The first drive-ins

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.

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.

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.

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.