Drive-in theaters
Jeff Cunningham, 22, of Riverside, works in the projection room at the Rubidoux Drive-In Theatre in Riverside. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Hollywood is expected to stop producing 35-millimeter prints of movies sometime this year. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
When Hollywood makes the switch, drive-in theaters must convert to digital projection systems or risk going dark. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
The Rubidioux is one of eight drive-in theaters left in Southern California. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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“Gangster Squad” plays at the uncrowded Rubidoux Drive-In Theatre. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
“Gangster Squad” looms large. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Jeff Cunningham in the projection room. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Drive-ins afford amenities not found with traditional indoor theaters. For example, Jill and Jennifer Foster watch “War of the Worlds” from the back of a pickup truck on Aug. 3, 2005 at the Crossroads Drive-In near Shiner, Texas. (Michael Stravato / For The Times)
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Christina Cruz-Madrid, then the mayor of Azusa, stands in front of the shuttered Azusa Foothill Drive-In. (Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times)
A student heads to class through the Azusa Foothill Drive-In in 2005. The drive-in served as a parking lot for Azusa Pacific. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The Azusa Foothill Drive-In celebrated a Blast to the Past on June 2, 2001. (Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times)
The Pacific Azusa Foothill Drive-In held a Blast to the Past celebration on June 2, 2001. (Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times)
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The Guerilla Drive-In Theater set up under a bridge in Santa Cruz, Calif., in 2007. The theater prides itself on springing up in unexpected places. (Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times)
Audience members sit under a bridge as the Guerrilla Drive-In Theater screens “The Matrix” and other short films on the side of a bridge in Santa Cruz. (Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times)
After being all but left for dead in the 1990s, drive-in theaters made a modest comeback in the USA in the early 2000s. Hull’s Drive-In in Lexington, Va., was saved by demolition when the community bought the theater. (Jay Paul / For The Times)
At Hull’s in Lexington, Va., a family watches “Spy Kids 3-D.” (Jay Paul / For The Times)