From time to time, residents of the little town of Farmington, Maine, gather to attend events that range from a craft fair and flea market to a band concert and a Catholic Mass. At a site in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the attractions include an arcade, car museum, and swap shop. Rather than being seated in an elegant concert hall in New York’s Lincoln Center, guests attending last year’s prestigious New York Film Festival watched the entrants while seated in their family cars.
These places and performances may seem to be disparate, yet they have one thing in common: their location at drive-in movie theaters.
Once scattered about the country, these throwbacks to the past are today few and far between. Yet they still exist and have much to offer those who seek them out near where they live or when traveling farther away from home.
As the number of venues where people watch motion pictures from the comfort of their car has dwindled, the variety of activities they offer has mushroomed. In an effort to keep old-time customers and attract new ones, some offer a choice of things to see, do, and enjoy that extends well beyond their original appeal.
That wasn’t always the case. When the first drive-in opened in Pennsauken, New Jersey, in 1933, patrons watched silent films. By the end of World War II, about 150 “outdoor movies” were operating throughout the country. This was followed by rapidly rising car ownership and the growth of the suburbs, which combined to support an explosion of drive-ins to a total of about 4,150 in 1951.
