• Viewers prepare to enjoy a movie from the safety of their cars at Cameo Cinema’s drive-in in St. Helena. (Photo by Tim Carl, courtesy Cameo Cinema)
  • A family watches “Jurassic Park” atop their SUV at Cameo Cinema’s drive-in in St. Helena. (Photo by Tim Carl, courtesy Cameo Cinema)
  • A duo enjoys popcorn and a movie from the bed of their truck at Cameo Cinema’s drive-in in St. Helena. (Photo by Tim Carl, courtesy Cameo Cinema)
  • A family in a classic convertible watches “Jurassic Park” at Cameo Cinema’s drive-in in St. Helena. (Photo by Tim Carl, courtesy Cameo Cinema)
  • Girls enjoy a movie and popcorn from their family’s car at Cameo Cinema’s drive-in at Gott’s Roadside on Main Street in St. Helena. (Photo by Tim Carl, courtesy Cameo Cinema)
  • A family gets ready for the show, climbing on top of their SUV, at Cameo Cinema’s drive-in in St. Helena. (Photo by Tim Carl, courtesy Cameo Cinema)
  • A family watches the film from the back of their SUV at Cameo Cinema’s drive-in in St. Helena. (Photo by Tim Carl, courtesy Cameo Cinema)

Anyone else catch the “Grease” sing-along on CBS this summer? The 1978 musical classic hasn’t, perhaps, aged the best in the 40-plus years since its release, but it invoked a nostalgia for something most Bay Area residents hadn’t seen much in the decades before the pandemic struck: a drive-in movie. 

Even as San Francisco moved into the ”orange” zone for businesses reopening, from hair salons to gyms to (limited) indoor dining, indoor movie theaters were only allowed to reopen yesterday. However, the National Association of Theatre Owners of California/Nevada announced yesterday that its members agreed to keep their theaters closed until the city of San Francisco loosens its COVID -19 restrictions.

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