At the drive-in

I thought I would write about my memories of the Sky View Drive-In. It is a place that holds many fond memories for me. Food, laughter, sleepiness and being close to my family.

We used to go there often as kids. I remember the favorite food for us was to go to Erik's Deli and get lasagna. We would all pile up in the van, grab dinner and head off to the drive-in. My dad would be meticulous about van angle as we all had to see the screen from the seats. After settling down there would be a brief run to the snack bar which at the time was inside with some arcade games that I used to yearn to play even though I was never allowed to. Probably just as well as we had a movie to watch. Then the movie would start. To me it was the most fantastic screen I could watch. It was bigger than life!

During the movie there would of course be several routines. First and foremost was the windshield cleaning. We would all helpfully point out all the streaks to our parents until the windshield was sufficiently transparent. Then there was the speaker adjustment. The sound came from these old heavy aluminum speakers that you hung inside your window. They worked maybe half the time which would require a vehicle re-placement on failure. I was always afraid that the window would break from those big heavy things. Then of course if the windows fogged up the defroster and/or window roll-downs would happen.

In the middle of the two movies they had an intermission film they would play with this wonderful song. The whole family would chime in on the tune while anthropomorphic snacks and soft drinks would waltz about on the big screen. When I was older I learned to appreciate one of the most hilarious images from that clip which was a hot dog wiener doing back flips in some sauce for a bun who reluctantly let the wiener into its inviting fold after a sufficient number of slathers. See the whole thing here!



By the end of the second movie my sister and I would usually be conked out in the back of the van. I remember that even being coaxed out of that contented slumber and dragged to our beds was something that was strangely pleasant and comforting.

I would say that the movies themselves were not the memorable parts of the experience as I cannot remember much about actually watching them. Perhaps that is telling in that the memorable things about the drive-in are the things involving who you are with. You are not allowed to have those experiences very much in an indoor theater because of the expectation of library behavior.

Recently we went to the drive-in to watch a couple of movies and we were surprised to find that the people there were actually much more pleasant and polite than in an indoor theater. In these days with cell phones and a general decline in etiquette, I really dislike the indoor theater experience. It was wholly refreshing! Much to our dismay, however, we found out that the Sky View Drive-In is about to go the way of the Dodo. I think this is pretty sad, but I doubt there is anything we could do to save it. My friends and I have instead decided to honor it by not going to any indoor theaters and try to go to the drive-in as much as possible until it is gone.

My thanks go out to the Sky View Drive-In for keeping it alive for so long and to my friends and family for the memories I have garnered there.

-Aaron