CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF DRIVE-IN MOVIES

Photo Courtesy of DeAnza and Vonderland

At the risk of this site turning into a source of constant trumpeting about the great opportunities we Southern Californians have daily to drink at the well of some pretty thirst-quenching viewing opportunities, let me point out yet another special event coming up this weekend. This April 26 The Southern California Drive-In Movie Society begins its fourth (!) summer of celebrating this not-at-all dead, but instead resurging and uniquely American institution. This year is the 75th anniversary of the drive-in movie, pioneered by Richard Hollingshead in 1933, and SoCalDIMS has plenty in store to mark the occasion, as do drive-ins all around the Los Angeles area, as well as other parts of the country. The Mission Tiki Drive-in has the Punk Rock Drive-in outdoor festival scheduled monthly through September, as well as its second all-day-and- into-the-night Tiki Invasion II, featuring 10 different bands, a burlesque revue, a hot rod car show and a geat opportunity to see genuine drive-in movie classics like Death Race 2000, Zombie and Invasion of the Bee Girls on the giant outdoor screen, just like God intended. The Mission Tiki also has what promises to be a great all-night Monsterama Halloween horror movie festival scheduled for October. (More on these last two coming soon.)

But this weekend it's all happening at the Vineland Drive-in in City of Industry, where the Southern California Drive-in Movie Society will kick off its fourth season in celebration of the 75th anniversary of drive-in history with this summer’s first Drive-in Tailgate Party. The web site has all the information you need on what t bring, when to get there, as well as a schedule for when and where the SoCalDIMS group will be landing throughout the summer. There’s also a trivia question scavenger hunt on the web site that could lead someone to a great prize. I’ll even give you the trivia question:

What 1974 comedy had its world premiere at the Pickwick Drive-in in Burbank, with everyone attending on horseback?

If you know the answer and you can go to the Vineland this weekend, head to the SoCalDIMS web site to find out all the details about where to find the answer (it’s buried somewhere on the site) and how to collect your prize in person while you’re kicked back behind your car in a patio chair, having a lovely drive-in snack and waiting for the moon to come up over a great movie. Sounds like a good time to me. See you there!

(In addition to the Vineland's program information, available on the SOCalDIMS web site, and the Mission Tiki's great page, please check out the links to some other favorite Southern California drive-in locations-- the Van Buren Drive-in (featuring, I kid you not, the world's greatest drive-in snack bar, built around a spectacular grill where fresh carne asada is prepared all night long), the smaller-scaled (and even better for it) Rubidoux Drive-in, and the wonderful South Bay Drive-in in San Diego.)