Drive in Movie or Drive inRestaurant

[Joe Abernathy #17524]

OK...since I just KNOW Im going to win the Lotto any day now, I"ve decided to open one of the following.  Either one will be a perfect spot to showcase our beautiful Cadillacs!

A 50s style Drive in Restaurant - Girls in short pink skirts and roller skates serving greasy cheeseburgers and fries, Chuck Berry and Elvis on the speakers barely heard over the rumble of engines and squeeling tires, neon signs and curved stainless steel panels on the building.  The perfect cruise spot to see and be seen.  Open Wed thru Sat night.

Or...A 50s style Drive in Movie Theater - Now Showing: "From Here to Eternity" "Rebel Without a Cause" & "Beach Blanket Bingo"...speakers that just barely work (but who cares), a plyground right under the HUGE screen, A concession stand with girls in short pink skirts serving greasy cheeseburgers and hotdogs (OK I have a weekness for ...uh...greasy cheeseburgers), all the chairs and speakers in front of the concession stand for the guys who couldnt find a date and their car is being occupied, Dancing hotdogs at intermission, the works.  Open Thurs-Fri and Sat night.

Since I wont be able to run them both at the same time I will have to choose just one.  What do you think?

In anticipation of my future gains, I will shortly be accepting applications for servers.  Short pink skirts a prerequisite.

[Michael Stamps 19507]

I vote for the girls in short pink skirts.

Stampie

[Doug Houston]

Ill vote for the restaurant. Maybe you havent noticed, but theatres are hitting the dirt with alarming rapidity. All if the Drive-In theatres in the Detroit area (Allegedly, the first one ever was in Harper Woods, near Detroit) are long gone.

Two twin theatres in Bloomfield Hills were leveled in the past few months, and another one, less than 25 years old, was boarded up a couple of weeks ago. Im sure that this is going on all over. Of course, home video is a big cause for the demise of the neighborhood theatre, and the garbage dregs that Holywood is pumping out is another big player in the death of the neighborhood show. So, if itll be a choice, people are still eating (too much), and a restaurant would be the best choice.

Just last night, the CLC Motor City Chapter had a night at a theatre in Detroit for a Clara Bow movie and organ rercital. The place was filled. Other car clubs were there as well, coupled with casual attendance. Those nights are ones that you always remember.

[David #19063]

Hey Joe,

I like your statement "Girls in short pink skirts and roller skates serving greasy cheeseburgers and fries..."

Well, if that is all they are wearing, short pink skirts and roller skates (topless), it will be a hit!

David

[Rob Gerace #16100]

Heres a website with a list of drive-ins in each state.  Im not sure how inclusive it is, or if it is up-to-date or not.  I heard somewhere that my current residence, Ohio, has the most, and Pennsylvania has the second most drive-ins left.  It also has a table for each state showing the number of drive-ins in a few random years.  Obviously, they peaked in the 50s and 60s, and declined ever since, in general.  Even Alaska had two of them at one time, apparently. Heres the link:

http://www.driveintheater.com/index.htm TARGET=_blank>http://www.driveintheater.com/index.htm


Ive never been to a drive in before, so Ill have to hit one up this summer.  There is a few here in the Dayton area, so it shouldnt be hard to go to one in the summer coming up.  Hopefully, Ill have the Six-Six SDV running good by then.  It goes to my shop on Monday.

Rob
66 SDV

[Bruce Reynolds # 18992]

Rob,

The trouble with the Drive-ins is that you dont get to see much of the movie, if that is actually what you both actually went to see.

I know from experience.

What really killed the drive-ins was that the manufacturers decided to build cars with Bucket Seats, and then fitted stupid Consoles between them.

Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le),
60 CDV

[Johnny aka Boolie]

[All if the Drive-In theatres in the Detroit area (Allegedly, the first one ever was in Harper Woods, near Detroit) are long gone.]

Fact of the matter the first one was right here in New Jersey in Camden.

The First Drive-In Theater 1933

The date is May 19, 1933 Richard H. along with 3 other investors, Willie Warren Smith, Edward Ellis and Oliver Willets, start construction. After three weeks and $30,000 the first Drive-In Theater opens on Tuesday June 6, 1933. On Crescent Boulevard, Camden New Jersey. By the name of "Drive-In Theatre" with admission price of 25 cents for the car, 25 cents per person and no car to pay more that $1.00 total.

[Johnny aka Boolie]

[What really killed the drive-ins was that the manufacturers decided to build cars with Bucket Seats, and then fitted stupid Consoles between them.]

Not so, it was the general lack of interest of drive-ins. Keep in mind that when the bucket seats came along, so did vans, which gave its occupants, shall we say more room to stretch out?

[Bruce Reynolds # 18992]

Gday Johnny,

Actually, it was the Rentalability of Videos that killed the Drive-ins here.

Further, I couldnt afford to but a van just to go to the drive-ins, and I didnt get my first car with a console until many years after I was married, so I never actually found the consoles a problem first hand.   My 57 Chev 210 Sedan had lovely comfortable factory Full Leather upholstery, and boy, was it comfortable.

I think that the Christian do-gooders also might have had a hand in their demise.   Cant have young couples not watching the movies that they paid to see.   Never seen so many cars moving whilst standing still, not that I was watching.

Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le),
60 CDV

[Jim Skelly, CLC #15958]

I never read of the first drive-in being in the Detroit area.  The one mentioned in the previous post in N.J. is the first drive-in that I have read about.  The Ford-Wyoming in Dearborn opened in 1950 and is still in business.  I believe it is the largest drive-in in the U.S.  Others in the Detroit area have been converted to strip malls or remain vacant.  Fords Michigan Truck plant in Wayne bought the Wayne Drive-In to expand the plant back in the mid-eighties.

[Johnny]

[ My 57 Chev 210 Sedan had lovely comfortable factory Full Leather upholstery, and boy, was it comfortable. ]

The back seat of my fathers 4 door 61 Chevy Bel Air proved to be quite comfortable for viewing the latest in movies at the drive-in.  My mother once aske why I had a throw pillow in the back, I told he it was for my back.  I wonder if she believed me......

[Doug. Houston]

Im glad I said: "allegedly". You just cant believe all the claims you hear.

[Rhino 21150]

We already have Drive-in Restaurants here in the South. They are called "Sonic". They think they sell a way cool "Coney Island" hot dog and greasy fries. They are ORDINARY. We have some local hot dog stands and a push cart on the courthouse square that are much better. Greasy burgers and dogs have to be the right kind of greasy. The kind you wipe on your sleeve! No I dont want sprouts with that! Mustard, chili and onions, please, side of slaw.
As for the pink skirts, well, theyre short but not pink. And some of the girls skate. The ones in their thirties, the older ones fall too often.
It wasnt the food or the video games or movies to rent that killed the old fashioned Drive-in. It was the gunfire. Monroes and Montys and Bob Pettys Oakwood Drive-in. Hoodlums. Whatever happened to good old fist fights? The Irish cop showed up, made em apologize to each other, told them to go home. They were back next Friday, best of friends.
The kids got mean and the geriatrics running the city hall got meaner. Its all over.