The reason that drive-in movie theatres are obsolete is because we stopped going to drive-in theaters. I really don’t know why. There was nothing more fun than Mom and Dad loading the kids into the Vista Cruiser station wagon and heading off to the drive-in.
We got to wear our pajamas! Dad backed the car into our space and hooked the little speaker on the window while Mom passed us cookies from home. If Dad had a good month in sales, he would even walk up to the little snack shack and bring us warm, buttered popcorn and sugary soda.
We would cuddle in blankets and watch the movie... Swiss Family Robinson, 101 Dalmations, or The Sound of Music. It was bliss.
One day, people stopped going to the drive-in. There were less and less of them until there was only one. It had a cult following… that one drive-in theatre. Teenagers would go to see what their parents were so reminiscent about. Nostalgic adults took their kids …and then one day the last drive in theatre was gone.
Village Video on Bowen Island is our version of the drive-in theatre. When I mention to our city friends or out of town relatives that we picked up a movie at the video store, they are astonished that we still have one. My sister came to visit from Phoenix, Arizona, and exclaimed, “You have a video store! That is so retro cool!”
We not only have a video store but it is family owned and operated. Even their dog, Candy, is there… joyful and friendly and looking at you with those eyes that will not allow you pass without giving her a treat from the bowl on the counter. Mladen and Pero are super nice and have seen just about every movie. They are honest and free with their critiques. Mladen genuinely wants you to like the movie you rent.
Yet, just as video killed the radio star, Netflix is killing the video store. Mladen says business is slowing because people are just staying home and ordering their movie online or through their cable provider. No more visiting with the neighbour who also came for a movie, no more free critiques, no more excitement about getting the last copy of the latest new release, no more Mladen or Pero or Candy… just stay-at-home, push a button, addictive Netflix.
Wearing your pajamas at home while you watch a movie is not nearly as fun as wearing them in the back of the station wagon at the drive-in.
If we all stop going to Village Video, there will no longer be a video store on Bowen Island. It is just another thing that makes Bowen Island so unique. It is just another thing that makes it so wonderful. So go rent a video, keep on renting videos, and help keep this small town institution alive. I think there are only two video stores left in Vancouver. Soon there will be none. Wouldn’t it be fun if our video store was like that last drive in theatre?
We will miss it if it is gone?
