The Enduring Appeal of the American Drive-In

[Harold Hallikainen]

Nice article in the New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/t...smid=url-share

[Leo Enticknap]

The drive-in that I service had the claim to fame as being the one and only movie theater in LA County that was allowed to continue operating during the worst of the covid lockdowns (spring to fall 2020). As a result, business boomed, thanks to people being desperate to get out of the house and do something. The manager there tells me that he estimates that around half to two thirds of customers who started coming during the pandemic became regulars, and continue to come to this day.

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This was taken shortly after we installed the laser retrofit upgrade into their DP2K-32Bs. As you can see, even before the sun has completely gone in, the image is respectably bright. While they were still running the 6.5kW xenons, they would struggle to hit 4ft-l, even when it was totally dark outside.

The bummer with their north-facing lot (pictured here) is that the warehouses with sodium lamps all over the property that can be seen behind the screen were built after the theater opened, which made the projector upgrade absolutely essential. It also faces the approach path into LAX (if you look carefully, you can see the lights of two planes behind the screen), but that is far enough away that aircraft noise is only really an issue during very quiet movie scenes and if you're sitting outside your vehicle, e.g. on the flatbed of a truck.

[Harold Hallikainen]

There's a drive in a few blocks from where the USL offices were. https://www.sunsetdriveinslo.com/home It was one of our local test sites. Still going strong!

[Ryan Gallagher]

Texas (and Central Texas in particular) seem to have more than their share of still operating drive ins. Not owning a car however I have not been to one. A projectionist friend does some volunteer work at one of them, he is trying to get them set up to run film on film again (or at least that is his dream).

If Cinemas are becoming a nostalgic experience over all, Drive-Ins are the "most" nostalgic variety for some. The children don't have to be as controlled, they can run around and burn off some energy. And there is an element of privacy that comes with sitting in your own vehicle, no rules, it's your car... use your phone during the movie if you want. ;-)

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Every Drive In I ever serviced did colossal business. Before the season even begins their office phones are ringing off the hook...
My favorite location of all was The Melody Drive in @ Bass Lake, Indiana. The only Drive In I've ever been to with all grass ramps. I even added the second screen for them in the mid 1980...

[Ryan Gallagher]

Austin also has a pretty well known independently operated homeless housing community just outside of the city limits (Tiny House community) that partnered with Alamo to put in a small out door community screen and events stage. It's not a drive in, but a walk in, and encircled by tiny homes with a screen-side view. An interesting spin on the community first concept with a long lineage at drive ins.

Cinema-Amphitheater-Empty-Daytime-Edited.jpg

https://mlf.org/community-cinema/#

[Marcel Birgelen]

All permanent drive-ins around here died a long long time ago... During COVID-19, the drive-in theater made somewhat of a come-back in the form of popup locations. One problem here is daylight saving times, which only allow for very limited operations during peak summer time. I think that with modern LED wall technology, this problem could be mitigated, but the problem we ran into, during COVID-19, was that there is no DCI-compliant outdoor LED-wall technology, so you're stuck with running "old" movies when using LED walls.

One thing that has become quite popular is outdoor "film festivals". A remaining issue, obviously, is the weather. Still, I'm convinced there is quite a market in such events. Since festivals seem to be all the rage, giving film the "festival treatment" might just keep the spirit of cinema alive.

[Harold Hallikainen]

The outdoor film festival sounds nice. When I was in college, they would show movies on the side of one of the buildings. There was a big lawn facing the building. Nice evenings!

[Ryan Gallagher]

Yeah my college also hosted some movies on the main quad in a pop up fashion. Even got to witness a film break and frame burn through on a Top Gun print. It was over 100F and humid, I’ll give the operator some slack.

I wouldn’t let DCI be make or break decision necessarily. People show up for well curated back catalogs. We packed a 1200 seat house yesterday for Empire Strikes Back (45th Anniversary year and all).

In some ways, summer classic programs are already kinda like festivals that stretch the whole summer, the normal operating season of drive ins.

if you have great weather don’t encourage staying in their cars either, I could see a picnic area being equally as popular, and has the benefit of being more ticket dense, and a good overflow option for when parking sells quick.

[Frank Cox]

It was over 100F and humid, I’ll give the operator some slack.

I told the story here before about what happened to me during a matinee on a cooking hot Saturday in August some decades back.

The rectifier exploded and blew the transformer into the wall. I had just gone down into the lobby to get a drink between reels, but I was standing right there just a couple of minutes before the big blast so I guess my timing was good.

It made a pretty good bang and lightning flash.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Was the breaker the correct one?

[Frank Cox]

I have no idea. The theatre I worked at was an older building so it could have been anything or nothing, I suppose.

[Scott Jentsch]

Wisconsin lost two operating drive-ins between the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Both are available, so if anyone is looking for a business opportunity, now's your chance! This weekend was finally some really beautiful weather to be outside, so I'm hoping that all these drive-ins had gangbuster attendance figures.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Wisconsin lost two operating drive-ins between the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Both are available, so if anyone is looking for a business opportunity, now's your chance! This weekend was finally some really beautiful weather to be outside, so I'm hoping that all these drive-ins had gangbuster attendance figures.

At least one you reference is using an LED wall too. Which permits earlier start times and more double features!

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I serviced and equipped lots of theaters in Wisconsin, but never worked on any Drive ins. The Drive in owners seemed to squeek a lot when they walked...