Top 25 things vanishing from America: # 6 -- Drive-in theaters
Filed under: Extracurriculars
This series explores aspects of America that may soon be just a memory -- some to be missed, some gladly left behind. From the least impactful to the most, here are 25 bits of vanishing America.
I fondly remember going to the drive-in with my family on hot summer nights in Jersey City. We'd have to test out several spots until we found one with working sound. The show would usually start with cartoons, then there would be a long intermission while cartoon-like promos pushed the snack bar. Finally the movie would start.
Well, those types of family nights are getting harder to find. During the peak in 1958, there were more than 4,000 drive-in theaters in this country, but in 2007 only 405 drive-ins were still operating. Exactly zero new drive-ins have been built since 2005. Only one reopened in 2005 and five reopened in 2006, so there isn't much of a movement toward reviving the closed ones.
Richard Hollingshead, Jr. invented the first drive-in in 1933 because he wanted a place the family could go together to watch a movie and not have to get dressed up, get a baby sitter or worry about parking. Prior to his invention, kids would go to the matinee and adults would dress up and go to the evening show.
The first drive-in theater opened in Camden, N.J. on June 6, 1933 and seventeen more were built between 1933 and 1939. Detroit, Michigan, and Lufkin, Texas, hold the record for largest drive-ins ever built. Both could hold 3,000 cars at their heyday. The location of the former Lufkin, Texas theater is now a junkyard and the former Detroit theater is a strip mall. Many drive-Ins that still operate today also serve as flea markets and swap shops to help keep the business financially viable.
If you want to go to a drive-in movie before they are extinct you can find the one nearest you at Drive-Ins.com.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
7-15-2008 @ 9:09AM
Neely said...
That's not true at all, there are 3 drive-ins where I live and every weekend during the summer they are packed! They probably do better than normal theaters, seeing as how you get two movies for like 6 bucks and even all the food and candy are a bit cheaper.
Well at least I'm comforted by the fact drive-ins will always be around in NEPA.
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7-15-2008 @ 11:53AM
Cbos said...
We have a new 3-screen drive inn, showing first run double features. It is open 7 days a week, and packed every night during the summer.
It's a great way for the family to see movies!!
7-15-2008 @ 10:19AM
Bob Urban said...
I go by an old Drive In by my House. It is really sad seeing the big Marquee still there and looking beyond to see dozens of old trucks piled there where people watched and enjoyed the movies and the freedom of the outdoors.Also at this particular place stands the old concession stand. Like dozens of other people,I miss those old drive ins and I am sure whoever you talked to about them would agree on the fun and cheap way to spend an evening.What is this progress people keep talking about.what about the people that can't afford to go to thoses expensive theaters where you have to dress up,pay big bucks let alone paying so much cash for a bag of popcorn, which you can't get anymore you have to get the Bucket.
To me,,such simple things still mean alot
I never thought,when I was a kid, that I would be saying BRING BACK THE GOOD OLD DAYS..At least some of them,,,,like the Drive ins. AMEN!!!
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8-04-2008 @ 1:16PM
WILL NOT POST said...
I AGREE STRONGLY i was taken to the drive in by my parents and i then took my kids it was great fun for familys but in ma. and nh and maine we have to worry about gangs and crime and druggies so no more drive inns how sad for us all
7-15-2008 @ 10:28AM
Emily said...
There is one near my home also and it is packed every weekend people line up in there cars all the way out into the main road. I love it you can bring your own food and cooler, sit back in lawn chairs. So nice. Also in Charleston, Il. they just built a band new drive-in.
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7-15-2008 @ 4:03PM
Amber said...
I heard about the new one in Charleston. There's also one in, I think, Gibson City. I have no idea how long Harvest Moon has been open, but they're always packed. One change for this year is they canceled the annual fireworks show. It had nothing to do with the price of gas or the price of movies. The company that was supposed to do it injured several people in two different towns July 4th weekend.
7-15-2008 @ 10:58AM
linda said...
I live in a small town in the mountains of Georgia and we are one of the six new drive-ins in the past three years. It is a wonderful addition to our community and is cherished and boasted about throughout our region.
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7-15-2008 @ 11:13AM
Jim said...
