Sage Crest Drive-In theatre in Nevada – courtesy of Ms Lindsey Rickert
Toronto. The devastation of industrial facilities in much of the world brought a new class of adventurer/photographer to the forefront. In parts of the world, It was cheaper to abandon facilities ‘in-place’ rather than remove them after decommission, to repurpose the land and/or facilities.
Do you remember as a kid hopping in the family car as the night fell and driving to the local drive-in theatre? Once there, dad hooked up the tinny little speaker to the window and headed to the refreshments stand and back. At the car, the family settled in and watched the movie in comfort as the car perched on the convenient rise.
Back in 2017, wrote an article in Atlas Obscura. on one photographer’s country-wide search for the “Last of the Drive-In Theaters – A fade to black for America’s outdoor silver screens”.
In another post we see the work of Lindsey Rickert once again as she captures those once massive and mighty drive-in theatres in the USA. And like our friends ‘down south’, we too have seen these ‘billboards of progress’ fade into history as new technology and changing personal interests washed over them.
In the PHSC, we had many Toronto meeting speakers who told of their adventures and photographs, people like photographer Chris Luckhardt who spoke of his adventures at our January 2020 meeting. In one location, Chris and his gal Friday climbed into an abandoned Soviet era space rocket, photographed the interior and managed to escape to tell the story!
For this drive-in story, we thank my good friend George Dunbar for suggesting the theme and sharing a link and photograph with us.
