Burnaby, B.C., long-term care home puts on drive-in movie night

Dania Home residents and members of their families took in a screening of the movie Grease on Monday at a special drive-in themed event. (Nav Rahi/CBC - image credit)
Dania Home residents and members of their families took in a screening of the movie Grease on Monday at a special drive-in themed event. (Nav Rahi/CBC - image credit)

Staff at a long-term care home in Burnaby, B.C., sought to bring back memories of summer-night drive-in movies for its residents with an outdoor film screening on Monday.

Dania Home staff wore vintage costumes and served hot dogs and popcorn at the mid-20th-century styled event that was designed to stir up nostalgia.

"They remember when they were younger, as teenagers, going in the car, hiding their buddies in the trunk or their first date with their girlfriends," said Leslie Torresan, recreation consultant for Dania Home, at the event.

"And now they're able to share this experience with their families here."

Staff at the Monday event put on era-appropriate cinema attendant costumes and handed out hot dogs and popcorn to residents and their families.
Staff at the Monday event put on era-appropriate cinema attendant costumes and handed out hot dogs and popcorn to residents and their families.

Staff at the Monday event put on era-appropriate costumes and handed out hot dogs and popcorn to residents and family members. (Nav Rahi/CBC)

Most of the residents at Dania Home, which has around 100 beds, are in their 80s, Torresan said.

On Monday, dozens of them attended a screening of the 1978 musical Grease, which stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

Leslie Torresan, the recreation consultant at Dania Home, said the event aimed to conjure memories for the residents, some of whom have dementia.
Leslie Torresan, the recreation consultant at Dania Home, said the event aimed to conjure memories for the residents, some of whom have dementia.

Leslie Torresan, recreation consultant at Dania Home, said the event aimed to conjure fond memories for the residents. (Nav Rahi/CBC)

One of them, Roy Stacey, said he used to go to the Hillcrest Drive-In Theatre in nearby Surrey, B.C.

"A long time ago, yeah," he said. "Never snuck in, though."

He said his favourite memory of the drive-in was going with his then-girlfriend.

Craig McCulloch, whose 90-year-old father has lived at Dania for 2½ years, said the event gave a sense of how drive-in theatres once fostered connections between generations.

"This is how most people, a lot of people saw movies for the first time," he said. "It was economic, where you packed the entire family and go down to the drive-in, right? And we don't do that any more."

He said it also made a world of difference for long-term care residents and helped restore a sense of normalcy for them.

The Cascades Drive-In Theatre is one of Canada's oldest drive-ins, having opened in 1946. It was closed to make way for a condo development in the 1980s.
The Cascades Drive-In Theatre is one of Canada's oldest drive-ins, having opened in 1946. It was closed to make way for a condo development in the 1980s.

The Cascades Drive-In Theatre in Burnaby, which opened in 1946. (Heritage Burnaby)

The event also honoured the Cascades Drive-In Theatre — the first drive-in theatre in Canada, dating back to 1946, according to Heritage Burnaby — which was located a few blocks west of the home before the site was redeveloped in the 1980s.