Southern California will see the opening of its first new drive-in theater since 1975 tonight at 8 p.m. in Costa Mesa when the Star-Vu Drive-in shines “Shrek the Third” before some 300 parked vehicles. And while the experience will no doubt send Baby Boomers into spasms of nostalgia, the technology – a 65-foot inflatable screen and sound broadcast through the car radio – will remind no one of the largely defunct drive-ins of yore.
From this morning’s Los Angeles Times:
Bankrolled by four baby-boomers, the Star-Vu Drive-In plans to operate year-round, except during fair season. The last such venue, Westminster’s Hi-way 39 theater, closed in 1997 to make room for a Wal-Mart. The Star-Vu, with its inflatable screen, represents a quirky new breed of outdoor cinema – and the owners hope to franchise the concept to other cities.
As for the screen, you aren’t likely to one like it … unless you live in Pennsylvania.
Making it all possible is a 2,000-pound hunk of Italian plastic, inflated with British fans and cloaked with a French movie screen that is also used in indoor theaters. The contraption was reportedly invented by a German in 1994 and popularized in America, in part, by a Mormon missionary who saw one in Switzerland and dropped out of Brigham Young University to launch an inflatable movie screen rental company.
Star-Vu is one of just two U.S. drive-ins using air-powered screens, according to co-owner Bob Deutsch, whose Maryland company specializes in outdoor cinema equipment and rentals. The other theater is in York, Pa.
You can see a picture of the screen and read more about the Star-Vu set-up here.
And in other drive-in-related developments:
Want more info on the state of drive-in theaters in your area? This site – driveintheater.com – is the place to go. (I dropped them a note about misspelling my hometown’s now-defunct venue, The Boro (not Boto) Drive-in in North Attleboro, Mass.)
Looking to recreate the drive-in experience in your own backyard? Check out this site.
More memory lane? How about seeing some of those old drive-in movie ads. Of course, there’s an Internet database of them. Here. Including, “If you accidentally tear off a speaker.”
Finally, there is good news for drive-in buffs in the Memphis area, as the Malco Summer Drive-in will open as scheduled tonight despite a fire yesterday that damaged part of the screen. The fire is being blamed on “vagrants,” which curiously enough conjures up visions of a fire earlier this month that disrupted service on Internet2.
Don’t forget the popcorn. You know those drive-in concession stands are a rip-off.
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