'It's something new and it's something old'

Summer's here and the time is right for watching movies under the stars. At Oakville's 5 Drive-In, there's novelty in nostalgia

- WILL SLOAN

On this warm June night, Oakville's 5 Drive-In still looks a lot like it did when it opened as a single-screen theatre almost exactly 60 years ago. A neon sign with an analogue marquee beckons just two minutes off the QEW and another one inside promises Papa's softserve ice cream at the concession booth.

In front of the three separate screens, kids can burn off energy in playgrounds while vintage ads (like the immortal "Let's All Go to the Lobby") run above them. In the shack that houses the snack bar, there's a small area with the sorts of old-fashioned claw machines that some indoor theatres recently tried phasing out in favour of "VR experiences" (like the pricey and shortlived IMAX-branded arcade at Toronto's Scotiabank Theatre).

As in many restaurants, you can now scan a QR code to order food to your car, but otherwise, the esthetic hearkens back to the drive-in's postwar heyday. "We love it here," says Joanna Morrison, who's taking in a movie with friends. "I'm almost 50, so I've been coming since (there were) speakers on the poles. It's really nostalgic."

Ask patrons and management what they like most about the drive-in and you'll hear a variation of that word a lot, even from those who weren't alive to experience its golden age. "It's the nostalgia," says Kenia Rodriguez, assistant manager, who is working the hectic snack bar tonight. "Especially in the summer, just to hang out outside with family and friends."

In this post-lockdown, streaming-focused moment, when most movie theatres are fighting to retain their relevance, the drive-in looks proudly, defiantly backward.