What the hell happened to the Drive-In Movie Theater?

I'm lucky, I guess. While most of the younger generation is  fighting Angry Birds on their Smart phone, I reminisce for the days when you waited all week to hang with your friends, or that special person, at the Drive in Movie theater.  By the way, I've never once encountered a live angry bird in real life......  On the other hand ---

For me, I have great memories of the Drive-in - I used to buy beer and then spend the next four hours watching a double feature horor flick at either the Burlingame or Redwood drive-in here on the Peninsula.  Both are gone now, and I've had cause to remember, because in both of these specific theaters, they were torn down very long ago, but the public and the politicians are still fighting over the land they once occupied.  Still vacant land.  Remember the intermission advertisements?  I loved the eerie "Keep Building!" ad for the Winchester Mystery house at the Burlingame

 The photo above is the Bair Island Road, Marina Shores area in 1961 before there was anything there....  EXCEPT for the drive in movie theater!  In the late 60s, there were over 200 Drive-ins in California.  Today less than 20.  I guess we need more vacant land and empty office buildings!

Besides Burlingame and the Redwood, there was..... The Geneva in Daly City, The Capitol in San Jose, The Union City Drive-in, The Solono in Concord, & The Oakland Coliseum Drive-in. Were there others?

We could use a few more Drive-In's.  I don't know of a single Drive-in still operating in the Bay Area.  But let's think about it..... How many 30 year marrieges and friendships have been lost because of that?

If you have Pictures or memories of Bay Drive-Ins, please comment or email me at BayBoomerBlog@gmail.com. 

Good Life in Boom Times!

This blog is about memories of fun times in years past.... Specifically what it was like growing up in the Post-War hey-day of the Baby-boom Generation.  If you're looking for a place to rant and rave about The Summer of Love or the Occupy Movement - You're in the wrong place. 

The fun things I want to talk about are not controversial, and maybe aren't so common anymore. 1960s Toys; Things like Locally-produced Children's TV shows; Bowling Alleys right down the street; Riding your bike to school and playing in the street all day; Going to birthday parties with you friends in the neighborhood; Finding your dad's Stag Magazines; Visiting cheesy roadside attractions on the weekend because your parents didn't have the money for a real vacation; CB Radio......  It's a long list and I hope all of you readers out there will provide me with your ideas for future columns.

So, here we go!  And to be serious for just one moment, this blog is dedicated to our great friend  Roger J. McNamara 1959-1990.... The talented young man who always knew of somewhere we could buy beer despite the fact that we were only 16 year-old high school students.