At the drive-in
‘Sunset drive-in, Amarillo, Texas, 1974,’ by Stephen Shore
To celebrate the credit crunch, I have indulged myself and bought a copy of American photographer Stephen Shore’s ’seminal’ work Uncommon Places, a book I have been lusting after for years. The book was originally published in 1982 and collects together the colour photography Shore took on his road trips across the States in the 70s.
This image of the already rundown looking ‘Sunset drive-in’ in early 70s Amarillo set me off on a bit of a reverie. I’d almost forgotten that such a thing as a drive-in ever existed.
We had a drive-in in the town where I grew up and my parents took us there every now and again. Although I’ve long forgotten the films, I clearly remember the excitement of the huge, huge screen, the novelty of sitting in the car and the fact that you could wander around between the darkened cars during the boring bits. If you were lucky you could see couples kissing. [Errghh... yuck] I also remember being disappointed that we were never served popcorn by glamorous girls on rollerskates.
The drive-in’s glory days were long over by the time of our visits in the early 80s and in retrospect, I’m suprised that it didn’t close earlier. When the drive-in finally did shut in the mid-80s I remember going past the desolate grounds and feeling sorry for it and its abandoned cinema dreams. Wonder what’s there now.
Tags: dirty nostalgia, j'aime le cinema
October 16th, 2008 at 7:57 am
I always loved the drive-in. I can still remember it. The last movie I saw there was For Your Eyes Only. That was my first Bond film. It’s a shame about the demise of the drive-in. It was quite a piece of Americana.
October 16th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I would love to have the had the Drive In experience – but 70s and 80s cinemas with their sticky carpets, ice cream tray girls, crappy local ad’s and smoking sections (like the smoke will stay in that section) had a quality I still miss now
Have you checked out any of Martin Parr’s photography
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Martin-Parr-Val-Williams/dp/071484389X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224150232&sr=8-2
I can’t recommend this enough, his photo travelogue of Britain in the from the 70s onwards – incredible
October 16th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Keith, that’s a nice drive-in memory to have and its interesting that you point out that they are a piece of Americana. I’d never thought about that, perhaps they are. Australia is very Americanised after all.
Which leads me to ask you PM, were there actually many drive-ins in the UK?
I definitely know Martin Parr’s work. I have that book and you’re right it is fantastic. His photography is as quintessentially English as Shore’s is American. I love all those break-through photographers of the 70s, like Parr, William Eggleston and Joel Sternfeld who specialised in the ‘everyday’. Mmm, maybe there is another blog post here…
Do you have Martin Parr’s compil. of the John Hinde Butlins postcards? I LOVE those.
October 16th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
I think with a drive-in you need a country that has lots of land. That’s how I’ve always imagined it. You are out there in the open air. Our local drive-in was right out of town. Australia is a very big nation. It’s a continent at that. I can easily imagine plenty of drive-ins somewhere like that as well as here in the States. I just can’t imagine drive-ins somewhere like Belgium.
October 16th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Robert Frank is my main man. Did you catch his exo in London, 3 years ago now?
October 16th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Keith, our drive-in was out of town too, away from all the noise and the lights. Guess that’s a key part of it. I think I only just registered that not everyone has enjoyed the drive-in experience! Did you grow up in a small town so it was easy to get to?
RE, I like Robert Frank too, but I missed this exhibition. I know that there was a William Eggleston exhibition around that period at the Hayward which I went to, so I don’t know what I was thinking… Was it at the Tate Modern? Maybe thats why. I tend to avoid ‘blockbuster’ exhibitions; nothing against them, just don’t like other people!
October 16th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Barnsley was fresh out of drive -ins not that many cars truth betold, it still has a little cinema in the delightfully names Penistone that stops the film mid scene for a intermission so they can sell drinks and sweets etc, it’s along shed of place charming.
October 16th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
BLTP, it’s reassuring that such a cinema as that still exists. By rights it should have been economically rationalised and homogenised by now. Long may it last.
October 17th, 2008 at 4:31 am
I’m from a small town. It was basically outside of a city about 30 miles from us. It didn’t take that long to get there. It was out of the city, in a more secluded area. People from all the surrounding towns came to it. That’s the one we went to. I know there were some others, but this is the one I always remember. Before my parents got married, I know my dad took my mom on dates there to see Hammer movies. He was a big fan of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. I grew up loving those guys too.