Word: drive-in
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...pictures of a drive-in church...
Thanks go to Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr., a chemical company magnate from Camden, N.J., who invented the drive-in three-quarters of a century ago. He spent hours in his backyard mapping out plans, figuring out which parking arrangements would offer the best views, what do in case of rain, and where exactly to place the radios. His test-runs involved a home projector fixed to the hood of his car. "My dad was a very inventive type of guy," says Hollinghead's son, Richard Hollingshead III. On June 6, 1933, the elder Hollingshead opened his first theater in nearby...
Television, naturally, is largely responsible for the fall of the drive-in, but so are creeping suburbs, rising land values and the seasonal difficulty of operating an open-air business. Drive-in owners often can't rely only on theater income to make ends meet. The Mission Tiki's family manages swap meets to help cover costs. So, the theater's grounds do double duty - market by day; drive-in by sunset, four nights a week...
Some owners, like D. Edward Vogel, administrative secretary of the United Drive-In Theater Owners Association and the passionate proprietor of Bengies, a drive-in theater in Baltimore, Md., are determined to succeed on ticket sales alone. He says he "puts [his] heart and soul into it. It's taken 22 years but it's a big payoff. People are really starting to appreciate and respect what...
Wobbly finances aside, it seems that the drive-in is an American icon that will never completely fade - perhaps because of its irrefutable and enduring appeal, says Wright. "If it were just nostalgia, people would come one night and they would go 'Okay, did that, check that off the list,'" Wright says. "But it's not that. They literally are coming every week, week after week. On a beautiful night, with the stars out, it is an experience that I think will survive...