Drive-Ins: we have one....check it out! (FREE!)

you probably aren't old enough to remember American Graffiti................heck, I'm not! but I do remember E-ticket rides at Disneyland, rotary dial phones, and the drive-ins! somehow I connect American Graffiti with the drive-ins.

currently there are 368 drive-ins open in the United States. at their pinnacle of popularity in the late 1950's, there were between 4,000 and 5,000 drive-ins. I can remember Sacramento having 3: Sunrise off Greenback just north of Fair Oaks Blvd, 49er out in Rio Linda, and Sacramento 6, the big one out off of 50 & Bradshaw. and no, I am NOT including the adult drive-in off of I80 in Davis. still don't understand how that was supposed to make sense!

anyway......of the 3 I can remember, the only one remaining is Sacramento 6. and every year I remember hearing that they too were closing down. well......opened in 1972, it was sold in 2006 and is now a WestWind Drive-In. they not only own our local drive-in but they own a total of 7 drive-ins throughout California, Nevada, and Arizona. I am also a little more than humored by the fact that their mascot is a dinosaur! is it a Fred Flinstone reference? a nod to the prehistoric feel of watching a movie IN YOUR CAR? or a sarcastic jab at the fact that most drive-ins smell like gas for the first half hour after the movie starts?

for myself, my biggest memory of the drive-ins are watching Star Wars. I honestly think we saw that movie 10 times.............and all at the drive-ins. why? I don't know. maybe because it was because you used to pay per carload? maybe because it was easy to pile a group of kids in a car and if the youngest fell asleep you didn't have to do anything with them? and the older kids who had eaten too many red vines could bounce around without disturbing the people sitting in the seats around them?!?!? I remember the importance of finding a speaker that worked. see......in the ol' days, kiddies, they had these fangled boxes attached to wires that played the sound from the movie. you would attach it to your window. sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn't. it was like a fun little game to start the evening off right! the best was when you didn't have a neighbor and could use TWO speakers! now in the 21st century you use this new fangled thing called........wait for it.........a car STEREO!!! though seriously, I won't be surprised if I can one day stream it on my phone.

there is nothing more nostalgic than a summer evening at the drive-ins!

which leads me to the point of this particular rambling..................... FREE MOVIE NIGHT AT WESTWIND!!!!

need I saw more?