On June 6, 1933, during the height of the Depression, Richard Hollingshead and his partner, Willis Warren Smith, Jr., decided to take a big risk and opened the first drive-in movie theater in Camden, New Jersey. The screen was 40 feet by 50 feet, and could accommodate 400 cars. The first film shown was Wives Beware.
The first film ever screened at a drive-in movie theater was British. On June 6, 1933, just outside Camden, New Jersey drivers paid 25 cents per car, plus an additional 25 cents per person to watch the English comedy Wives Beware at this quintessentially American institution in the open air.
The oldest drive-in still in operation is Shankweiler's Drive-In Theater in Orefield, Pennsylvania, USA. This outdoor cinema opened on 15 April 1934, less than a year after the world's first drive-in theatre opened in Camden, New Jersey.
Invented in the US, drive-in theaters reached their peak popularity right after World War II during the '50s and '60s, allowing guests to enjoy B movies in a giant parking lot, under the stars and in the comfort of their cars.
The drive-in's peak popularity came in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly in rural areas, with over 4,000 drive-ins spread across the United States in 1958.
Drive-ins hit the scene in 1933, and during their heyday in the 1950s and 60s, over 4,000 of them could be found across the country. Today, the number is a scant ten percent of that peak — though a few persist if you're willing to look.
Drive-ins gained immense popularity 20 years later during the 1950s and '60s with the Baby Boomer generation. There were over 4,000 drive-ins throughout the U.S., and most were in rural areas.
"The decline of the drive-in was directly related to the movement away from Main Street America and towards the mall society, where convenience, times, weather and the idea of 'all-inclusive' became the popular way to enjoy a night out, pushing away the classic night out at the drive-in," Stefanopoulos elaborated.
"Drive-ins started to really take off in the '50s," Kopp said. "They offered family entertainment. People could sit in their cars, they could bring their babies, they could smoke. Drive-ins offered more flexibility than indoor theaters."
Drive-in theaters have been disappearing since their peak in the mid 1900s. In the late 1950s, there were 4,000 drive-in movie theaters in the United States. Today, there are only about 300 left in operation.
The first drive-in movie theater opened on June 6, 1933. The concept accelerated in the 1940s, giving birth to memories of drive-in movies for many who lived in '40s through '70s.
Many say that the oil crisis during the 1970s – and the subsequent spike in gas prices – made families less likely to go out driving for their entertainment.
The boom of automobiles and car ownership was the reason the drive-in thrived. Families could bring young kids or infants, and not have to worry about interrupting other movie goers or having to leave a busy theater. Young couples made drive-ins the popular spot for dates because of the privacy a car would allow.
Beginning in the 1970s, when multiscreen venues in malls became the theatrical norm, the popularity of the drive-in declined steadily and eventually cratered.
New York, in 1804, became the first State to prescribe right hand travel on all public highways. By the Civil War, right hand travel was followed in every State. Drivers tended to sit on the right so they could ensure their buggy, wagon, or other vehicle didn't run into a roadside ditch.
Six percent of Americans drive a few times a month, 4% rarely drive and 6% never do. The most frequent drivers are men, adults with household incomes of $90,000 per year or more, college graduates, suburbanites, parents of children under 18, and those between 30 and 49 years of age.
The first keep-right law for driving in the United States was passed in 1792 and applied to the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike. Massachusetts formalized RHT in 1821. However, the National Road was LHT until 1850, "long after the rest of the country had settled on the keep-right convention".
New York (49), Pennsylvania (45), Ohio (44) and California (44) offer the most drive-ins, according to the association. Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana and North Dakota didn't have any drive-in theaters as of 2019.
Playhouse Square is a theater district in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is the largest performing arts center in the US outside of New York City (only Lincoln Center is larger).
Which States have the highest number of businesses in the Movie Theaters industry in the United States? California (570 businesses), Texas (451 businesses) and New York (284 businesses) are the States with the most number of Movie Theaters businesses in the US.
The "Great Depression". In 1933, the inflation-adjusted cost of a movie theater ticket was $6.14 - by 1937, this number had dropped all the way back down to $3.97 (inflation adjusted) as Americans struggled to afford nights out.
The Nightly Double is the biggest drive-in theater in town and it shows four movies on weekend nights. Unlike the other theaters, which are known for being either Soc theaters or Greaser theaters, the Nightly Double attracts a mix of people.
