Remembering The Drive In

We took Tim to see “Twister” at the Foothill Drive-in Theatre in Azusa, California in 1996. To date, it is the last time...and will probably remain the last time...we ever saw a movie in a drive-in theater.

I mention this because with our current pandemic, drive-ins are suddenly in vogue again. Mainly because it’s a good way to go out and see a movie while still maintaining a social distance. Health authorities have also seen this as a bone they can throw out to the quarantined masses...some entertainment you can leave the house for that is officially sanctioned.

This is not the drive-in experience we had when watching watching Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt battle flying cows, mind you. The snack bar is closed and the playground is off limits. You have to stay in your car, bring your own food, and use a credit card. You still get to use the tinny, window mounted speaker. Or, the flaky radio connection in newer locations.

The kids in the back seat are still gonna complain that they can’t see with the rear view mirror and you’re not going to be able to stick them outside on lawn chairs to make up for it. The teens in the back seat probably aren’t going to mind…

It still reminds me of our heydays of drive-ins growing up.

We had the relatively classy El Monte Drive In, which was featured in the modern remake of “The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman,” with Daryl Hannah, where you had to pay full price for everyone in the car.

It is now a Home Depot.

Edwards Drive-in was located in Arcadia at the corner of Live Oak and Myrtle. It, too, was featured in movies where a complete diner was built out front for the movie “There Goes My Baby” with Dermot Mulrooney and Ricky Schroeder.

It’s now several hundred expensive houses.

Picture courtesey of cinematreasures.org

The Big Sky in our former home of Duarte, California was knocked down to make a shopping center which is now anchored by a Target. The center still keeps it’s toe in Hollywood...the Sonic Drive In restaurant onsite is the location used for all the chain’s TV commercial filming. More interesting to us is our friend Max’s restaurant...which can be seen in the background of those commercials...where you’ll get some of the best, hand-mixed margaritas around.

The Edgewood in Baldwin Park, just up the street from the very first In ‘n Out burger stand, was our party location. Only charging $2.50 per carload, this was the one where we’d load as many friends as we could coupled with as much beer as we could fit and then not pay any attention to the triple bills they showed.

The Kaiser Permanente hospital where my dad died now occupies the site.

Near where I grew up in South El Monte, California, we had the Starlite Drive In. I remember going to movies there but remember more the swap meet that is still held there. I never enjoyed going to it.

Picture by David Zornig

One thing all of these old drive-ins have in common is that they’re no longer there, with the exception of the Starlite, which operates strictly as a swap meet these days. Another thing they have in common is that they were replaced by things that bring in a heck of a lot more money than ticket and snack bar sales.

And that’s the point...the reason why drive-ins went away and why they won’t really return with a vengeance anytime soon is that they occupied large parcels of land that were way too valuable to let sit empty except for a few hours in the evening. Developers and cities hungry for property tax dollars spelled the end for these outdoor movie palaces.

Oh, and that drive-in in Azusa where we saw "Twister?" it became part of the campus of Azusa Pacific University althought they still saved the classic marquee (picture at top).

While it might be fun to dream about the return of a treasured childhood memory, I just don’t think it’s going to happen.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2020 - All Rights Reserved

NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA - Part 2

See Part 1 of this trip here.


Lunchtime, and it’s time to test the drive-in portion of our food adventure. This time it’s Taylor’s Automatic Refresher in nearby St. Helena. No, I do not know what an “automatic refresher” is but I do know that Taylor’s is a 63 year old burger stand that servers lean Nieman Ranch burgers, delicious green garlic fries, and an assortment of beer and wine.

Watch the Video for this Trip!

The burger was delicious and juicy, not like a lot of lean burgers I’ve had in the past. We also had a hot dog, a quarter pounder, that was good but there are better out there for less. The picnic are seating area on the lawn out back is wonderful…a great place to escape the crowds out front.

Afterward, we continued on to V. Sattui winery just down the tourist-clogged road (why was it so crowded on a Tuesday afternoon?) because they were one of a number of wineries to have a free tasting coupon in the local rag. We weren’t the only ones who noticed this as there was a traffic jam to get in and no parking available at all. We turned around and kept heading south.

