Drive-In Memories

                                         

By kiki

I am sure you oldies but goodies remember those glory days of yore. I do too.

My first memory of the drive-in theaters was when my buddies and I rode our bikes to Bell Gardens circa 1949. Bell Gardens, AKA "Billy Goat Acres," had one of the first drive-ins in Southern California. Bell Gardens was also an easy bike ride for us, as it was not far from the Simons Brickyard, a stone's throw away from our houses, as the saying goes.

Back then, Bell Garden was the Bakersfield of Southern California in that its inhabitants were mostly white country folks who had settled there after WWII. Most had horses to accompany their honky-tonk twang style of steel guitar music. Now you might ask, "what does all this have to do with drive-ins?" Well, I bring it up because when we used to ride our bikes to the back wall of the drive-in, and the darn wall was too high for us to see over it, that's where the horses came into play. There were always local Bell Gardens kids; on horseback by the back wall, and they would let us climb on their horses to watch the movie "giddy-up horsey."

 

Later on, as I got a bit older, it was the Whittier Drive-in in Pico-Rivera that my buddies and I used to frequent on weekends. On weekdays they used to charge by the carload; on weekends, it was by headcount. So on weekends, we used to load the car trunk with guys, gals, and beer. The drive-in had a young kid riding a bike, flashing a flashlight into the back seats of the cars to see if anybody was doing the horizontal bunny hop. Sometimes, some guys would take the bike away from him and ride it around the drive-in doing the kid's job. And some pissed-off guys would let the air out of the bike tires a few times. And on more than one occasion, he was chased on foot by a really pissed-off guy zipping up his pants as he chased the kid.

Remember; to get in line at the snack bar and check out all the girls. Then, buy a hot toddy and put some Jack in it.

I can only remember waiting in line at a drive-in one time, and that was in 1955 when the Whittier Drive-in showed the movie "The Blackboard Jungle." Connie and I were newlyweds in the summer of 1955 when we drove up in our 1946 Chevy to the entrance of the Whittier Drive-in, only to find a double line of cars waiting to enter. There was a party atmosphere outside the drive-in, with teenagers and people in their early twenties having a good old time. With Rock & Roll blaring out of their car radio, some kids were dancing on the driveway of the drive-in while waiting to see the movie. I am sure some empty beer bottles were left on the drive-in's driveway….Chasing the kid on foot? I plead the fifth.