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About Drive-ins

Hmmmm, nostalgia! cdm, another oldie here. All you young'uns can skip this if you find your eyes glazing over (or rolling).

I remember drive-ins - the really old ones, where you hooked the speaker onto a partly opened window and the sound was always kind of crackling or buzzy. Of course, in later years, they had sound systems where you clipped it to your antenna so you could listen through the car radio - hi tech for the day! :)

Also miss the days when we used to bundle up the kids in the back seat with blankets, pillows and toys, then make an evening's entertainment of going to a double bill at the drive-in.

I recently read that there are only a handful of drive-in theatres left in North America. A shame.
 
I am one of the young!! I love 50's especially drive in movie which I have seen in the film like Grease ( my favourite one). I like the clothes - crop trousers and skirts with fantasic hairstyles. They drunk milkshakes which now they drink alcohols.
 
Funes, I just noticed your a fellow Pennsylvanian! I checked your location when I read your post about stainless steel diners, and the fact that they aren't retro here, they are just diners.

My wife and I actually have lived in PA for only 6 months. Before that we spent three years in Mass.

I grew up in Pennsylvania, my wife's from Jersey.

How do you pronounce your screen name, Funes? Fooh - nez? Fyoons?


Ell, there are two drive-in movie theaters near where I live. One didn't open on time this summer because of some township zoning issue. I don't know if it is open yet.

I plan on seeing a double feature at the open drive-in before the season ends. Now they are playing Pirates of the Carribean and Seabiscuit. I haven't seen either, and I'd like to see both.

The last time I went it was to see Mission Impossible and Independence Day.

Before that, Honey I Shrunk the Kids.

Also, The Goonies and Nightmare on Elm Street double feature, and I seem to remember seeing Bambi at the drive-in with my parents.
 
HB,
I've been here in PA for almost 37 years now. Oddly enough, I seem to remember that posted sometime here that you work in Bethlehem, which is where I went to college. If that is where you went (I seem to remember, also, that you did an independent study of Joyce), I may even know you. But who knows?
Anyway, I am out here in Amish country, so retro takes on a whole new meaning.
As far as I know, "funes" is pronounced "Few-nase". It is the name of a character who fascinated me.
 
HB, there is only one drive-in left here in the Lower Mainland of BC (SW part of British Columbia). All the others have closed. :(

Hope you have fun. Pirates of the Caribbean is a hoot - Johnny Depp is priceless - and I hear Seabiscuit is very good. BTW, have you read the book?

Ell
 
Actually Funes, I went to Ursinus College, which is in Collegeville, Pa., near Valley Forge. And I did study Joyce.

I love Pennsylvania now more than ever. It's really a beautiful state. It's got a lot to offer. Big cities and vast forests and ancient crumbling mountains. Giant lakes and huge rivers.

Amish country is nice. My wife and I took a drive through some of the farmland this summer near Lancaster. It was strange to see a modern suburban house with a buggy in the driveway. I wonder if that was an Amish teen on his Rumshpringa (spelling? help!!) visiting some English pals.

Even though I've lived less than an hour away from Lancaster for most of my life, I hadn't really paid much attention to the Amish, other than gawking when I passed a horse and buggy on the highway.

Now I like to get through that area as soon as possible, because my wife always wants to stop at the Lancaster Outlet stores!

Ell, from what I hear, British Columbia is beautiful. Is that where Bugaboo is? What's it *really* like. Are Canadians really socialists in disguise. ;)
 
Drive-ins....not one left in New Orleans. One of my earliest memories is of a drive-in. My parents ran one in their youth. I remember loving out our mobile home window and seeing the neon lighted sign that was posted on the back of one of the screens - "Algiers Drive-In". I couldn't have been any older than 3.

When I was a little older and my parents no longer ran the drive-in, we would go to see movies there and I would fall asleep in the back seat. I also remember the moquitos! We'd light this pick thing - shaped like a spiral - to repel the nasty biters.

When I was much older, I'd bring my own car, showing it off to my classmates. It was in decline then. With the advent of VCRs the drive in wasn't much needed. It's too hot for drive ins in New Orleans anyway. Ah, the good old days!
 
HB,
It turns out that you're not the guy I was thinking you might be (not that it matters). Frankly, I try to stay away from the outlets and Rte. 30 whenever possible. I don't like either crowds or traffic.
And, thanks to Serene for the assist on Amish buggies. I've just always called them buggies. I will probably go on calling them buggies.
 
Rumspringa isn't a vehicle, it's a traditional rite of passage for Amish teenagers. They're allowed to go wild and ignore the strict Amish codes of conduct while deciding whether they want to remain a part of the community.
 
Ell, from what I hear, British Columbia is beautiful. Is that where Bugaboo is? What's it *really* like. Are Canadians really socialists in disguise.
Bugaboo Provincial Park is in the southeast corner of BC (picture just north of the US border above the NW corner of Montana). I've never been to Bugaboo, but that entire region is spectacular. And yes, British Columbia is quite beautiful. Because it's so large, it spans across many geographical regions; from west coast marine (where I am) to rolling rangeland to mountainous regions and alpine tundra to almost subarctic tundra in the far north. (Don't I sound like a travel brochure?) But really, Vancouver is a great place to live. If you like the outdoors, there is such easy access to mountains (for skiing, hiking) and to the water for boating and fishing, etc. The mild climate also helps.

And socialists in disguise? Isn't everyone? ;)

ps. I have a cousin and her family that lives in Reading, PA. Anywhere near you?
 
Serene, what would you serve at your diner?

I've been to some new diners that have been built in the last decade or so, and they serve all the classic diner fare, but they also have fancier menu items, too. And they serve drinks.

I think all of these diners I visited were independently owned, not franchised.

And they were all Greek or Italian-owned, so the menu had Italian specialties or stuffed grape leaves.
 
I guess I misunderstood about the buggy. Either way, I doubt very much if what HB saw was an instance of "rumspringa". The last barn party I heard about took two townships' worth of police to break up.
Your diner sounds interesting, but the true test of any diner is breakfast. If you're there for the ambience alone . . . well, it just isn't the same.
Ell, Reading is about halfway between my town and HB's. Depending on traffic and what-not, it is about an hour east of here.
 
Perhaps because beer is a blue-collar drink and she is mocking the simple, old-fashioned convention of a man bringing home the bacon and his wife keeping house.

Although the rest of the song sounds pretty sincere, that 'beer' voice sounds a little snotty to me, and I don't imagine she misses the cowboys very much.

Is that your take?
 
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