wars" was at a tri plex drive in and it was thrilling.  As children during the heyday of the drive in, our parents put us in jammies, drove to the drive in, backed the station wagon or truck into the space where we watched the movie from the comfort of our own car bed.  It was great!





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19 comments:

CaliforniaGirl500 said...

Oh Baino, I bet you have some tales to tell!

CaliforniaGirl500 said...

Most people my age, Boomers that is, recall them with great affection.

CaliforniaGirl500 said...

That's hilarious!  Making out in an inside theatre was a great deal more trick and obtrusive than the drive in.  If the people sitting behind you were teenagers too, you were golden.  If not, they'd be calling the ushers.  

Edymallory said...

Love your colorful description!   In NYC we didn't have cars or drive-in movies, but we had the way tippy-top last row of the highest balcony. And since the ushers were our age they didn't come around too often. We got enough done before the lights came on, and one theater always offered an empty balcony because no one wanted to climb the  top stairs. My mother always wondered: but didn't you see that movie already??   .

Stella Jones said...

I've never been to a drive-in movie. We don't have those over here in England.  It's something I'd love to try one day.

Baino said...

Hahaha...so was I...got woken up as the last car on the lot once. We only have a couple left these days. Fond memories indeed

CaliforniaGirl500 said...

Awww memories.  After a certain age, there is much to look back on.  

CaliforniaGirl500 said...

I don't recall trying to back in w/o lights through the exit.  I do recall people sneaking in on foot through the exit and finding their friends' car.  

Figures you liked "2001".  I still get the creepy crawlies when they show trailers with Hal's voice saying something about not turning him off or whatever.  I don't think Keir Dullea  (SP?) ever recovered from that movie typecasting.  He was forever "lost in space".  

CaliforniaGirl500 said...

OMG swap meets!  Forgot about those.  They started getting popular in the early 70s.  I remember because I was in college in San Diego & they had a HUGE one there each Sunday & alot of my friends earned extra money selling junk.  Thanks!

pat said...

I was doing the same stuff, during the same time period, but in the Long Beach area (not too far from you). There used to be so many drive-in theaters in SoCal. Very few left today though! Those that are left are usually only used for swap meets on the weekends. Lot's of good memories...

lisleman said...

"passion pit of choice" - good description.  I disagree about "2001" movie.  I was enthralled watching it.  For me there were two distinct drive-in experiences.  The family type before I was old enough to drive and thought more about candy than girls.  Then the second phase of the drive-in fun was what you describe - making out, drinking.  Did you ever try the backing-no-lights-thru-the-exit trick to get in free?  I remember a friend trying it.

Tanna Stanley said...

You brought back some memories here... ;)

Okay, I have to hand it to you, I think NH folks may be crazy!  LOL!  Gotta love it though! 

CaliforniaGirl500 said...

Kids weren't so innocent then either.  I had plenty of friends drop acid when they went to Disneyland so they could enjoy some of the rides tripping.  I never did that either...but I thought about it.  

CaliforniaGirl500 said...

Star Wars came out in 1977.  I remember because that's the year my husband was accepted to grad school at University of Kentucky & we moved  in July the same year.  

CaliforniaGirl500 said...

Hi!  Welcome to my blog.   Where did you live and what high school did you attend, if I'm not being too inquisitive.  I really had fun recalling some of the memories.  OMG there were too many to write about.  Everyone would have been here for days.  Next one:  bowling alleys.  Do you remember the Woodlake Bowl or the Corbin Bowl?

Deborah Moffett said...

Hi!  Welcome to my blog.   Where did you live and what high school did you attend, if I'm not being too inquisitive.  I really had fun recalling some of the memories.  OMG there were too many to write about.  Everyone would have been here for days.  Next one:  bowling alleys.  Do you remember the Woodlake Bowl or the Corbin Bowl?

Mermaidgallerynelson said...

I can't believe they are extinct now....such great places to pig out ( in so many ways) I remember seeing Apocalypse Now in a thunderstorm in a drive in....terrific atmosphere.! Now they would be BIG trouble...kids aren't as innocent as they used to be ....and there is a weird world to deal with...pity!!!

brian miller said...

ouch on the sugar daddy in the hair...that is horrible...those things are sticky...we have 2 drive ins still within an hour...it is def a fun summer treat.....saw star wars the original one at th drive in for the first time...years ago

Jann Tresham said...

What a great trip down memory lane! We might have crossed paths at the drive ins in the San Fernando valley. I also grew up going to those drive ins, first with my family and then with friends and boyfriends. Now I live in Oregon and one of the few remaining drive ins in the state is 40 miles from me. I'm going to take my grand children to the drivein when they visit this summer. Those opportunities are rare these days.