According to a story in the Hanford (CA) Sentinel, the Kings Drive-In in Armona is in danger of shutting down. The problem isn’t digital conversion or Walmart, it’s persistent vandalism. Which reminds me of all the signs I see in drive-in rest rooms reminding patrons that vandalism can kill this fun avenue of entertainment. (You paid to get in, didn’t you?)

Be sure to check out the story just for the photos if nothing else. And it’s got a nice ending that describes how the Kings’ fans have pitched in to ensure that the drive-in can stay alive.

Excuse me for just a bit of cynicism, but it really feels like The New York Times publishes some sort of “drive-ins still exist” article annually. I’d say that it would be an easy assignment for the summer intern, but this article is by Brooks Barnes, who lives in Los Angeles and covers media regularly for them.

Snark aside, this is an unusually thorough example of this standard article. Photographer J. Emilio Flores does a great job of painting the twilight beauty of cinema under the stars with the Mission Tiki (Montclair CA) as his canvass.

My favorite quote is from John Vincent Jr., president of the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association and owner of the Wellfleet Drive-In (Cape Cod MA): “The conversion to digital is expensive, for sure, but it also means we think there is a future.”

Enough already. Go read it.