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alright so i went to my first drive in last saturday, it's in salinas CA, cost 6.50 a person, watched 2 movies, i've been wanting to start a business for a while now but haven't come up with something i feel that would work for me, until after last saturday, i've been reading the last few hours and have found a good deal of information thanks to everyone thats posted on here as well, i live in the san francisco area, and want to start one around here, theres about 800,000 people living here and it's growing every year, there are many movie theaters here all owned by century, all of the smaller theaters i've grown up with have all closed down except for the few lucky ones, i dated this girl a while back and talked to her mom, she used to tell me back in the day how shed used to roll up on the back of a truck to a drive in and just kick back and watch movies off the back of the truck and how great that used to be, it was called geneva drive in, this was about all the information i could find on it cinematreasures.org/theater/7482/ first i'd like to know where to get started i looked around and found this mobmov.org/manifesto/ this looks very do able but i don't know if this is in the right direction can someone please show me where to start

You'll need a consultant. Years ago the Ballantyne Company (Strong) designed drive-ins in anticipation of you buying their equipment. I don't know if they would still do that. You can contact them at 402-453-4444. Also the Selby Products Co. still manufactures and sells screen towers. Contact them at 330-659-6631. Either company should be able to give you info on how to get started. You're going to be faced with very expensive land prices in that area. I used to live in South San Francisco. Good luck.

I used to live in San Mateo and remember the Burlingame drive in. The reason all the driveins in the San Francisco area are gone is the land prices are so expensive now. Coupled with zoning restrictions that really killed them.

Here's a link to the UDITOA (United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association) FAQ page that has some helpful information. Just reviewing it, some of the cost figures might be a little outdated but it's a good start.
http://www.uditoa.org/FAQs.html