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Kids' Only Complaint At Drive-In: They Didn't Want To Go Home

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By SUSAN M. GREEN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 5, 2008

With America's "last family drive-in" in our backyard and the kindest weather Florida has to offer about to expire, it seemed like a good time to introduce the family to a tradition of yesteryear.

"Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who" was playing, along with "Alvin and the Chipmunks" at the Ruskin Family Drive-In Theatre on U.S. 41. My husband said he was game. I broached the possibility to the kids, 16, 13 and 9.

"So we're going to a drive-through?" asked the 9-year-old.

"No, the drive-in. Where you see a movie from your car."

"Oh, yeah, I know," my son said, dropping the puzzled look. "A parking lot with a TV screen. I saw that once on 'Scooby Doo.'"

According to some authorities, drive-in movies were on their way out in the 1960s across America, but Florida remained a stronghold. My husband grew up in Brandon, a veteran of Tampa's Fun-Lan Drive-in experience. I grew up in Daytona Beach, where my parents piled their three pajama-clad preschoolers into the station wagon and headed to the Volusia Avenue Drive-in on U.S. 92.

The theater had a swing set near the big screen at the front and a concession stand near the back that offered hot dogs, popcorn and fountain drinks. It was fun to sit on the swings during intermission and watch a huge cartoon hot dog dance across the screen, trying to make people hungry.

By the time I was a teenager, that screen was torn down to make way for new development. Our loyalties shifted to the Nova Road Drive-In in Ormond Beach, a venue that has since gone dark.

My memories include huddling on top of the car with siblings and friends, being careful not to topple the burning PIC mosquito-repellant coil and scrambling to get inside the car when the rain started coming down.

The outdoor experience was cheaper than the indoor cinema. You could talk. You could bring your own snacks.

But how would it stack up for kids brought up in an age of air conditioning, computers, PlayStation and movie DVDs that can be watched in the living room whenever you want?

Apparently, pretty well. I told the kids we didn't have to stay for the second feature, but they didn't want to leave. As music played during the final credits of the chipmunk movie, the second feature, youngsters danced in front of pickups and minivans around us.

At the end of nearly four hours of outdoor movie-watching, my son hopped off the top of the car and hugged me.

"Thanks for bringing me here," he said.

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