As an young man in Indiana Just outside of Louisville, Ky. The drive in was the weekend outting. We would get in the trunk of the car and one would drive in. We would push the back seat in and get out of it. But we still have one drive in left. It has two nice screens. Shows 4 diffent movies. Its cheaper to go there then anywhere else. Long live the drive-In
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7-15-2008 @ 11:23AM
Kenneth said...
another fact that is not true here in the small town of tyler,tx is a brand new drive in theater that was built only a year ago called skyview
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7-15-2008 @ 11:44AM
Kathy said...
I grew up going to the drive-in movies. It was something we looked forward to. When I was old enough to drive my mom would let me take the car and me and my younger sister would go to the drive-in and I thought I was such a big shot. The drive-in is where I seen one of my favorite movies "Jaws". Those were the days.
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7-15-2008 @ 12:19PM
cokejazz said...
Epstein is mistaken on one point. There are a few new drive-in theaters. One I know for certain was built in 2006 and added a screen in 2007. It's located near Tomball, Texas.
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7-15-2008 @ 12:30PM
mark stewart said...
That's a lie that there have been no new drive-in theaters built! I have a friend that helped build one in Dallas Texas area a year or so ago and my friends son works there. The problem is that no one wants to sit in the heat or cold to watch a movie. I'd love to open one that has piped in heat/ac in the winter/summer. The one I just mentioned I believe it's actually in Ennis, Texas uses the radio in your car for the sound on the movie, but if you had a device that could attach to the window and control the climate I think more people would go to the drive-in.
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7-15-2008 @ 1:58PM
flaghfine said...
I fondly remember going to the drive in as a kid. Some of them did indeed have heaters that hung on the window frame as did the speakers. I seem to remember that people driving off after the movie w/o replacing the speaker was a big problem for the drivei-ns. I do remember that the sound quality sucked but we loved it. Being too hot was never problem. Nights were always cool enough, usually too cool.
I wonder if part of the demise is due to finding sites dark enough close to population centers to build a drive-in?
7-15-2008 @ 12:43PM
Ken Layton said...
The drive in theaters in Washington state are doing very well indeed!
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7-15-2008 @ 1:18PM
GEoffy said...
This article is not true...i just went to new jersey in may to put up a new drive in movie screen...I know of more then 4 that have been put up in the last year..another one my be going up soon. A guy named gerry selby still puts up drive in movie screens. so there have been at least 9 put up since 2005 this article is a lie!..i know this for a fact because i help build one
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7-15-2008 @ 1:48PM
Christine said...
hey there
I used to live in jersey i also worked in a few drive ins myself .that is when they were opoened. Where are theses drivens i would love my grandkids to get to see a movie at the drive inn. Hey ask that guy you know if he would like to come out to the poconos to oponed some theaters i would love to run one again. i had great times at the drive inns.
Christine
7-15-2008 @ 1:23PM
steph said...
Well..this summer is the last one for the drive-in in Delaware :( It was really fun when i was younger going there. also you can bring snacks in your self..just dont be eating them as u pull in to pay. I will be going for one last drive in movie before it closes.
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8-04-2008 @ 12:00PM
Genny said...
Your not too far from Delsea Drive In .. It's reopened in Vineland, NJ. Two screens and 4 movies. Summer is awesome with them back in operation. South Jersey has it's gem back and is doing better than ever. People need to understand that they need to pay the little extra and get the sodas and popcorn at the stand. It really helps with the cost.
7-15-2008 @ 1:54PM
kristie said...
My family goes to our local drive in during the summer. Our neighbors go at least weekly. An article in our city paper stated the Pueblo Drive Inn was given finacial help from the movie makers to stay open when the owners made it public that they were struggling financially. (Our city is only warm enough for the drive in 4 months out of the year...) It is packed all week long during those warmer months and is a place where others from towns around us come for the old time experience. I hope our drive in never fades away!
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7-15-2008 @ 7:33PM
Gwen said...
I grew up going to the Drive-IN, but it closed many years ago. About 8-10 years ago, it was refurbished, re-opened and is doing great business. Then about 5 years ago, they added a new screen, So, it's 2 "NEW" movies for $6.00 and on Mondays, they have "Carload" night. As many as you can pack in for $9.00. It's open every night from Memorial Day to Labor Day, then it's open Friday-Monday except for Dec-Feb; when it closes for winter. It's only about 2 miles from my house so I don't even use a lot of gasoline to get there. It's a "win-win" for me.
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