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“You know you’re
getting older when you go to the drive-in and actually
watch the movie,” my friend chuckled at me. “So
what did you guys see anyway?”
Ouch. She’d called me out, caught me empty-handed
so to speak. I not only actually watched the movie, I’d
been totally riveted by two of them. Yep, I had enjoyed
nearly five hours of entertainment without a single steamed
window. In my defense, I weakly explained that the new
car has a funky, plastic island that is great for holding
drinks and CDs but is a little hard on the “getting
close” quotient. She chuckled again, and I finally
gave up. Yes, we’d gone to the drive-in to see the
show, not the movies but the show, and what a show it
was.
I think the time warp hit somewhere around the neon “Rocket
Drive-In” sign. After a loose head count and a charge
of five bucks apiece, our car crept forward. A giant silver
screen blotted out the view to the left and arriving a
little later than 7:30 p.m. made finding a good parking
space difficult. An SUV full of teen-agers grabbed the
spot next door as an older couple in a sedan gingerly
drove onto the berm, angling the car into a good viewing
position.
The older couple dialed their radio to 88.5 while the
teen-agers went the purist route and grabbed the dated,
little sound console still attached to the wire and set
it on the window. Outside our windows, the scene in the
lot had the feel of Dead-show-meets-tailgate-party. Kids
were having the times of their lives. Dogs were cruising
aimlessly. Frisbees were flying. River furniture was out
and about. Laughter filled the air.
We joined a line funneling into a classic single-story
of cinderblock in the center of the lot. The wall was
covered with Cold War-era designs, and our senses were
overwhelmed by the smell of good, old-fashioned junk food.
Dozens of hamburger patties sizzled on the grill. Hot
dogs took a spin on the rollers. And a fresh batch of
popcorn cascades into the glass box. It’s difficult
to resist, and armed with burgers, ice cream and soda,
we return to our car. The buzz is really going now, and
the Rocket was packed with people from all walks of Durango
life. Nearly all of them have giant smiles covering their
faces. Even though, we’re here for second run films,
it feels like the magic of the early cinema is still alive.
A hush falls over the crowd as the screen flickers to
life.
Much earlier than last weekend, I was catching up with
a friend. When asked what he’s been up to, he replied,
““We’ve been doing the drive-in thing
a bunch this summer. We just don’t know how much
longer it’s going to be around.”
Last Saturday, that comment seemed to be on everyone’s
minds. Poking out from behind the left edge of the screen
was a new feature - a giant concrete monolith that will
come to be known as Home Depot. With this in mind, one
fan told us that he’d heard that the Rocket had
sold to Target and that the next people driving on the
lot would be in bulldozers. Another solemnly nodded his
head. We heard about how one person’s first trip
to the Rocket had been in 1964. Another was cruising around
with a camera, burning through film trying to memorialize
this slice of Durango life. Days later, people were still
talking about how the drive-in was about to go up in smoke.
However, this wasn’t the first time Melanie Scales,
who manages the Rocket for its owners, has heard that
the drive-in is closing. “We’ve heard that
rumor for years,” she said.
And while it’s still a rumor, the drive-in has unfortunately
been on the market for some time now. Drive-in movie theaters
have been a dying breed since the ’80s. The lure
of big real-estate dollars has been hard to resist. And
the dozers have gone out, brought down screens, turned
over the speaker posts and transformed all that relatively
raw land into super stores and sprawling suburban complexes.
But Scales and her crew still crank up the projector every
season. “We just keep going,” she said. And
for that, we can all be grateful. The Rocket provides
a simple pleasure in a time when simple pleasures are
hard to come by. We can only hope it will just keep going,
and that we can all pull up next year in front of the
big screen.
- Will Sands
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