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Along with bowling alleys and skating rinks, drive-in movie theaters are one of those 20th-century entertainment industries that required a large chunk of conveniently located real estate in order to succeed. But as entertainment choices expanded, the population grew and real estate values climbed, these were the kinds of businesses that didn鈥檛 quite pencil out anymore.

One of Seattle鈥檚 grandest drive-in theaters was the Duwamish, which opened on this day in 1948. The film shown for the grand opening was a wartime homefront romance starring Ronald Reagan.

The Duwamish was set in a fan-shaped, poplar-lined meadow along the banks of the Duwamish River in Tukwila just south of 112th on the old Pacific Highway, which was the only north-south main route connecting Seattle and Tacoma in those pre-freeway days.

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Local entrepreneur and longtime history buff Jerry Vandenberg was born in 1940 and grew up along the Duwamish River in the Riverside neighborhood. He spent many a teenaged-night at the Duwamish Drive-In in the 1950s.

鈥淒uring the intermission, the radios went on loud, and we’d jump up on the roof of the car and start dancing,鈥� Vandenberg said. 鈥淚t was just a place where you could be a teenager without anybody caring what it was that you were doing.鈥�

And what, exactly, were those teenagers doing away from prying adult eyes? At the Duwamish and other local drive-ins, apparently just about everything you can imagine.

Though the Duwamish was one of the most popular theaters in its heyday, it wasn鈥檛 the first drive-in around here; that honor goes to the along Highway 99 in Kent, which opened in April 1942 as the Northwest Motor Movie. World War II was raging in those days and Seattle was bustling with defense plant workers. The Northwest Motor Movie offered 1:30 a.m. showings so that swing-shift workers wouldn鈥檛 have to miss out on the movies (or the privacy).

The Midway showed films until the 1980s and then became home to a swap meet; in 2005 and replaced with a big box store.

New Jersey has the honor of having opened the very first drive-in anywhere back in 1933.

A newspaper ad for the grand opening touted the Duwamish as 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Finest鈥� and claimed that, 鈥淣o expense has been spared to give you the finest Drive-In Theatre in America! Every new development of science has been incorporated to ensure you the finest possible visual and sound projection!鈥�

The ad went on to promise the 鈥渨orld鈥檚 largest screen, baby bottle-warming service, individual speaker with own volume control,鈥� and 鈥渘o parking or dress-up problems.鈥�

Drive-ins theaters really took off after World War II as America鈥檚 famous 鈥渃ar culture鈥� revved up and went full-throttle 鈥� with car radios playing popular music, drive-in restaurants serving hamburgers, and big suburban shopping centers like Northgate and Bellevue Square offering the convenience of huge parking lots.

Other drive-ins that popped up around here in the postwar years include the Aurora in north Seattle; the Eastside in south Kirkland; the Sunset (where the Factoria Cinema is now located); the Kenmore; the Puget Park in South Everett; the Valley in Auburn; the Samish in Bellingham; the Thunderbird in Marysville; and the Circus Drive-In on Highway 20 near Anacortes.

And though the drive-in phenomenon started happening before television began to really chip away at the movie industry in the 1950s, drive-ins continued to offer the privacy and escape from adult supervision that family living rooms did not.

Another habitu茅 of the Duwamish Drive-In is longtime local radio guy and former 成人X站 newsman, Tony Miner. Miner grew up just up the hill from the Duwamish Drive-In in White Center, and he鈥檚 a bit younger than Jerry Vandenberg. Miner says that as a 16-year-old in 1969, he had an old 鈥�53 Chevy with a Peace sign in the rear window and that he was a 鈥渉ippie with long hair.鈥�

鈥淔or kids growing up in White Center, the Duwamish was one of those go-to places,鈥� Miner said. 鈥淥ne of those places where you took a date. You had Lincoln Park, you had Alki Beach, maybe even Seward Park. You didn’t really go to watch the movies if you know what I’m sayin.’ If you had a good night — if you had a lucky night — you didn’t see anything of the movies.鈥�

For Jerry Vandenberg and for Tony Miner and pretty much every other teenager, it鈥檚 clear that the Duwamish Drive-In wasn鈥檛 really about the movies. Miner says another thing it wasn鈥檛 about was the concession stand.

鈥淥ne thing I really remember, the concession stand, the food was terrible,鈥� Miner said. 鈥淭he pizza was just awful, like a piece of cardboard with tomato sauce on it. The popcorn was dry. The hot dogs buns were dry, the hot dogs were wilted. Even the soda was flat.鈥�

Miner also says those little speakers that were mounted on posts for the movie audio were pretty lousy, too. But, he says, that wasn鈥檛 the point.

鈥淵ou were on your own. You were mobile, or you were maybe taking a date down there. It wasn’t about the crappy sound or the crappy food,鈥� Miner said.

Though most local drive-ins have closed, there are still a few left operating around Puget Sound, including the south of Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island; the near Port Townsend; and the near Port Orchard.

When the Duwamish Drive-In closed in December 1980, it did so without the fanfare of the 1948 grand opening. Newspaper schedules at the time said it had just closed for the season, but it never reopened.

The screen and concession stand were eventually torn down and replaced with a big Boeing office complex a few years after that. The old footprint of the Duwamish is mostly inaccessible nowadays and the old grounds are surrounded with 鈥淜EEP OUT鈥� signs. But you can still relive at least part of the Duwamish experience with that goes right along the river next to the remnants of the old poplars that used to separate the parking area from the river.

By the time of its closing in December 1980, the film offerings at the Duwamish had also changed somewhat since 1948. 鈥淭he Voice of the Turtle鈥� and similar family-friendly cinematic fare were no longer on the bill. The grand finale triple-feature at the old drive-in included 鈥淗ow to Score With Girls,鈥� 鈥淣aughty Schoolgirls鈥� and 鈥淭he Carhops.鈥�

And what became of Ronald Reagan, whose film had started it all at the Duwamish in 1948? In December 1980, he had just defeated Jimmy Carter and was about to become president.