Drive-In Theater and Outdoor Theaters Make a Comeback

Even though there are plenty of entertainmentreached its peak during the 1950s and 1960s,
options these days thanks to hi-tech innovationswhich is around the same time when most baby
like DVD players and I-pods, baby boomers stillboomers first began driving and dating.
crave for those simpler times when going to theThe year 1958 saw around 4,063 drive-in
movies meant fun at drive-in movie theaters.theaters in the country, which is the highest
The very first outdoor movie screening that lednumber of drive-in theaters in the country, as per
to the invention of the drive-in theatre took placethe United Drive-in Theater Owners Association.
on June 6, 1933, thanks to Richard M. Hollingshead.Unfortunately, today only a tenth of these drive-in
Hollingshead made good use of the spacetheaters are operational.
between trees in his backyard; he hung a whiteThe 1970s and 1980s found thousands of drive-in
bed sheet between two trees to make atheaters shutting down, in order to make way for
makeshift screen, used the hood of his car toall the new forms of entertainment that were
mount a 1928 Kodak projector, and used a radiocatching on, like television and multiplexes.
for sound, which was strategically placed behindHowever, the trend started reversing in the
the so-called screen.1990s, with many new drive-in theaters being
The 1940s saw drive-in theaters in as many asconstructed and the old ones reopening their
27 states across the US, but the maximumdoors once again.
number of drive-in theaters in the country