In 1990s, SLO’s Sunset Drive-In offered entertainment ‘you don’t have to go broke for’
Drive-in movie theaters are a place of nostalgic memories.
The early 1970s were the sunset of the golden age of drive-in movies. Rising real estate values doomed many drive-ins, like the one in Paso Robles that became a Target shopping center.
I remember when my parents loaded up the family into our International Harvester Scout, the back bench seat filled with blankets and pillows. They were expecting me and my two sisters to fall asleep after the first kid-friendly movie.
Dad enjoyed Burt Reynolds movies and the second feature promised to be an action flick.
The film was associated with a happy, dueling banjo tune, and the promotional posters showed Burt pulling taut the string of a bow.
Turns out none of us kids fell asleep. We watched with saucer eyes as Lewis (Burt Reynolds) and his buddies pushed off in canoes for a nature excursion down the river.
But this movie didn’t unfold like the Disney fare I was familiar with.
Soon the four canoeists were interacting with colorful swamp denizens.
Mom and Dad were getting less and less comfortable with the plot.
As the Mountain Man (Bill McKinney) told Bobby (Ned Beatty), “I bet you can squeal like a pig. Weeeeeeee!”, Mom shot a nervous glance at Dad.
As Bobby squealed, Dad exchanged a nervous look with Mom.
Mom checked to see if the kids were awake, and found three wide-eyed, wide-awake children staring at the movie screen in amazement and wonder. The adults on the screen were unlike anything we had seen before.
Then the grinning Toothless Man said, “He got a reel purdy mouth, ain’t he?”
That’s when Mom told Dad, “We are leaving now!”
Dad’s arm was a blur as he cranked the window handle and threw the speaker out on the gravel, not bothering to hang it up. Our tires squealed before Bobby could squeal again.
Gravel plinked off of the windshield behind us as Dad fishtailed the car out of the parking lot.
That’s the end of “Deliverance” as far as I know.
Social distancing guidelines have prompted indoor movie theaters to close during the coronavirus pandemic, but restrictions have been relaxed on the one remaining drive-in in the county.
Sunset Drive-In in San Luis Obispo announced that it isn’t ready to open yet. Concessions are a key economic driver and the theater is trying to work safe operations, the theater said via its Facebook page.
This Telegram-Tribune story is from June 16, 1995, and was written by April Karys.
A mini family vacation for just seven bucks a trip
“Let’s all go to the lobby; Let’s all go to the lobby: Let’s all go to the lobby-y-y-y-y to get ourselves a treat…”
The “Lobby” at the Sunset Drive-In was busy, the air heavy with odor of ersatz butter and grilled hot dogs. Outside, children in their footed PJs heard the ancient siren song, saw the animated popcorn bags and sodas cavorting across the giant screen, and wheedled snacks from their parents.
With popcorn bags firmly in hand, Lauren Johnson, 4, and her sister Cassie, 7, sat swaddled in blankets on the hood of a pickup truck, watching the trailers for upcoming movies.
“We’re here to see the one Daddy wanted to see tonight,” said their father, Armon Johnson of Atascadero, as he tucked his youngest in and waited for “Crimson Tide” to begin. His wife, Suzanne, and 9-year-old daughter, Amanda, sat in the cab, sheltered from the chill night air, watching the familiar routine.
“We probably come here six times a year or so,” Johnson said. “We usually go for the kid shows. It’s cheaper, because when you have a family of five, to go into the walk-in, you go broke. Here, you bring your own popcorn, you pay $7, and you get to see two movies. It’s still one of the things you can enjoy that you don’t have to go broke for …”
That’s just what Sunset owner-manager Larry Radke likes to hear; families are his target audience and the Sunset started out as a family operation.
Radke’s late father opened the outdoor theater built by Maino Construction in May 1950. He ran it until 1963. As soon as young Larry was old enough, he helped his dad run the shows.
“I learned to drive in this drive-in,” he said. “The building is exactly like it was then…”
Will almost. These days, a modern machine projects the shows onto the giant screen. A big metal “platter” holds all the film needed to show two full length features. There’s no switching from one carbon-arc projector to the second, like in the old days.
Radke, who also owns the Fair Oaks Theater in Arroyo Grande, and the Skyline Drive-in in Barstow, took over the Sunset again in 1985. He’s thought about putting a second screen up, but has ruled that idea out. For now things are staying the way the’ve always been — two movies a night on the lone concrete screen. Radke shows strictly first-run family films — sure, he’ll screen R-rated films, but he toes a definite line.
“I try to stay away from the real rough Rs.” he emphasized. “I’m looking at ‘Casper,’ ‘Batman.’ ”
Joe Bob Briggs would be ashamed. The syndicated drive-in movie reviewer from Grapevine, Texas, writes bout such must-see low-budgets as “Blondes Have More Guns,” “Cyberstalker” and “Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” From ’64 to ’85, the drive-in was known to screen a creepfest or two. John Hutchison of Grover Beach remembers.
“We used to go to the cemetery, to the pyramid, and we used to watch scary movies from there,” he said.
“That was in the ’70s … and then you’d tell gross stories afterward.”
The back grounds of Lady Family Sutcliff Cemetery & Mausoleum is still a popular spot for drive-in pirates, who tune in to the theater on their car radios and watch the movie for free. Radke plans to put scramblers on that side of his lot to spoil the show for non-payers.
But those who pay their $7 a car-load and ease over the wavy grounds, the first-run movies will continue, despite the drive-in’s recent downward slump.
“There are 70 cars tonight,” Radke said with a sigh, surveying the grounds that on opening night packed in 600 vehicles.
It rained that night 45 years ago, when “Davy Crockett, Indian Scout” flickered on the screen. But few people cared to brave this year’s torrential downpours in order to catch a flick at the Sunset.
The Sunday morning flea market, run by Bill Bogdan, is what pulls the sunset through the winter, Radke said.
But lately the weather’s turned summery, the nights balmy. Perfect weather for drive-in viewers — especially romantics.
Nick Economos and Melissa Miller, both Poly business sophomores, arrived one recent night to share a movie under the stars.
The night was clear and cool, they were in his open jeep. But they didn’t care. They had jackets, blankets, a bagful of candy, and each other. Why not just go to the a walk-in?
“It’s more romantic, being out in the open,” Economos said. Miller smiled a bit shyly. Light from the screen softly illuminated their faces as they continued their preparations, than settled in to watch the movie.
