Vali-Hi Drive-In Theater, Woodbury, MN. July 2013. This was the first drive-in movie that I ever remember going to, and it was surely the first for the kids. Cook brought his friend Ethan along and he slept over that night. We watched Despicable Me 2, but we could have stayed for two more movies that were playing after it (three for the price of one) but as it was we got home at about midnight...
Drive-in movie theaters are endangered because of the high cost of real estate, and their limited profitability (because they can only play shows in the dark). Our movie, for example, didn't start until 9:30, even though we got there at 6:30. At their peak in the 1960's, there were about 4,000 of these theaters, which was about 25% of the total theaters in the country. In 2012, there were only 368 of them left. We are very lucky we got the chance to go!
The parking lot in the hours before the movie was a total party zone...people were grillling and drinking beer, having fires, pulling seats out of their vehicles, sitting on top of their cars. Great people watching!
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