American Nostagia
The cavernous trunk of the 1952 Chevy smelled bad enough to gag a maggot. It was pitch black, extremely hot and as uncomfortable as it gets lying on top of fishing gear, gas cans, tools and tires. The constant motion of the car moving through traffic was beginning to make me sick. It was getting difficult to breathe. Within a few minutes my suffering would be over.
The car slowed down and came to a stop. I could hear muffled voices. The old Chevy started moving forward again. I could hear and feel the tires crunching gravel as we slowly drove over countless small hills.
The brakes squealed slightly as the car came to a full stop. My heart was pounding as I heard the driver put the car in park and pull the emergency brake. A heavy door slammed shut and foot steps could be heard coming towards me.
A key jiggled around in the lock for couple of seconds and the trunk lid was quickly opened. Fresh air, darkness and my buddy greeted me as I jumped out of the trunk.
All I had to do now was get in the car as fast as possible without being seen. If a 1952 Chevy was as short as today’s cars, I might have made it. I don’t think I took more than five steps when I came face to face with the manager of the I-70 Drive-in and he wasn’t very happy.
He said we could do one of three things. He could call my dad and let him deal with me, he could have the police give me a ride down to the station or I could go back to the ticket booth and pay like everyone else. I wasn’t the brightest teenager in the world but I was certainly smart enough to go with choice number three. He wrote down my drivers license number and said choice number three wouldn’t be an option if he ever caught me trying to sneak in again.
I learned my lesson and probably became one of their better customers through out the 1960s as a teenager. At one time, thousands of Drive-ins covered the America Kansas City
I was quite happy to find out that the I-70 Drive-in is still open and doing very well these days. I stopped there recently to talk to owner Daryl Smith. Other than there being four screens instead of one, very little has changed since I saw my last movie there over 30 years ago.
A lot of memories came rushing back as I drove under the familiar arch at 8701 40 highway. The ticket booth and concession stand are still in the same place as they were when I was a teenager. Driving over the little hills and carefully dodging all the speaker stands made me start thinking about those hot summer nights sitting in the car under the stars with my girl friend or hanging out with a couple of buddies watching movies on the 50 by 90 foot screen. I remember going there on double dates in the winter hoping the electric heaters they provided would quit working so our dates would have to snuggle up to us to stay warm.
A lot of people loaded the back of their pickups with coolers, lawn chairs, blankets, pillows and kids. They backed into their space next to the speaker stand, unfolded the chairs against the cab and laid out the blankets by the tail gate so the kids would eventually fall asleep on them. All that was left to do was ease into the lawn chairs, put your feet on the cooler and watch movies for several hours.
As I pulled up to the concession stand where several employees were busy getting ready to open for the evening I noticed hundreds of birds eating something on the ground. “That’s yesterday’s popcorn” explained Daryl. “I see no point in throwing it in the trash when the birds will eat it”
Daryl graduated from Van Horn high school 1964 and worked at I-70 as a box office cashier during his college years. After a stint in the Untied States Army and a tour of Vietnam
I don’t have the best memory in the world but other than the prices I really don’t think the inside of the concession building has changed any. I remember walking along the counter as a kid with my date watching what she put on her tray and hoping I had enough money to pay for it. Maybe that’s where I learned to quickly add up figures in my head.
I always wondered what the projection room above the concession building looked like and got my chance to see it when Daryl introduced me to manager John Candy. Like the sacred elephant burial grounds, a giant pile of ancient car speakers stared back at John and I as we made our way past them to the stairs.
No fewer than eight huge movie projectors came into view as we reached the top step. Several large turn tables and plenty of 35 mm film filled the large room. The temperature is kept nearly as cold as an operating room in the hospital to keep the film and equipment in good shape.
I asked how many people it took to run all the equipment and was very surprised when John told me just one and that person spends very little time there. It’s automated for the most part. Once the projection man gets all four movies started he goes back downstairs to other duties. But what happens if some thing goes wrong with one of the projectors and the movie quits running I asked? John laughed and said hundreds of customers will start flashing their lights and honking their horns to alert the staff.
Even though you can now listen to the movies on your car radio, Daryl still has the old speakers you can set on your car window for those of us that like to bring back the days of our youth. You can see two movies for seven dollars per person. Children eleven and under get in free.
That’s a pretty good deal for a slice of American Nostagia
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