# Drive-ins in the US **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156 "2011-10-19T17:12:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156/61 "2011-10-21T19:18:26Z")
The drive-in at my hometown had some outdoor seating. That was kind of nice. Or you could stay in your car and watch. The closest drive in is about 40 miles away now. I miss them. There’s only three left in Arkansas. you can check your state here too [http://www.drive-ins.com/srchdest.htm?name=&city=&code=ar&status\_op=open&search.x=10&search.y=12](http://www.drive-ins.com/srchdest.htm?name=&city=&code=ar&status_op=open&search.x=10&search.y=12) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156/62 "2011-10-21T22:30:40Z")
I was surprised by the information from that website. I would have assumed that there was a geographic bias to drive-ins and they would be more common in the south where they could operate for a longer season. But the opposite seems to be true. Alabama: 10 drive-ins Arizona: 2 drive-ins Arkansas: 3 drive-ins Florida: 7 drive-ins Georgia: 5 drive-ins Louisiana: 0 drive-ins Mississippi: 1 drive-in Nevada: 2 drive-ins New Mexico: 1 drive-in South Carolina: 3 drive-ins Texas: 17 drive-ins Connecticut: 3 drive-ins Illinois: 12 drive-ins Indiana: 21 drive-ins Maine: 6 drive-ins Massachusetts: 3 drive-ins Michigan: 9 drive-ins Minnesota: 6 drive-ins New Hampshire: 3 drive-ins New Jersey: 1 drive-in New York: 28 drive-ins Ohio: 30 drive-ins Pennsylvania: 31 drive-ins Rhode Island: 1 drive-in Vermont: 4 drive-ins Wisconsin: 10 drive-ins These results seem even stranger when you consider populations. Vermont, a northeastern state with a population of 630,337, has twice the drive-in theatres that Arizona, a southwestern state with a population of 6,392,017, has. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156/63 "2011-10-21T23:29:51Z")
We have a drive-in 5 miles away. The bad thing about it is that they open the gates at 7 and have police out front turning people away by 7:30, so you have to be early and occupy yourself until the movie starts. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156/64 "2011-10-22T00:11:01Z")
Over the past twenty years of living in the Los Angeles suburbs, (interspersed with fairly lengthy stays in Tucson AZ, Ithaca NY, and St Louis MO) I never came across, nor heard about any operative drive-ins. However, back in the early 1980s, when I lived in the central Central Valley\* of California, there was one nearby that was, in fact, a porno theater. (This was long before there was an internet to get your porn from, kids.) It was distinctly surreal to think of it beaming its huge images of vaginas, ten or fifteen feet across, out over the dark and empty agricultural fields behind. Hmm, apparently the Firefox spellchecker does not acknowledge that “vagina” can be pluralized. ```auto *That is not an error. I mean bang in the middle of the Central Valley. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156/65 "2011-10-22T00:29:00Z")
Our county’s only drivein within 100 miles is [Skyway Drivein,](http://doorcountydrivein.com/) open from May thru September. It first opened in 1950. Their main audience is retro-folks who camp at adjacent Peninsula State Park and want to show the kids what it used to be before VCRs and DVDs. Once the adults settle down, the kids are in the back seat with their Ipods or cellphones, ignoring the movie. > [@Beast\_Model](#): > > One of the problems is that people worry about their batteries and between movies everyone starts their cars and the place gets all exhausty. Which is pretty stupid, as a giant car battery can keep a tiny FM radio going for days before running down. ---
**Author:** ![lurkedtolong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@lurkedtolong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkedtolong)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156/66 "2011-10-24T00:09:20Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > The last movie I saw at a drive-in was “A League of Their Own” at the Flea Market/Drive in/Circus in Ft. Lauderdale. The sun hadn’t quite set, or maybe it was just really bright on Sunrise Blvd., but my recollection is: I could barely see the screen because it wasn’t very dark out and I was appalled that my date didn’t want to make out in the car during the movie. He was a baseball fan, so I should have known. > > ETA: That was [The Swap Shop](http://www.drive-ins.com/theater/fltswap) flea market/drive in/circus. Ive been there too several times and half of the year if you catch a 8pm movie it will still be bright out. Also this area has gone way way down, and i wouldn’t take my family their ever again. But back in the 90’s it was the best place for a teen. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156/67 "2011-10-24T06:18:48Z")
There are two in the Boston area. We’ve been to the one in Mendon several times. MilliCal had two birthday parties there. There’s a nice communal party atmosphere at these places – people bring lawn chairs and sit out and socialize. Kids play catch or frisbee waiting for the sun to go down. You _could_ see two movies all the way through, but we’ve always skipped before the end of the second one. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156/68 "2011-10-24T13:35:20Z")
Lest the OP get the wrong idea: There used to be many, many more drive-ins than there are today. At one time, almost every small town had a drive-in. The few that are left behind are relics. Fun relics, but relics. ---
**Author:** ![Suse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Suse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suse)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156/69 "2011-10-25T02:42:14Z")
I dislike movie theaters but enjoy the drive-in, so I try to go at least once each summer. There are two within thirty miles of my home (in opposite directions) but they are usually playing the same movies on the same weekends. It costs $7 apiece to get in but we take our own drinks and snacks and see two movies for less than it would cost the four of us to see one in a traditional theater. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156/70 "2011-10-25T02:51:32Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Lest the OP get the wrong idea: > > There used to be many, many more drive-ins than there are today. At one time, almost every small town had a drive-in. The few that are left behind are relics. Fun relics, but relics. Sure, if you look at them as pure capitalistic adventures. If you conceive of the movie going experience as epitomized by 3-d in an 18 screen theater or an “Imax” experience. But that’s the problem and what we have lost as a purely capitalized and money capitulated society. We lost the :socialist: movie theater. We started to think of the service industry from the bottom line… we eliminated our people and sold them out for the almighty dollar. Outsourcing and manufacturing for the shareholders benefit… not the people’s benefit. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156/71 "2011-10-26T03:28:03Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > Sure, if you look at them as pure capitalistic adventures. If you conceive of the movie going experience as epitomized by 3-d in an 18 screen theater or an “Imax” experience. But that’s the problem and what we have lost as a purely capitalized and money capitulated society. We lost the :socialist: movie theater. We started to think of the service industry from the bottom line… we eliminated our people and sold them out for the almighty dollar. Outsourcing and manufacturing for the shareholders benefit… not the people’s benefit. It’s happened: #Occupy _The Straight Dope_! ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156/72 "2011-10-26T03:36:51Z")
I would throw the mattress from a hide-a-bed couch in the back of my truck, along with a bunch of blankets and pillows. Back into a spot, get in back and it’s the most comfortable theater seat ever with your mate. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156/73 "2011-10-26T12:42:34Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > We lost the :socialist: movie theater. Those Eisenstein marathons never really caught on with the masses. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drive-ins-in-the-us/600156.md?page=3)