We've come a long way since the gossip-spreading, teenaged-necking drive-in scenes from 1978's Grease.

Those of us who live in the heart of the Finger Lakes can still experience a truly authentic drive-in...minus the hickies.  Our little gem features a vintage-looking intermission animation, satisfying snack bar and original window speakers.  I bring my daughter - and often her friends - fairly often during the summers.

My first memory of going to a drive-in was to see E.T. with my parents and brothers.  I must have been 7 or 8 years old.  We had a station wagon with faux wood paneling.  Throw in some wax lips and candy dots, and that's about as good as it gets for a little kid.

Unfortunately, many (most?) drive-ins of yesteryear have closed in favor of the more flashy, more expensive cinemas found in and around malls across the country.

Sad as it is, I feel very lucky that we still have the Finger Lakes Drive-In; even luckier to pass it twice a day on my commute, and to live only a 10 minute drive away whenever I want to feel like a kid again.

And, just for the record, I plead the fifth on the hickies.

For more photos, please visit my flickr page at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eldphoto

For information on the Finger Lakes Drive-In, please visit:

http://www.driveintheater.com/list/ny/fingerlk.htm

http://www.drive-ins.com/theater/nytfing

Interview from CNN Money:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2004/01/26/358860/index.htm

Google Maps:

http://tinyurl.com/p3k9tq