Blast from the Past

[crich70]

Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury and many others who are now gone were the big writers of the day when I was a kid(even if like Dr. Asimov they switched to non fiction in the 50's). There were plenty of old paperbacks to read with their work in them. Now of course a lot of them are in ebook formats. Sometimes I could find a good read to buy for .25 at a local garage sale back then. Someone would always seem to have a box of old books in their sales.

[BenG]

Saturday matinees at the theater were fun. My father worked Saturdays and after I reached 13 he would drop me and my brother and a friend off at the theater for the double feature and afterwards we would walk the 6 miles home.

Saturday matinees were a great time for our parents to get us out of their hair for a few hours! So it was a win win for everyone. What I remember was that in the 1960s we only had a B&W TV, and I'm guessing it probably had a 19" screen. So getting to go see a film projected on a large screen and in color and yes in high definition (film is high definition) was a great treat. Though not poor, my family never had much money for luxuries, so Saturday matinees were something we could afford, as opposed to a family outing to the movie theater during an evening feature which would have cost a fortune.

[Cinisajoy]

Other movie memory, the drive-in wasn't far from a place we used to visit. We would go in the backyard and watch the movies. No sound obviously.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Other movie memory, the drive-in wasn't far from a place we used to visit. We would go in the backyard and watch the movies. No sound obviously.

There wasn't much sound at the drive-in theater either. Their speakers were mostly worn out junk. In HS we would take a few pickup trucks and a small crowd of people to the drive-in, park in the very back near the tall fence, and sit in the backs of the trucks with our lawnchairs and ice-chests full of cold beverages. It was a big social gathering and few of us even paid much attention to the movies.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by jswinden

There wasn't much sound at the drive-in theater either. Their speakers were mostly worn out junk. In HS we would take a few pickup trucks and a small crowd of people to the drive-in, park in the very back near the tall fence, and sit in the backs of the trucks with our lawnchairs and ice-chests full of cold beverages. It was a big social gathering and few of us even paid much attention to the movies.

Back then, you could pack people in cars and trucks with no problems.
My 75 pinto station wagon could fit 8 and 3 cases of beer. 3 in front, 4 in the middle and one laying in the back.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Back then, you could pack people in cars and trucks with no problems.
My 75 pinto station wagon could fit 8 and 3 cases of beer. 3 in front, 4 in the middle and one laying in the back.

I was in a HS ag class that took a lot of field trips. There was only 10 or 12 of us in the class, so the ag teacher would have most of us pile into the bed of his pickup and off we went. It was perfectly legal back then! You can't do that anymore though. I guess our parent's generation figured they could just make replacements if some of us got a Darwin award!

[WT Sharpe]

And like my wife just said, sometimes at the drive-in you wouldn't see anyone in the car!

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

And like my wife just said, sometimes at the drive-in you wouldn't see anyone in the car!

"When this vans a rockin, don't come a knockin!"

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

And like my wife just said, sometimes at the drive-in you wouldn't see anyone in the car!

Cars like to watch movies too

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by jswinden

"When this vans a rockin, don't come a knockin!"

If the house is a rockin, don't bother knockin' come on in.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

And like my wife just said, sometimes at the drive-in you wouldn't see anyone in the car!

Yep. I had a old Corvair in the 70s, but when I took my girlfriend to the drive-in I'd find some reason to borrow my folks' station wagon with the fold-down back seat.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by cromag

Yep. I had a old Corvair in the 70s, but when I took my girlfriend to the drive-in I'd find some reason to borrow my folks' station wagon with the fold-down back seat.

One siet of my moms grandparents ran a drive-in many yrs ago and they would patrol to make sure that things didn't get too out of hand.

Originally Posted by crich70

One set of my moms grandparents ran a drive-in many yrs ago and they would patrol to make sure that things didn't get too out of hand.

Toward the end of the era of drive-ins most of the ones near me fell into disrepair and began to attract an unruly crowd of people of questionable character. I remember often hearing reports on the local news of police crackdowns at most of them. The police actually began routine patrols through them. I don't think they really cared if the vans were a rockin. It was more the drug deals, loud and large drunken groups, robberies, assaults, etc. Eventually neighborhoods and the city put a lot of pressure on them and along with declining customers they all went out of business. It was a shame that what my parents and my generations were able enjoy transformed into such a mess at the end.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Toward the end of the era of drive-ins most of the ones near me fell into disrepair and began to attract an unruly crowd of people of questionable character. I remember often hearing reports on the local news of police crackdowns at most of them. The police actually began routine patrols through them. I don't think they really cared if the vans were a rockin. It was more the drug deals, loud and large drunken groups, robberies, assaults, etc. Eventually neighborhoods and the city put a lot of pressure on them and along with declining customers they all went out of business. It was a shame that what my parents and my generations were able enjoy transformed into such a mess at the end.

And now they are making a comeback. But rather than junky speakers, you use your car's FM radio. So I guess if you want to hear the movie don't go in a classic vehicle.