onager
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Sat Jul-16-11 05:43 PM
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Drive-ins roared into L.A. County, but only one remains |
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In the annals of low crimes and misdemeanors, Guy Douthwaite may be the only person ever arrested on a charge of operating a loud drive-in movie theater.
The year was 1935 and Douthwaite was the owner of California's first open-air cinema, which had sprouted in a former bean field the previous year at the corner of Pico and Westwood boulevards in what is now Rancho Park...
The zealousness of the City Council and the police on this matter probably could be traced to the pressure they felt from the movie studios. The moguls feared that the independently owned drive-ins might take business from the indoor theater chains that the studios then owned.http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0710-then-20110710,0,4661936.story
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Uben
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Sat Jul-16-11 07:04 PM
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1. We had one until 1980 or so..... |
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I met my first wife there! She was on a date with a friend of mine when we were introduced. She was 15, I was 16.
I actually have my own 16ftX9ft inflatable movie screen and a high def projector. I incorporated a great surround sound system and show movies at a campground parking lot here where I live. We have upwards of a hundred people show up for the movies. A few yrs ago, we had another couple put together a nice concession trailer selling hotdogs, popcorn, soft drinks, candy, and those little glo in the dark necklaces for the kiddoes.
I'd be showing movies now, but it's just too damned hot. We do a movie about one weekend a month. And the good part......it's free admission for everyone! EVeryone drives their golf carts (we are a gated golf community) and lines up just like in the real outdoor theaters. It's a first for a lot of youngsters, and the older folks like the nostalgic feel.
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sorcrow
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Sat Jul-16-11 07:10 PM
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I live in Orange county frickin' Vermont and we have two (or maybe one and one close by). Of course cell service is spotty as is high speed internet. Crow
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Bennyboy
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Sat Jul-16-11 07:17 PM
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3. Got em here in Sac (Sac 6!) |
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Haven't been in at least 15 years.
used to be the Saturday night thing you did.
But now movies suck, are too expensive and making out/getting down in a car doesn't hold as much attraction as it did then.
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K8-EEE
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Sat Jul-16-11 07:34 PM
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4. They all got developed into shopping centers and condos, but movies outside are still here |
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That's one of the tragedies with jacked up land values. Not only drive-ins but miniature golf, tennis, anything that requires space becomes too valuable to use in that way, all the good stuff gets gobbled up. When I was a kid there were 5 around me (San Fernando Valley.)
They do have a lot of outdoor movies though, I love the "Hollywood Forever" films at the cemetery - often they play films of people who are burried there
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July16th-20th
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Sat Jul-16-11 07:47 PM
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5. For fifty years, Americans flew into space on American vehicles |
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Our heritage has gone down the drain.
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hay rick
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Sat Jul-16-11 08:24 PM
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6. Space shuttles and drive in movies. |
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We're talking disappearing American icons here... one a victim of change, the other a symptom of decline.
Welcome to DU.
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JustAmused
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Sun Jul-17-11 07:07 AM
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I work at a drive-in in central Kentucky. This one was opened in June of 1949, and has been a continuously operating since then. We have two screens and had a near sell out last night. I love working there. So many people come in and tell me their parents used to bring them there as kids. And yes we have great popcorn...lol
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Fri May 10th 2024, 10:13 PM
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