At the Drive-In

I was looking for a picture where
Dino already has his head through
the roof, but couldn't find any ;-(

Drive-ins are part of the American culture.There're drive-in fast food restaurants (well those we can find in Europe, too). They're convenient, located next to the road, even next to highways and if you're on the road why would you want to get out of the car. Well maybe if you're sitting in a Smart or any other kind of bumper-car-sized-mini it is understandable. There're drive-in movies as well. I've seen those in Hungary, too but never been to any of them. Probably none of them is still in business. They became obsolete together with the garden movies...

But this is not the full list of drive-ins! There're drive-in pharmacies, drive-in banks, liquor stores (!!), post offices, Starbucks, dairy stores; we can get married  and can express our condolences at a funeral while driving. I'm not crazy. This list comes from Wikipedia, and except for the diary stores, post offices and funeral homes I've seen at least one example for each!

Drive ins except for the movies are however called drive-thrus, where thru means through... Easier to spell, now doesn't it :)

So the first drive-thru thingy was a bank in St. Louis, Missouri opened in 1930. However if you're driving on Rt. 66 you'll learn that the first drive-thru was a McDonalds restaurant opened in Arizona on the Mother Road near Fort Huachuca. According to a local legislation soldiers could not enter any shop or restaurant wearing their uniforms. Now this way they didn't enter the restaurant, now did they :) Problem solved.

So I can completely understand the concept especially that people don't walk here. Well, they do walk up to their cars though ;-) Because they drive. Only exception is probably the centers of big cities like Manhattan, or San Francisco downtown. But otherwise people drive everywhere. If you don't have a driver's license you're pretty much screwed, since public transportation is inconvenient.

So like here in Sunnyvale, the 'main road' is El Camino Real. There're many small businesses as well as big super markets on this street. Basically everything is on that street. The thing I don't understand how people know about Anne's Laundry Service, or Bob's Comic Book Store? If you drive by you don't see these shops. If you'd walk, then surely you'd recognize them. Ads in local paper? Coupons? Mistery!

Anyhoo, think about those car wonders Americans had throughout the 50's, 60's and 70's. Do you want to get out any of these babies? I doubt!

Today most of the Americans don't think about their cars as their beloved subjects, but as a mere transportation tools. But can we blame them? When exactly did the American Dream turn into this one, or whose dream (not nightmare!) could it be:

I think thanks to this significant shift in designing automobiles, the whole drive-in and drive-through industry began to fade. But it shouldn't be! It is part of the American culture, and it always should be. You know, every non-American guy, who loves cars (and by cars I don't mean the super aerodynamic rolling electric gadgets that all look alike only the emblem on their front is different) wants to have his own American old-timer. As a matter of fact they have their own favorite from Dodge Charger through the Mercury Cougar to the Pontiac Trans-Am. Probably only had their chance to see them once on a car show, but they're desperate and cannot be convinced why the Cougar is better than the Charger! And why is that? Looks and performance. America's symbol was these automobiles! That was the American dream! You worked hard to get one of those! Well today most of the domestic cars are cheap copies of European models. A Lincolns look like a Seat (bit bigger though), Chevrolet is Daewoo and Opel... No magic!

Which one is ore of a Chevrolet Impala? The first or the second one?

Together with the remains of Rt. 66 some of these drive-ins are still here showing us how things were in the past. Thank God!

So last Thursday we tried one out. The company was established 70 years ago! Screen is about as big as in any other theater, price is half of an AMC ticket price, plus all movies are double features, so that is 25% of any multiplex price all together. The sound of the movie comes through your radio (unlike in the Flintstones where you had to hand the speaker on your car). Each screen has its own frequency. If your battery dies because of the radio, they give you a free jump start :-) There one giant tent shaped building in the middle and under its roof there're the movie projectors.

Screen from the car

The projectors

Screens right next to each other

Empty arcade

Sorry for the crappy night pictures! They were taken with my phone!

On the ground floor there's a huge arcade and this is where you can buy your soda and pop corn (and other very healthy snacks). The place probably has seen better days, but Tuesday's are specials (==cheaper) so probably they fill up. When we were there the arcade was totally empty, and there were about half a dozen cars at each screen. The parking place in front of the screens are totally dark, so now I understand why the American teenagers like drive-ins as their make out place. I bet half of a generation was made in the drive-ins on the back seat :D


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