Instant Views [o.] At the Drive-In | R. Frank / D. Arbus / A. Grant / J. R. Eyerman / B. Davidson / W. Miller / L. Dean (1933 – 1966)
Hollingshead was motivated to develop the idea after witnessing his mother’s difficulty
sitting comfortably in a movie theater. He tested out various arrangements of projector,
screen, radio and cars in his own driveway, eventually settling on the auditorium-like
configuration of a screen facing a series of raised terraces that gave each car an
unobstructed view.
Drive-in theater, 1938
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After receiving his patent, Hollingshead founded Park-In Theaters, Inc. and
built a drive-in with enough space for nearly 400 cars.
The “Automobile Movie Theater” opened on June 6, 1933 with a screening of the
1932 comedy Wives Beware. Admission was 25 cents per car plus an additional
25 cents per person, slightly more expensive than an indoor theater but with the
freedom to eat, smoke and otherwise take advantage of an automobile’s privacy.
J. R. Eyerman, Los Angeles, 1949 Drive-in theater, Los Angeles, 1949
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Failing to make a profit, the first drive-in closed after just three years, but others
quickly popped up across the country and sparked a slew of lawsuits from Hollingshead.
His patent was ultimately overturned, clearing the way for thousands of more drive-ins to
be built. At their 1950s peak, drive-ins numbered nearly 5,000 countrywide.
Loomis Dean, Drive-in theater, Los Angeles, 1949
California entrance to a drive-in cinema, 1938
“The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are.”
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