Drive In Movie Theatres

My pal Erin sends me driveintheater.com, which has a list of drive-ins. We have two that are regularly listed in the newspaper: South Bay Drive-In (2170 Coronado Avenue, San Diego, CA 92154 (619) 423-9676 3 screen drive-in, open year round.) and the Santee Drive-In Theatre (10990 Woodside Avenue, Santee, CA 92071 (619) 448-7447 (619) 449-7927).

There are apparently more, too, though they’re typically not in the SDUT: Drive-in Theatres San Diego

For you young whippersnappers, here’s a definition of drive-in:

The drive-in theater is a form of cinema structure (or rather, lack thereof), the first of which opened on June 6, 1933 in Camden, New Jersey. It consists of, quite simply, a large field, a projection booth and a large, whitewashed wall. It allows the audience to “drive-into” the theater, and view the features from the comfort and privacy of one’s own car. Audio, originally, was provided by speakers on posts next to which a car would be parked. This system has been superseded by the more economical method of broadcasting the soundtrack at a low output power to be picked up by a car radio. This method is also advantageous as it allows the soundtrack to be picked up in stereo by the audience instead of monaural. The drive-in reached peak popularity in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, particularly in rural areas. Among its advantages was the fact that a family with a young baby can take care of baby while watching a movie. During the 1960’s, the movies shown changed from family-oriented pieces to sexploitation movies. This change, and the advent of VCR, led to a sharp decline in popularity of drive-in theaters. It is now approaching a quasi-novelty status, with the remaining handful catering to a generally nostalgic audience.