That would be the case at a number of wineries along highway 129…Beringer, Mondavi, and more were just packed to the gills. We went to the south end of the valley and turned west at Napa and followed the map on our guide to Folio Winery, just off of highway 12 heading for Sonoma.

It’s just hard enough to find that the crowds can’t materialize. It’s just us and one other couple in the tasting room. Quiet, relaxed, and not a speck of pretentiousness. We hand over our free tasting coupon and are presented with a list of ten wines. We can pick six of them to taste. For another $10, you can taste their reserve wines with list prices of up to one hundred dollars. Getting our tasting glasses, we sit by the crackling fireplace and sip the delicious wines as we shed the chill of the cold day outside.

There are a number of good buying options, I settle for a three-pack of Hangtime Winery wines (Folio handles about a dozen labels) for $50.

After our wine tasting adventures in the Napa Valley were done, we continued up highway 12 into the mission town of Sonoma. It was raining off and on so we ducked into Murphy’s, a warm and inviting Irish pub hidden up an alley behind the old Sebastiani Theater.

A leisurely pint here while chatting with the other patrons quickly warmed us up. We continued on to the mission at the end of the block. This is one of the smaller missions in California with the basic church and outbuildings surrounding a courtyard. The military barracks are across the street. We’d seen this before, and frankly, the Sonoma Mission is about as basic as it gets. For historical value, though, the building across the street…back towards the pub…is interesting. The Blue Wing Inn, according to the docent, is the only unrestored Spanish era building left in California. It’s a two story adobe structure that looks like an old apartment block. It’s closed these days, waiting for funds from the ever more bankrupt state government for restoration.

Leaving the mission grounds, just a half block away is one of the more touristy spots on the plaza, the Sonoma Cheese Factory. This all-purpose picnic emporium is worth a stop. At the long cheese case in the front of the store, customers can take as long as the need to sample the dozen or so cheeses being sold. After that, move to the adjacent fudge counter for another tasting of the several varieties being sold. Do this again at the ice cream bar in the back. If it’s daylight hours, be sure to try one of their delicious barbecued burgers on the side patio. Get some bread, deli meats, cheese, and a bottle of local wine to have a picnic later. Great place to explore.

As the sun sets, we get back in the van and head back to Santa Rosa to bed down for the night.
The next morning, we have breakfast at Dierk’s Parkside Café, just south of downtown. Letty has a broth infused egg dish that is delicious but defies description. Tim and I share their delicious chicken fried steak platter that also comes with a side of their light and fluffy pancakes. On top of this is the pull-apart, kind of like Indian fry bread. For Letty and I, this will be the best restaurant of the trip.

Walking off breakfast downtown, there are some fun things to see. First is an old fashioned stationary store. It’s amazing what we took for granted growing up, but these stores are very rare back home. Someplace where you can go in and just buy a couple of pens and envelopes instead of buying them by the case as you do at Office Depot and Staples.

At the end of the street is the Zap Car showroom with their fleet of cool looking electric cars. No, they have no plans at the moment of making a wheelchair accessible model.

Later, we head west of town along the Russian River Valley to our last food test of the weekend. If you’re keeping track, this would be the “dive” portion of the trip and a dive we would get.

Into the muddy parking lot of the Russian River Pub we drive. A side door provides access into the dark room with the pool table in the middle. Thousands of names are etched into the wooden walls and we grab a table near the front. A woman with a sling on her arm welcomes us and introduces herself to us, explaining that she’s usually in the kitchen cooking but with her arm this way…not today.

We order some prime rib steak andwiches and are told they are not available, why not order the prime rib dips instead? Why not. Basically the same sandwich with au jus I guess. Still good.

We also get an order of their wings, which they are famous for and what was featured on the show. They are bright orange, spicy, and pretty good. Service was a little spotty and the jukebox didn’t like the feel of paper money, but overall the food was good and the place was fun. Fieri gets high marks on all three places. Of the three, we like Taylor’s best; followed by Hank’s Creekside Diner; and then this place.

The next morning, we pack up, have another breakfast at Dierk’s…this time having their great French toast and a benedict that was just oh so good…before heading down the 101, over the Golden Gate Bridge and on south to Los Angeles.

Darryl
Copyright 2010 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved