‘There’s something about watching a film under the stars’ … The Coburg Drive-In in Melbourne. Photograph: Mridula Amin/The Guardian View image in fullscreen ‘There’s something about watching a film under the stars’ … The Coburg Drive-In in Melbourne. Photograph: Mridula Amin/The Guardian Film Drive-in cinemas are rare these days. But the last one in Melbourne’s north still draws a faithful crowd The drive-in demands little of its audience. You can lie down, bring your dog and talk without fear of being hushed. Mridula Amin spent a night at one of the last of a dying breed
Between a funeral parlour and a sink factory, a queue of cars slowly disappears down a driveway. Most arrive with plenty of time to spare – to turn their backseats into beds, tune their radios to the film audio and let children play on the bitumen or finish their takeaway dinner. By the time darkness falls, hundreds of cars are pointed towards a screen that has outlived almost every other drive-in in Melbourne .
“There’s something about watching a film under the stars, in the night air,” says Michael O’Neill, a car detailer who lives in Echuca, a five-hour return trip from the Coburg Drive-In.
At the peak of their popularity, there were more than 300 drive-in cinemas in Australia. Now, the Coburg Drive-In is the last one left within an hour of the Melbourne CBD.
View image in fullscreen The Coburg Drive-In is the last one left within an hour of the Melbourne CBD. O’Neil has been coming to the drive-in for 20 years, and when the light-up sign comes into view, it’s not unlike the feeling of coming home. He visits monthly.
People back home have often jeered, telling him it’s a waste of time. But O’Neill finds the traditional cinema experience lacklustre, “sat in a dark room, with phones buzzing and people talking”. He wants to live the drive-in experience while he can.
“We just don’t know – it could continue,” he says. “But if the end does come with the Coburg Drive-in, you can’t say I didn’t have a good run out of it.”
View image in fullscreen Michael O’Neill has been coming to the drive-in for 20 years: ‘I feel safe and happy here.’ View image in fullscreen The retro Village Diner at the Coburg Drive-In. Factoring in petrol, a night out at the drive-in will cost O’Neill about $150 – the equivalent, he says, to a night out in Echuca’s pubs and clubs, which he finds “too rough”.
The drive-in demands little of its audience. You can lie down, walk around, talk and sing without fear of being hushed. Parents feel at ease bringing newborns, and dogs can curl up beside their owners.
View image in fullscreen Sylvaine Moses and her son Jamie at the drive-in. Photograph: Mridula Amin/The Guardian For Sylvaine Moses, it has been a safe haven for decades as a place to bring her son, Jamie, who lives with multiple disabilities. “This was the only place we could come as a family without feeling self-conscious about disturbing others,” she says.
During films, there is a steady trickle of people wandering between the retro diner, playground and toilet block. The biggest breach of etiquette seems to be someone forgetting to switch off their headlights.
View image in fullscreen Te in her van with her friend Shin and dog Ellie. Te, 29, a Coburg local, often arrives in her van with her dog Ellie.
“It’s a nice place for me when I’m having a bad mental health day, and I’ve brought friends when they’re having a tough week,” she says.
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