Earlier this month, I got a chance to go to the Mendon drive in with a friend of mine. Most people in my generation have never experienced a drive-in movie. (How many would actually be interested in doing so, I couldn’t say.) When I was but a wee youngin’ (in the mid to late 80’s) the last of the remaining theaters where suffering their final death throes. Fortunately, I had a chance to go before the old behemoths disappeared completely. As I grew older, the drive-in movie became a vague, wistful memory buried in my subconscious. The experience haunted my dreams, much like my trips on the monster ride at the now long dead Lincoln Park .

Does my recent trip live up to such reminisces? Of course not. Like radio drama and automats, drive-in movies are one of those things that seem much better when hazily remembered than they actually were in real life. Are you annoyed by cell phones and whining kids at the local multiplex? Try dealing with slamming car doors, headlights, honking horns, and the occasional nitwit playing hacky-sack.

All this being said, I strongly recommend finding an open theater near you (this site is a great resource) even if it means taking a bit of a drive. For those of you who’ve never seen a film outside your local multiplex, it truly is an amazing experience. I could only describe it as surreal; viewing a movie on a huge screen, suspended in space before a backdrop of pine tree, actually gave me the willies. To my side, a full moon hung in the sky, brushed by ashen wisps of cloud. It was like sitting in the middle of a Salvador Dali painting. Yeah, it’s safe to say I had fun (even if the movie was middling at best).

I can definitely imagine something like this growing on me, in small doses. The drive-in experience is totally unique; if you can manage it, you owe yourself a trip. (Unless you’re a complete prat, but I’m working on the assumption that you’re ok.) And if you’re anything like me (and may God have mercy on your soul if you are) It’ll help to diffuse that nostalgic sense of ennui.