What was one of the only industries to thrive during the pandemic? An unlikely blast from the past: drive-in movie theaters. Now that vaccines are widespread and indoor theaters have reopened, how will drive-ins survive? Ampersand’s Wesley Stenzel investigates.
AMBI – Street/speaker sounds from the theater
I’m at an unassuming little parking lot in the middle of downtown Glendale. About fifty cars are lined up in rows of four and five. Some cars are parked facing the street, and others are turned the opposite way. But everyone’s looking at the same thing: a massive inflatable movie screen that’s about to play Edward Scissorhands. Just before the movie starts, the theme song from Mission Impossible starts blasting through the parking lot, and Ralph Matamoros welcomes everyone to the drive-in.
AMBI – Ralph Matamoros MC
RALPH MATAMOROS: This is a movie that’s been around for quite a while. It’s a fun movie to watch, people enjoy it every time we play it. We always gotta play it around the Halloween time because we know it’s sort of like a family favorite.
Ralph Matamoros is the owner of Glendale’s Electric Dusk Drive-In. He bought the theater in 2016, and never imagined something like COVID would hit.
MATAMOROS: One night, I went out with my girlfriend and we went to a drive in that was up downtown and I found out that the guys were selling the drive-in, and I told her, I said, I thought “wow, this would be a really cool little business to have with the family, that I could involve the kids.”
Matamoros’s youngest son coordinates parking and logistics, and Ralph’s girlfriend runs concessions and social media. His older kids also help out occasionally. It’s fitting that Electric Dusk is a family affair, because the whole business feels directed toward spending quality time with your family.
MATAMOROS: People love to bring their kids, and they like to sit in the back of their cars, or you will see a lot of people with trucks, and they sit in the back bed of the trucks. It’s just a fun experience to have.
I visited Electric Dusk with my younger brother. We grabbed dinner from Porto’s Cuban bakery and ate it in the car. When the movie started, we tuned to the theater’s FM radio station for the sound. We laughed and talked about Johnny Depp’s wacky performance without worrying about annoying our fellow moviegoers. We were so comfortable in our own little bubble that we forgot about the rest of the audience. Halfway through the movie, I looked around the parking lot and realized that fifty other cars full of people were all having their own unique experiences — together.
MATAMOROS: you cannot compare the feel of being with your friends, your family, your kids in a car and if you’ve ever been around a bunch of kids, you know they like to be loud and obnoxious –– you can’t do that in a theater. And when you’re in your SUV, you can do whatever you want, the kids can be loud, they can be in their PJs, and you know you can drop food on the car, I mean it’s not a good idea, but it’s just a whole different feel…
AMBI – EDWARD SCISSORHANDS AUDIO
GREG RUBIN: I just kinda like the environment, cuz like the big-screen feel of going to a movie theater but you get to bring your own food and drinks.
Greg Rubin came to see the movie with Yasmine Askari.
YASMINE ASKARI: It kinda takes you back to like the classic feel.
That nostalgic feeling is one of the main appeals of drive-ins. The industry peaked in 1958, when there were over 4,000 drive-in theaters across the country. But the rise of TV, multiplexes, and VHS all made outdoor cinemas steadily decline in popularity. It feels more common to see abandoned drive-ins than active ones as you travel on Southern California’s endless freeways. There are only around 350 operational drive-ins NATIONWIDE now, which makes each one feel more special.
AMBI – Ralph Matamoros MC
“Thank you for coming tonight, we hope you liked the movie, we hope to see you at the next one…”
Now that indoor cinemas are open again, the pandemic boom has ended for drive-ins.
MATAMOROS: Business just went through the roof, and then we plateaued…I have definitely felt that business has dropped.
But like many other drive-ins, Electric Dusk has adapted to the change. The industry is surviving thanks to new private screenings, including corporate events, that bring in more revenue. Electric Dusk is still doing good business.
MATAMOROS: In my previous life, I was in the legal field, but after this whole thing with COVID, we have been so busy running events, weekend after weekend, that I quite frankly have been doing the drive-in as a full time job.
The credits roll, the engines start, and everyone goes their separate ways. But the drive-in experience is so special that many of us will return soon.