Instant Views [o.] At the Drive-In | R. Frank / D. Arbus / A. Grant / J. R. Eyerman / B. Davidson / W. Miller / L. Dean (1933 - 1966)

The first drive-in theater, in Camden, New Jersey, 1933

Drive-in theater, 1933

In May 1933, Richard Hollingshead, a sales manager at an auto products store in

Camden, New Jersey, patented a new idea: an outdoor cinema where people could

watch films from the comfort and privacy of their cars.

First drive-in theatre in the state, Los Angeles, 1935

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

After receiving his patent, Hollingshead founded Park-In Theaters, Inc. and
built a drive-in with enough space for nearly 400 cars.

Diane Arbus, Clouds on Screen at a Drive-in-Movie, New Jersey, 1960.

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.

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J. R. Eyerman, Los Angeles, 1949 Drive-in theater, Los Angeles, 1949

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.