The giant stone ‘marquee’ on the first drive-in movie theater in Camden, New Jersey that opened on June 6th, 1933.
 
83-years ago this week (June 6th, 1933 specifically) the very first drive-in movie theater opened for business in Camden, New Jersey. Originally conceptualized and patented in 1933 by entrepreneur Richard Hollingshead who astutely recognized that despite the failing economy (the Great Depression was in full swing) people were still going to the movies and would cut back on basic necessities such as food for the opportunity to escape their bleak day-to-day existences in a dark theater for a few hours. Hollingshead’s outdoor theater cost only a quarter a car (plus 25 cents for each occupant) and the sound from the speakers broadcasting the films to the 400 car capacity lot were so loud that they could be heard miles down the road.
 

A print advertisement for Richard Hollingshead’s new drive-in theater in Camden, New Jersey.
 
According to a historical reference noted by the University of Michigan not everyone was happy about Hollingshead’s invention of the drive-in—and aparently a group of teenage girls actually took to protesting its creation as it put a big dent in the booming tween babysitting business since families were now bringing their infants, toddlers and young children along in the car to see the latest celluloid offerings from the comfort of their car. Drive-in theaters started to proliferate all over the country from Massachusetts to New Mexico and by 1942 there were 95 drive-ins with locations in 27 states. Ten years later there were approximately 5000 drive-in movie theaters in operation across the U.S. When the decade of spandex and neon otherwise known as the 80s rolled around drive-in theaters began their decline thanks to urban sprawl and technological advancements such as cable TV and the cheaper price of that in-home movie machine, the VCR.

These days (and according to an article published in 2014) there are still 338 drive-in theaters in operation including one of my favorite haunts in my younger days, the 67-year-old Weir’s Beach drive-in in New Hampshire. Tons of images of drive-ins from the past follow.
 

West Virginia, 1956.
 

A ‘carhop’ at the Rancho drive-in, San Francisco, 1948.
 

Airline drive-in theater, New Orleans, 1949.
 

California, 1948.
 

Miami, 1948.
 

Westbury drive-in, New York, 1954.
 

Terrace drive-in,  New Mexico.
 

A ‘carhop’ delivering food at a drive-in movie theater.
 

Kids on blankets enjoying a film in an outdoor corral at Shankweilers drive-in, Pennsylvania.
 

New Jersey, 1958.
 

Kansas City.
 

Trail drive-in, San Antonio.
 

Round Up drive-in, Mesa, Arizona, 1960.
 

Flint, Michigan.
 

Duke City drive-in, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1951.
 

Newark, New Jersey, 1955.
 

Bengie’s drive-in, Maryland, 1956.
 

Beltline drive-in, Wyoming, 1948.
 

Early 1940s.
 

California, 1930s.
 

Van Nuys, California, 1960s.
 

1978.
 

Casal Palocco drive-in, Rome, Italy, 1957.

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
The first kiss ever filmed was between two women, and shot by a murderer