I’m pretty sure I remember there was a separate lane going the R rated movies, Midnight Cowboy, Dirty Harry, Chinatown maybe even Deep Throat got shown. Only maybe a corner or sliver was viewable from afar.
Just G or PG movies is what I remember watching. Omega Man, Planet of the Apes, Rosemary’s Child, Audrey Rose, Soylent Green, Herbie movies, Poseidon Adventure.
Pillows and blankets, candy and popcorn, it was great until it rained!
Excellent post, @RivkahChaya. Another factors, IMO, was the rise of the multiplex theater. The grand old movie palaces that were located in downtown areas were usually single screens. Multiplexes gave the moviegoers more options, in one location. The multiplexes in the 1960s and 1970s were often only two or three screens, but by the 1980s and 1990s, AMC and other operators were building theaters with a large number of screens.
I remember going to see Star Wars, for the second or third time, in 1978, at a three-screen multiplex in Green Bay. The theater manager came out before the showing, to announce that they had just installed a Dolby sound system in that theater, and we were about to be the first audience in Green Bay to ever watch a movie in Dolby sound.
Many of which were located in malls which replaced drive-ins as the iconic teenage hangout circa 1980.
And a multiplex can cram a lot more paying customers into seats than a drivein of similar size could - and can show movies in the daytime, in inclement weather, and in the winter.
P.S. Am I mis-remembering, or were there a few multiscreen drive-ins in existence (back to back screens with cars on both sides, maybe showing different movies?)
The Lincoln Drive-In. Not that I would ever venture into such a den of vice.
There still are (just visit Riverside, CA). That set up was more common than a single screen in the greater LA area.
Thanks
FWIW, this site purports to list all operating drive-in theaters in the US.
Back in the 1950’s at their peak, there were over 4000 drive-in theaters operating in the United States.
The Covina Drive-In east of Los Angeles had four screens. $5 a carload.
The Skyline Drive-In near me is showing Barbie tonight.
Our drive-in, Tibbs Drive-In, has three screens. You can switch screens between the doubleheaders.
Thanks to all you multiple screen drive-in folks.
Just after he graduated from high school my brother rented a tiny cheap house out on the edge of town. Its only amenity was it had a good view of the outdoor movie theater. It’s the first time I saw the movie version of MASH, although there was no sound. I told my brother that it was lame, but he told me to wait a bit. Then the shower tent scene- oh my!
Ah. I had forgotten that US 1 was the Lincoln Highway there. We stopped going that way when 95 was finished to Philadelphia.
The Sky-Line Drive In in Shelbyville, Indiana, is having a Dusk-to-Dawn showing of 4 films, all for the one price of admission ($10 a person now).
The films in this “Guilty Pleasures” showing are
Howard the Duck
Over the Top (with Sylvester Stallone)
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare
Showgirls
I still try to make it to a drive-in movie at least once per summer. Windows down and car stereo cranked up, lawn chairs or a blanket and pillow in the grass in front. On a warm dry summer night with the stars out, there’s nothing like it! Plus they still show all the vintage concession shorts between movies.
When my mom was young, there were several summers when they could only go to movies at the drive-in because there was too much risk of the kids catching polio if the went to a crowded indoor theater. At a drive-in, you’re in your own space, separated from other people.
A couple of the local drive-ins did very well during the worst of the Covid-19 outbreak!
One left on Long Island (I count Brooklyn as Long Island). $55 a car though.
Wow. That’s a lot of money.