Replace All Speakers Before Leaving

Having just written about arriving in Dealville and looking for Hollywood swank, at the time I continued to be remained wowed by societal happenings from decades gone by, and could you blame me?  It hadn't even been 20 years since Daffy Dust was at its peak everywhere...the punk growth of skateboarding, and what relics remained...and-wait, there were how many drive-ins out here?

Hard to believe in a land of such real estate grabs that huge swaths could be devoted just to screening movies, mainstream and otherwise.  But it's true.  Then, and especially now, there are few remnants of their existence.  I could look up old movie listings and find addresses, only to drive up and see a supermarket or apartments and just stop and look around: there was a drive-in here?

Of course, enough research can lead to finding episodes of TV shows with a shot or scene here and there.  The Pickwick drive-in (now a Pavilions and a gym) in Burbank was in a chase during an episode of The Rockford Files: when the cars turn into the drive in, the whole area of Alameda Ave. looks positively quaint.  And maybe it was...

But in 2001, while on the road visiting relatives a couple hours north, I turned on a road and damn near brought the Saturn to a halt.

In much the same way an archeologist nearly falls down when he sweeps away a crocodile tooth in the Wyoming hills, I was stunned at what was facing me.  If the Valley Drive-In had closed and then been just left there for who knows how long...well, wouldn't it look like this?

"Wait a minute.  I...wow.  WOW!"  I took the disposable camera out and stood in awe, staring at this relic.  Oh, if it could talk.

What's on the marque tonight?  Is there a weekend day swap meet?  Mainstream fare, your "Other Side of Midnight," your "Rollercoaster," even your "Back to the Future?"  Or are we talking "Gas Pump Girls?"  We're not that far from an Air Force base, are they ready to cut loose?

Subsequent visits north would require, annoying all, a check-in to see if it's still there.  It was.  And as I type this, it is.  It's a "Drive-In Recycling Sorting Center" and while (reportedly) there was an effort about 5 years ago to turn it into a Drive-In again, it never happened.  Yet it sits, impervious to time, stoic in its nature.

As I write this, Drive-Ins are receiving their due again as those who want to get out and see movies are finding it's the safest way to do so.  It's another moment in the sun before dusk settles in and our program begins.  Maybe, land out here is worth just too damn much to devote it to such a glorious ideal.  But maybe, just maybe, this is the second coming of gold.