Around The Valley

I am suffering from PSSS:  Post Semester Stress Syndrome.
It is ridiculous, I know, but I am really stressed out with school being over for the next several months.  It gives my mind far too much time to ponder and wander about in my own little world.
I will give you a glimpse-- if only to explain why I got to thinking about The Antelope Valley as it was in bygone days.
This is how it worked.  Two (TWO!!) longtime single girl friends are getting married in the next few weeks.  I am so happy for them.  I am impressed with the courage they have had to put their hearts out there-- a quality I just do not have.   But it got me thinking about my divorce-sary which was May 24th.  I have now been single 14 years.  I was married just less than 15 which means I have been divorced almost as long as I was married.  This got me thinking about my ex-husband and how we met and what things were like when I was young... and there you go... I am back in the 1970s.
And I am taking you back in time with me.  For some of you this is all new because I have readers from all over the United States and in the UK.  For some of you this will remind you of your younger years.
One of the things that has gone by the wayside were drive in movies.  We had several in our area.  We had a 3 screen drive in about 2 miles from where I sit right now.  On the edge of town with only miles and miles of desert on the other side to the north, I spent many an evening watching the latest movie.  When I was a child my parents would bring along lawn chairs and we would sit alongside the car in our jammies so we could be put to bed easily when we conked out halfway through the Disney flick we came to see.  Sometimes we would sit on the hood of the car, which was some enourmous barge like vehicle.  We always brought our own snacks of course.  When I was a tween I remember seeing the first Star Trek movie at that drive in with my uncle David.
On to my teenage years.  Same big cars.  Still sat on the hood-- sometimes.  If we were seeing a movie that charged by the person and not by the carload, kids would pack into the truck and sneak in.  Usually we brought treats but sometimes we went off to the snack bar and got popcorn or candy.  If we were really flush we got one of those horrible little pizzas.  Then you would have to wander around trying to find your car.  The last movie I ever remember seeing at the drive in was Amityville Horror.  I saw it with my best girlfriend Stacy and her boyfriend at th time.  It scared the bejeebers out of me.  I still remember trying to block out the sound with my fingers in my ears. 
By then the sound was broadcast through the radio.  You just tuned into the special station.  Earlier on you rolled down your car window, stuck a speaker inside and rolled up the window until you crushed your fingers and said bad words.  Then you rolled it down enough to extract your fingers and c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y rolled the window back up.
George Lucas sounded the death knell for the drive in.  Once we started up with all that THS and the special effects the days of the drive in were numbered.  I remember seeing Star Wars in a walk in theater.  The drive ins died a slow tortured death eventually closing altogether.  For awhile they served as movie sets and finally they were razed and the city transportation facility built in their place.
Long gone, but not forgotten.


Lancaster Drive In--- Glory Days Behind It

Speakers