When I was in high school, some friends and I would ride our bikes over to the back of the drive-in, and watch the movies from behind the chain-link fence (which could be easily hopped) for free on the ginormous screen. I’m not saying they were R-rated, but I’m not saying they weren’t. Besides, what was the point of rating anything if the entire city could see it on a 7-story screen.
I always got the feeling that on the list of things the Gilmore Drive-In was about, movies were somewhere beneath community. Socializing was the point, and there were just as many people in their cars as out walking around talking to friends.
I suppose it was foolish to think property that valuable wouldn’t get developed. And the slow death rattle of drive-in’s having the life choked out of them by actual theaters made it all but inevitable the Gilmore would one day be a faded Technicolor memory.
Still, I remember being with friends, watching Clint Eastwood’s violent directorial debut Play Misty For Me.
Even on bikes, even without sound, even though it was cold. It was still magic.
2 comments:
Couldn't help but think that even though the Gilmore Drive-in was replaced by Television City, the social aspect of this very special theater under the stars is long gone.
Actually Mike, CBS Television City was there at the same time as the Gilmore. The Gilmore was off of 3rd and that road that runs between 3rd and Beverly just East of Television City. But you're right about how the social aspect won't be replaced anytime soon, if ever.
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