those sacramento drive-in nites!

mather auto movies closed in, i believe, 1976.  located in the very, very close-by city of rancho cordova, i saw many, many movies there including my introduction to bruce lee films.  the playground, swings, slide etc etc., was situated right below the screen.  so, if you were bored of the movie onscreen you could ask mom & dad if you could play.  mom & dad would usually say ok because they could keep an eye out for ya.  it was at mather auto movies that i saw the perfect job for a poet.  walking past the projection booth one very hot summer night the door was open.  i peeked in.  there was an older gent, the projectionist, reclined on a broken down laz z boy reading a thick book.  that was the job for me!  

this is the last, surviving drive-in theater of the sacramento region.  it is still open.  a sixth screen was added in 1976.  i've seen hundreds upon hundreds of movies at this drive-in.  several years ago, after the drive-in converted to digital projection the manager, earl, gave me & nick a tour of the projection booth.  one of the original projectors was still mounted & the work bench where the projectionist could splice broken film together was still there.  there was even a single toilet in the booth.  just the toilet.  no bathroom.  why?  because some of the older films they might show as a second feature was on nitrate stock.  if there was a jam or if the film broke it could catch fire.  the projectionist had to be in the booth the entire night.  at least that is what earl told us.  he also said that the film showings were on a strict time schedule & the projectionist would need to use his/her mad skills to keep the films running on time.  & if you recall the days of film projection sometimes the film stock would break &/or burn up.  this tour was a bucket list thing for me.  after decades of seeing that projection booth from the outside i finally got to see what it looked like on the inside.  thank you earl! 

we live in a completely different world.  we can stream nearly everything we want.  we have such an abundance of movies, tv shows, books, music etc etc.  it would take several lifetimes to even tap into their depth.  drive-in theaters are nearly extinct.  car culture too has changed.  but even so, there might be a survivor or three.  once a thing becomes part of our culture it never really disappears.  the experience of going to a drive-in theater & seeing an exploitation b-movie is gone.  but for those few theaters that remain, like the sac 6, they are still, in my humble estimation, the happiest places on earth.  

let's all go to the lobby

let's all go to the lobby

let's all go to the lobby!

to get ourselves a treat!