Just some thoughts:
Often we parents/grandparents have lamented about certain things that our children and grandchildren would not have the opportunity to have some of the same experiences that we had as a kid. Maybe there is at least one experience that we might not lament over, and that is the demise of drive-in theaters.
Recently I was playing golf with some golfing buddies near Lewisburg, Tennessee. We came off one of the greens and in the distance we saw the huge screen of a drive-in movie theater. Not too many of them around anymore. I immediately smiled and began to chuckle. I think it best that I not share the comments of my golfing partners.
Often we parents/grandparents have lamented about certain things that our children and grandchildren would not have the opportunity to have some of the same experiences that we had as a kid. Maybe there is at least one experience that we might not lament over, and that is the demise of drive-in theaters.
Recently I was playing golf with some golfing buddies near Lewisburg, Tennessee. We came off one of the greens and in the distance we saw the huge screen of a drive-in movie theater. Not too many of them around anymore. I immediately smiled and began to chuckle. I think it best that I not share the comments of my golfing partners.
“The land on which the former Joy Land sat is now occupied by a giant church whose members may or may not be aware of the thousands of carnal transgressions committed on the property during its former life.”
(Tom McDonald-Dirt Road Memories)
(Tom McDonald-Dirt Road Memories)
The first drive-in theater was started in 1933 in Camden, New Jersey. It was the brain child of a guy named Richard Hollinghead. The first drive-in charged twenty-five cents a car. The largest drive-in was in the state of New York; it covered twenty-eight acres and had spots for 2,500 cars. The 1950s’ was the hay day of the drive-in and there were over 5,000 such theaters at one time. Today the guess is there might be five hundred.
In my teenage years there were four drive-ins that I can remember, the Eastside, the Northside, the Corral and a theater in Sullivan that I cannot remember the name. I was a participant at all four. If you were going to the Sullivan Theater you could stop off at the Knotty Pine and get a cold root beer before the movie. Often they had special nights and allowed a car load in for a dollar, regardless of the number in the car. Also, many a teenager made their way into the grounds by means of hiding in the trunk of the car.
I once read that in Florence, Alabama there was a drive-in named Joy Land; yes, the Joy Land Drive-in. Imagine a few minutes before you pick up your date for the evening and the mother asks her daughter, “Where are you going to the show tonight?” Can you imagine the mother’s reaction when she hears two words, Drive-in and Joy Land? Not a good combination for a mother to hear.
I won't share with you the conversation and where it went when the subject of drive-ins was discussed recently at my coffee place; but the group did like the name: Joy Land.
August 8, 2014
Keep on,
Larry Adamson
In my teenage years there were four drive-ins that I can remember, the Eastside, the Northside, the Corral and a theater in Sullivan that I cannot remember the name. I was a participant at all four. If you were going to the Sullivan Theater you could stop off at the Knotty Pine and get a cold root beer before the movie. Often they had special nights and allowed a car load in for a dollar, regardless of the number in the car. Also, many a teenager made their way into the grounds by means of hiding in the trunk of the car.
I once read that in Florence, Alabama there was a drive-in named Joy Land; yes, the Joy Land Drive-in. Imagine a few minutes before you pick up your date for the evening and the mother asks her daughter, “Where are you going to the show tonight?” Can you imagine the mother’s reaction when she hears two words, Drive-in and Joy Land? Not a good combination for a mother to hear.
I won't share with you the conversation and where it went when the subject of drive-ins was discussed recently at my coffee place; but the group did like the name: Joy Land.
August 8, 2014
Keep on,
Larry Adamson
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