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From their heyday in the 50s to their closing in the 70s, drive-ins were a great way to watch a movie, or hang out with friends.
I remember dad taking us as little kids to see such classics as One Million Years BC with the fabulous Raquel Welch, or The Magnificent Seven with Clint Eastwood on those big outdoor screens.
In fifth grade, there was a drive-in across from school. During after-class activities (can’t recall if it was cub scouts or violin lessons) you could stand on the sidewalk and watch the movie.
Later on as a teenager I visited, with a few of my friends, at least three more drive-ins. We would sneak in thru broken fences, hide in the trunk of a car… what days! We rarely, if ever, paid to see any movie, but that’s another story…
They’re now almost all but abandoned or disappeared. Below is a defunct theater in Bayamon, PR.
But, there’s still over 380 operating in the US. Here’s Bengies Drive-In Theater near Baltimore, operating for nearly 60 years.
Check this out. The stereo we had at my house in the early seventies was made up of the inner workings of a jukebox that my grandfather absconded 😉 from a work site restoration of a closed-down restaurant. Dad made some beautiful wooden cabinets for the speakers, and sprung for a brand new Garrard turntable. It sounded great, I guess, and we listened to it for years.
I’ve always been a listener, and my life is filled with music. My first real nice albums (yes, albums!) I inherited from my older brother Will, after he left for the Air Force in 1974. His collection of albums included Osibissa, Barrabas, Gypsy, King Crimson, Isley Brothers, Emerson Lake & Palmer, and a whole slew of other artists, like Malo and Santana, Yes, and Caldera. Before that, I had a few 45’s, and I even listened to my dad’s music, like The Sandpipers, Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass, etc.
Nevertheless, I had friends with really nice components. I remember Junior ‘Lagarto’ system with like 75 watts and AR 2ax speakers. Awesome sound! There I listened to Tower of Power, Al Di Meola, Four Seasons and others. His dad was retired military and we would buy packs of Marlboros from him, at a discount, thru his bedroom window. Weird….
Anyway, it wasn’t until the mid to late 70s, when I was turned on to Chick Corea and Return to Forever, that I discovered my favorite music style: Fusion. I would listen to music at my friends’ Peter Fernandez and Bobby Olson. I spent many an afternoon and evening listening to their great collection of albums of John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tania Maria, Passport, Return to Forever, Jeff Beck and Weather Report with Jaco Pastorius (probably the best bass player in the world). I listened to some of the best Reggae, Brazil and New Wave music with those two guys too. Continue reading →
It’s true that when you’re young you live more ‘in the moment’, making it very difficult to see the road ahead. Today, we tell the kids “you have to save, you have to plan for the future, etc”, while at the same time trying as hell to live more like them, more ‘in the moment’. Go figure!
My dear wife has a theory about time, how it’s perceived differently depending on your age, and it fits the facts perfectly. Try to tell a young person to wait for any amount of time, and you’ll see what I mean. For a very young person, 5 minutes can be an eternity, because it is compared against the amount of time that person has been alive. Your age determines your time horizon. Anyway, I remember how hard it was to visualize the future when I was a teenager. I could barely see into the next week, and summer vacation couldn’t come any sooner!
In the seventies, I did try to imagine what it would be like in the year 2000, but that was so far into the future, and of course I couldn’t picture anything that far away. I remember a few times, maybe while sitting in class, daydreaming about what the future could be. On one occasion, I had recently watched Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 – A Space Odyssey, and that became the vision of what I believed my future could be. Incidentally, this was the first movie I went to without my parents, and it was weird that I was able to go with my older brother. I really didn’t get the first part of the movie then.
So, my visions of the future were of flying cars, global governments, Utopian societies, and free energy – I did think we’d by on Mars by now. One thing I notice as I write is that my visions, although somewhat vague, were very positive – I never thought the world would come to an end, or the race destroy itself. I also thought we’d have the oil situation resolved by moving to solar power or fusion. As for where I thought I would be, or what kind of life I would have, I couldn’t see that too well either – I didn’t know how to visualize properly, and I was ‘really’ in the moment and didn’t care to look forward. I guess I was really busy living my life. I wanted to be a pilot, but I guess my fear of heights didn’t help there.
Anyway, I guess we’re not where I thought we’d be. Yet, 25 years later, my spirit is still hopeful, hopeful for my children’s future. I hope they share the same free and exciting vision of their future that I had of mine back then, and are able to escape a duller ‘present’, 30 years down the line.
My best friend during the 70s was my cousin Carlos ‘el Enano’ Peral. We had a great many times together. Our families were very close and we spent much time hanging out. It’s a shame that I’ve not kept up with him, or he with me. We men are lousy at maintaining relationships, and it’s to our loss. One day I’ll get off my ass and call him, but what do I say, after 25 years of absence, ‘Hi Carlos, it’s Luis. How are you’? Well, maybe that’s all it takes, never mind the awkwardness and the fear of rejection. I don’t make new friends easily, and none have the pull and investment in me as these old, best friends. Face it, they’re probably the only ‘best’ friends I’ll have, and they’re many, but all neglected. Shame on me.
“If a man could ascend to heaven and get a clear view of the natural
order of the universe, and the beauty of the heavenly bodies, that wonderful spectacle would give him small pleasure, though nothing could be conceived more delightful if he had but had some
one to whom to tell what he had seen.” So true it is that nature abhors isolation, and ever leans upon some-thing as a stay and support; and this is found in its most pleasing form in our closest
friend.
But though Nature also declares by so many indications what her wish and object and desire is, we yet in a manner turn a deaf ear and will not hear her warnings. Treatises on Friendship and Old Age
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
Later on as a teenager I visited, with a few of my friends, at least three more drive-ins. We would sneak in thru broken fences, hide in the trunk of a car… what days! We rarely, if ever, paid to see any movie, but that’s another story…
Check this out. The stereo we had at my house in the early seventies was made up of the inner workings of a jukebox that my grandfather absconded 😉 from a work site restoration of a closed-down restaurant. Dad made some beautiful wooden cabinets for the speakers, and sprung for a brand new Garrard turntable. It sounded great, I guess, and we listened to it for years.
Chick Corea and Return to Forever, that I discovered my favorite music style: Fusion. I would listen to music at my friends’ Peter Fernandez and Bobby Olson. I spent many an afternoon and evening listening to their great collection of albums of John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tania Maria, Passport, Return to Forever, Jeff Beck and Weather Report with Jaco Pastorius (probably the best bass player in the world). I listened to some of the best Reggae, Brazil and New Wave music with those two guys too. 
My best friend during the 70s was my cousin Carlos ‘el Enano’ Peral. We had a great many times together. Our families were very close and we spent much time hanging out. It’s a shame that I’ve not kept up with him, or he with me. We men are lousy at maintaining relationships, and it’s to our loss. One day I’ll get off my ass and call him, but what do I say, after 25 years of absence, ‘Hi Carlos, it’s Luis. How are you’? Well, maybe that’s all it takes, never mind the awkwardness and the fear of rejection. I don’t make new friends easily, and none have the pull and investment in me as these old, best friends. Face it, they’re probably the only ‘best’ friends I’ll have, and they’re many, but all neglected. Shame on me.