says on Christmas Eve day I received a nice little surprise, an autographed copy of a 2005 book about the neighborhood AURORA HILLS in Arlington, Va. that I was born in. The author is my classmate Dean Latsioss mother named Zula, which makes it even nicer! Dean is now an attorney in Fairfax, Va. The book has Zulas recollections about growing up with her parents whose brave pioneering spirit led them to settle in AURORA HILLS in 1923. Its has 61 little chapters about so many of the interesting places in and around that area. One of the chapters is about my dads AIRPORT DRIVE-IN THEATER (1947-1973) that was where Crystal City now stands. She says....DRIVE RIGHT IN ...They were all the rage from the mid to late 30s right through the late 70s.Several were scattered across the whole Northern Virginia area, but our favorite, of course, was our very own Airport Drive In Theater. Now what could be more fun than piling too many young folks into the car that you borrowed from your Dad and having a private party, with various movie idols of the moment as the featured entertainment? Unless, that is, you would rather just take your best gal there and steal a little kiss now and then when no one was looking. The Airport Drive In Theater dominated a vast tract of wooded land on the East side of our infamous Route 1, approximately between what are now 15th and 18th Streets. Its neighbors were few and far between - a brick yard, a wrecking company, a lumber yard, a warehouse or two, and probably several others just as well forgotten. The theater was biggest and brightest structure from the 14th Street bridge to Potomac Yards. Since it was so close to the Big City, our drive-in was also a mecca for lots of fun-loving foreigners from just across the Potomac, where so much open space was scarce. With a big neon-sign airplane flying across its huge front (which, in fact, was the back of the movie screen), you knew in no uncertain terms that you had arrived! My oldest son tells me that, in the theaters latter days, it really bothered him that most of the time the propeller on the sign was either flickering or out altogether. No matter, Airport Drive-In had a bustling, well-stocked snack bar and a state-of-the-art adjust to suit yourself sound system. Sh-h-h-h - there;s a party going on! The concept and arrival of todays multi-screen theaters signaled the beginning of the end for drive-in theaters throughout the area. However, if changing technology hadnt closed our drive-in, the galloping development of Crystal City, with its concrete and glass corridor, would have. either way, the Airport Drive-In is now just another charming memory, flickering propeller and all.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 04:30:33 +0000
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