The New England Drive-In Project
In the beginning
As a child of the 80s and 90s, the drive-in was still the place to go. Or maybe this is just a rose-colored view now that I am well into my 40s.
Growing up, my family would spend a few dollars, and we'd make the 30 to 40-minute trek to the Milford drive-in to catch a couple of the movies. I would be in the backseat, so my viewing experience was less than ideal. But I fondly remember seeing the latest films, and being short enough made it okay to sit in the back.
I particularly remember seeing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Jaws 3. Then, when the movies were over, I would fall asleep in the backseat all the way home while listening to my parents chat with each other.
Another time I remember going and seeing Cheech and Chong when I was just a young kid. I remember one of the actors pretending to be a dog and other vulgar things going on. The young boy in me enjoyed every second of it. Pretty sure this was the tail-end of my parent's partying years.
Another memory came to mind when I went with my best friend, his family, and my mother to see Pet Sematary and Misery on the big screen. Talk about intense and slightly freaky, of course. If you ever wanted to see someone hobbled on the big screen, that was your chance.
To this day, I am not sure if either of my parents was a big fan of doing these trips. Playing in the playground was not allowed for some reason; frankly, I am not sure we left the car other than to use the bathroom. My parents brought anything we ate in. Funny, my parents would tell stories when they were kids and how they'd sneak in their buddies with them in the trunk of their car.
During the 80s, the rise of VHS and rental stores greatly dented the entire movie theatre industry. People no longer had to go to the movies or the drive-in to see anything. My father would go to the rental store, rent about 20 films for the weekend, then proceed to dupe them all. Of course, provisions were put in place after a while to prevent such practices, but the damage was done. My parents never had a desire to go back to the drive-in.
My parents would go to the drive-in mostly because it was cheap, which was the biggest appeal of a drive-in. We didn't have much money, so three of us seeing two movies was a bargain.
Years later, when I had a license, I would go with friends occasionally. To this day, I don't recall anything I saw other than one trip with my future wife and some co-workers to see Independence Day. They had a seriously modified sound system in the car, so all the explosions were amplified and could be felt in my vehicle.
Although not all memories are unforgettable, I am glad to have experienced the drive-in. Taking my wife and her young sister to see the latest Toy Story at the time was a great experience. Yelling at the kids getting lost in Blair Witch was also much fun.
Because of these memories, I feel so drawn to such a project. I need and want to preserve what I can through my photography.
The Plan
I plan to capture a panorama showing a good drive-in view. I want to see all the screens and the parking lot. Ideally, if I can get the ticket booth in the shot, that would be the icing on the cake.
Once I have the panorama, I will walk around and grab some photographs of anything else that helps tell the finished story of the drive-in that I want to tell.
After editing what I have, I'll post them on my website along with whatever bit of history I can dig up; nothing is going onto social media. I may make some prints to sell, but that is pretty far down the road.
The geographic area I will cover will be New England. This area will be big enough for me without the project taking too long. So many more photography projects await me, and this gives me a finite list of drive-ins to photograph.
For now, my selection of drive-ins will be those currently listed as active/open versus permanently closed. I may go back and capture what I can of those closed drive-ins, but for now, not so much. I plan on capturing them in the offseason; getting some drive-ins while movie listings would help.
Conclusion
So, there you have it, my vision and goals. To those keeping the drive-ins alive, I thank you. I am sure the battle is not easy, but you give people memories that will last a lifetime.
