P.O. Box 632 Findlay, Ohio 45839 Phone: 419-420-9327

Jean Bowman
Drivin' to the Drive-In
By Jean Bowman
Jul 31, 2007, 09:48

Going to the movies is a pastime that nearly every person in America loves.  The magic and excitement we enjoy when we are seeing a movie with friends or family is unparalleled, especially at a drive-in theater. 

Richard Hollingshead was a young sales manager at his dad's Whiz Auto Products, who wanted to invent something that combined his two interests: cars and movies.  Richard's vision was an open-air movie theater where moviegoers could watch from their own cars.  He experimented in his own driveway in Camden, New Jersey.  He mounted a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car, projected onto a sheet he had nailed to trees in his backyard, and used a radio placed behind the screen for sound.

Richard subjected his beta drive-in to vigorous testing for sound quality, different weather conditions, and for figuring out how to park the patron's cars.  He tried lining up the cars in his driveway, which created a problem with line of sight if one car was directly behind another car.  By spacing cars at various distances and placing blocks and ramps under the front wheels of cars that were further away from the screen, he created the perfect parking arrangement for the drive-in movie theater experience.

The first patent for the Drive-In Theater was issued in 1933 to Richard.  With an investment of $30,000, he opened the first drive-in in 1933 in Camden, New Jersey.  The price of admission was 25 cents for the car and 25 cents per person.

By January of 1942, drive-in theaters began to spread across the U.S.  There were 95 drive-ins spread across 27 states.  In 1946 there were 155 drive-ins and 820 by 1948.  The drive-in boom was underway when close to 5,000 drive-ins were in operation by 1958.  In the 60's and 70's drive-ins began to close and the 80's seen even more closings. 
What happened….cable and VCR's?  In the late 90's, some drive-ins reopened and new drive-ins were built.  What happened.....a new generation discovered the drive-in.
Ohio got off to an early start hosting one of the first 10 drive-in theaters in America, the Starlight Auto Theater which opened in 1937 in Akron.  Within ten years, Ohio had more than 80 drive-ins, and then peaked in the late 60's with some 189 drive-ins in operation.  In the years since, the state has seen a decline of 80% in the number of drive-ins, yet Ohio still remains among the top five drive-in states in America.

The largest drive-in theater in patron capacity was the All-Weather Drive-In in New York.  The drive-in had parking space for 2,500 cars, an indoor 1,200 seat viewing area, kid's playground, a full service restaurant and a shuttle train that took customers from their cars and around the 28-acre theater lot.  The smallest drive-ins were located in Pennsylvania and South Carolina where the drive-ins could hold no more than 50 cars.

Locally Findlay was home to the Millstream Drive-In located at 606 S. Main and the Findlay Drive-In located at 2224 W. Sandusky.  Drive-ins were also located in Lima, Marion, Fremont, Carey, Bowling Green, Gibsonburg, Fostoria, Tiffin, and Kenton.  Today, Tiffin and Kenton drive-ins are open.  Tiffin Drive-In is located at 4041 SR 53N (419-447-2551) and Hi-Road Drive-In is located at 8059 SR 68N in Kenton (419-691-9668).  Both theaters are open seven days a week during the summer and weekends only in spring and fall.

So let down the top down on the old Chevy and take a nostalgic trip to the drive-in.

Sources: www.driveintheater.com, http://inventors.about.com