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HistoryPorn @lemmy.world

Flying Squid @lemmy.world

6mo ago

Aerial photo of a drive-in theater in South Bend, Indiana, 1950s

57 comments

how can you see from the back???????
- Based on what I know about what teens did at drive-ins back then, it didn't really matter.
- People weren't there for the show. At least not the one on the screen.
  
  Basically, it's an outdoor fuckatorium.
- And who's parking at the front, along the right facing the rest of the cars?
  
  Parking at the side or front is for when you drive there in your own car, and then get in your friend's car for the movie.
- I think you mainly feel back there

Loved Halloween and drive ins when I was a kid.
I was up in Timmins one year with my family and we spent Halloween collecting candy and then everyone packed into a van to go to the local drive in. We stayed up watching cheesy horror films with Vincent Price and all the oldies back to back until about three in the morning. I don't remember much because I fell asleep after falling off a sugar high about half an hour into the first movie and then slept the rest of the time. Nothing like waking in a daze to big giant images of Vincent Price on a big giant screen in the middle of the northern wilderness.
- That's a lovely memory. Thank you for sharing.
  
  Lemmy continues to be the old internet, where people can just talk. Love it.

The red area is the equivalent of a stadium seat that is obstructed by a column:
- Staff park there or is it just for the couples who are there "to watch any movie", is you follow my meaning
- That's just the mutual masturbation area where you didn't care about the movie, you just needed some time alone with your date to get fingerblasted or get your pole tugged.
- And much darker.
- It was sloped at every drive-in I went to - so you'd see over the canteen/projection room.
  Half the fun was queueing for burgers, chips (fries), and/or pizza, and coke between the two features. The other half was sneaking beer in. Then the other half was...... what was I talking about?

That's a tiny screen for a drive in theater.

Imagine how much more space efficient it would've been if they had taken the bus instead.
- The drive-in bus is only for orgies.
  
  I think I saw a series of documentaries on those busses some 10-15 years ago.

god im still (and will always be) so upset these didn't make a huge comeback during the pandemic like I hoped :(
- One did here! We went to see this there last month, because they were doing free monster and horror movies on weeknights in October.
  It was even the subtitled version!
  The cool thing now is they don't do the hanging the speaker in the window thing anymore. You just tune your car to a radio frequency they tell you when you enter.
  
  One near where I grew up. Located in Versailles, IN.
  
  My drive-in still has the window speakers, but also has the radio option too. I think we only went once this year, for Deadpool and Wolverine.
  
  The car radio thing only came in here (Oz) in their twilight years just as VCRs and VHS rental became a thing, but it was fabulous to hear a movie IN STEREO! with decent Bass.
  Most of the ones that I used to frequent are now shopping centre carparks.
- The one by our house picked up quite a bit during COVID. It's slowed down a little since, but it seems in a more healthy state than it was preCOVID.
- Great thought, but parking nowadays costs more than anybody would want to pay to see a movie lol.
  Alternate idea - watch a virtual drive-in movie on VR goggles while sitting in your car.

This would not be the configuration the drive-in would be in during operation. This looks like some daytime parking situation, car dealer storage?
There is a strong shadow, daytime so the screen wouldn't be able to be seen. Many of the cars are parked sideways! Some of the cars are parked facing a wall where they can't see the screen whatsoever. This is storage
- I agree. This is NOT a drive in theater. The screen is way too small and it should be rectangular, not square. Also, about half the cars are parked in ways where they can't see the screen.
  This is either a car storage area that had the screen shopped in or someone told an AI "make me a vintage photo of a 1950s drive in," and the AI added the screen and the (badly parked) cars without understanding how a drive in is supposed to work.
  
  You're half right. This is a drive-in theater. It was called the Moonlite Outdoor Theatre and was around long after the 1950s. However this is during the off season, and during the that period it was used by a nearby automaker for vehicle storage. Additionally, drive-in theaters (which still exist btw) don't show films during the day. The first showing is usually at dusk.
- The spots over by the fence were the designated sex area.

It's like baseball, for cars!
It's almost like some people aren't there to watch the movie at all?
What could they possibly do? What could teenagers do that they couldn't do at home with mom and dad and little pest of a brother/sister?
- Well for one thing, they won't be listening to any of those longhair bongo bongo rock and roll records in this house, mister!

Mmm look at that there 4:3 ratio
- And then Cinemascope was invented in 1953. Oops.

Cool and all but such a stupid concept. Watching on a phone would make more sense
Edit: regarding screen size. As the screen is so tiny because those fucking cars need so much space. Of course they didnt have OLED 4K 160Hz smartphones back then...
- Yeah why didn't those idiots in the 1950s just watch it on their phones
  
  No like the space is so huge that calling it "cinema" is strange.
  Not sure if there were other reasons not to go outside of the cars and watch on like ⅒ the space
- I've been going to drivein movie theatre for 40 years. They shut down this year. I'm absolutely crushed by it.
  It was such a good experience if you are me. Love being outdoors and also love going to the movies. I grew up on it.
  Even all the negatives are part of the experience* that makes it good memories for me
  I'm still sad about it
  *Didnt notice I autocorrect chose the word recording
  
  Have you ever been in an outdoors movie theatre without a car? It's different and great, because you're truly outside. Also the dimensions are like in normal theatres.
- Watching it on a drotary phone back then would've required landlines for every viewer. Highly inconvenient.
- Yeah, those 1940s kids should have just stayed home by themselves and streamed those movies instead of socializing and making out!

Since I started to watch Uzumaki (anime adaptation) I see spirals everywhere with an unsettling vibe every time…

yeah i actually miss those things sometimes... and i see the old meadowbrook site is still there but on its way back to nature
- Yeah I think they were a cool experience. They still exist in some cities too. I know in Texas, if you google "metroplex" drive in, you'll usually find one that is operational
  
  yeah went duck hunting for them a bit ago and found a lot. some are closed for the season but come back in spring

I'm pretty sure this is the same one we went to when we were kids! Though not at the same time as this picture. It's really neat to see what it looked like then.
Texted my family to see what it is but I may not find out for over a week lol.

57 comments