There are plenty of reminders of the golden age of motoring that are still enjoyed today, like classic diners and drive-in movie theatres. Fortunately, there are many drive-ins near Toronto, like the 5 Drive-In just down the QEW.
This weekend was the Halloween triple-feature. The box office opened just after 6:00 pm, but the cars were lined up well before that. Regular visitors wanted to get those prized spots in the middle, halfway between the screen and the snack bar.
After browsing through the Demaras Racing stable, our family decided to bring out our classic Subaru SVX to show off. But once we made it to the theatre, we parked it well away from the crowd to avoid door dings, and to get some ‘glamour shots’.
The 5 Drive-In’s snack bar is a perfect time capsule of of mid-century architecture and classic diner style. It really transports movie goers back in time to the good old days. How many generations of Richie Cunninghams bought popcorn for their Lori-Beths at this same counter?
At sunset, the projectors started rolling and people scurried back to their cars to settle in for the show. Most weekends this summer the drive-in has been showing ‘first run’ movies like Barbie. But this was a special weekend.
Over at Screen 2, there was a bunch of scary stuff. New horror movies like Five Nights At Freddy’s and The Exorcist ‘Believer’ played before midnight, plus the classic Dawn of the Dead for those able to stay up until 3:00 am. The movies on Screen 1 were significantly more family friendly.
The 1966 TV classic ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown‘ was a staple of CBS broadcast television for decades. But since the evil-doers at Apple TV bought it, we don’t get to watch it anymore. How cool that the 5 Drive In managed to show it on the big screen, under the stars.
We watched Linus sitting in the most sincere pumpkin patch in the cartoon world, waiting for the Great Pumpkin to appear, wile we sat in our cars under the light of the full moon.
During intermission, little kids stood on picnic tables and did shadow animals on the big screen. Everyone laughed, and since it didn’t interfere with the actual movies, the drive-in management just let it go by.
Since it was the weekend before Halloween, the 5 Drive In also invited patrons to dress up in their costumes, and between movies, held a ‘best costume’ contest. What a surprise for us when Michelle and I were given 2nd Place for our Mario Kart and skeleton costumes. The prize was free passes to the movies!
Family friendly movies like Hocus Pocus and The Nightmare Before Christmas were on the bill, but there were so many little kids at the drive-in, it’s unlikely many made iit to the third feature.
Over in Screen 3 they were playing the concert movie Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. All the way from our car at Screen 1 we could hear kids singing and clapping along with the hits, so we made a short detour to hang out with the ‘Swifties‘ for a couple of songs.
Spending weekends at the race track all summer doesn’t leave a lot of time for movies. We were really lucky that it was almost 20° C until midnight for our first trip to the drive-in theatre in a year.
Looking forward to going back soon!