A Contemporary Glimpse of The First Drive-In

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Line drawing of the first drive-in theater

from the September 1933 issue of Popular Mechanics via Google Books

Here’s something fun that I ran into today, and I wanted to share it with you. In its September 1933 issue, Popular Mechanics ran a superb illustration of the very first drive-in theater, in Camden NJ. It had opened in June 1933, and its marquee simply read “Drive-In Theatre”.

I found this on Google Books, which includes a treasure trove of searchable issues of Popular Mechanics, Life, Billboard, and even some magazines that never mention drive-ins. I’ve read a lot of drive-in books, but I don’t recall ever seeing this wonderful, crisp drawing before. I presume that the copyright for this issue wasn’t renewed in 1961 and that it then slipped into the public domain. If I’m wrong, please correct me gently.

The headline above the illustration read Drive-In Movie Holds Four Hundred Cars. Here’s the one (long) paragraph that accompanied it:

“Motorists can sit in comfort in their own cars and enjoy the movies at a drive-in theater in Camden, N. J. This outdoor talking-picture theater accommodates 400 cars so that about 1,600 persons can view a performance without leaving their automobiles. This is made possible by seven rows of grades inclined so that vision from the rear car is not impaired by those in front. The cars are parked at the front of each row on a five-per-cent grade. Each aisle is fifty feet deep, giving ample room for cars to enter and leave, and the theater is entirely surrounded by trees. The motor-movie fans, even though seated in the last row, 500 feet from the screen, have no difficulty in seeing or hearing. The screen is sixty feet wide and a new method of controlled directional sound carries the words or music to each car with equal, modulated volume. The outdoor theater is expected to appeal particularly to those who do not like to drive through downtown districts to attend a movie.”

In his authoritative Drive-In Theaters, Kerry Segrave disputes those numbers, writing that the ground plan shows six rows for 336 cars, and that the screen was only 40 feet wide. The theater was sold within three years “to a man who ‘moved’ it to Union NJ.” Still, it’s fun to see such a clear picture of the start of something big.

Feb. 7: Paramount Drive-In Theatres, Paramount CA

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It’s Day 38 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I reached the Los Angeles area, starting with the theater closest to the previous day’s stop in San Diego. It took a solid two hours to drive north to the Paramount Drive-In Theatres of Paramount CA.

This drive-in opened as the Roadium Drive-In in 1947, just before the post offices of Hynes and Clearwater were merged to form then-unincorporated Paramount. It closed in 1992, but the Paramount was reborn in April 2014, just behind the Bianchi Theatres on Rosecrans Avenue.

The concession stand had pizza and other meals along with the usual suspects for snacking (especially the popcorn), and I enjoyed the video games before the show started.

On one hand, I was glad that the Paramount was open on a Tuesday night in February. Probably only a quarter of US drive-ins were open last night. But what a tough choice! I could watch Rings again, but it’s not my favorite genre and it’s actually not a very good movie. My only other choice was Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. So that’s what I saw for second night in a row and the fourth time in nine nights. New releases come Friday, and I’ll try to hold out till then.

Miles Today / Total:  123 / 4842 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Resident Evil: The Final Chapter / 28

Nearby Restaurant: Just a short trip west down Rosecrans Avenue brought me to El Compa, a great place for Sinaloan style Mexican food. I went for the bistec ranchero, or steak simmered in ranchera sauce.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Nothing was really close to the Paramount, which is ringed by budget hotels about three miles away in each direction. Fortunately, I found something that’s like a four-leaf clover, a Motel 6 with positive reviews. (I know they exist; they’re just not as common as I’d like.) The one south of the drive-in near Bellflower Plaza worked fine and saved me enough cash for a real breakfast somewhere else in the morning.

Only in Paramount: Paramount is the birthplace and home of the Zamboni Company, started by Frank Joseph Zamboni Jr., inventor of the ice resurfacing machine. Zamboni manufactures and sells the machines worldwide. Since 1939 the Zamboni family has also operated Iceland, an ice skating rink with improvements patented by Frank Zamboni.

Next Stop: Vineland Drive-In, City of Industry CA.

Nashville to Add Another Thing That Is Not A Drive-In

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It will have cars and a big screen and twinkly lights overhead, but do not be fooled. The August Moon project, to be built in the parking lot of the stadium where the Tennessee Titans play football, will be the latest in the list of Things That Are Not Drive-Ins.

Mind you, it sounds pretty cool. Local artist Michael Counts’ vision starts with an inflatable 40,000 square foot dome like over some athletic fields. He plans to install a tall movie screen and 50 stationary mid-1960s classic cars for viewing it. Like a real drive-in, the August Moon will include trees, grass, gravel walkways, a starry sky, fireflies, and of course the moon. According to The Tennessean, “The entry price is expected to range from $8 to $20 with seating ranging from stadium seats to tree swings and the highest $20 cost for watching a movie while sitting in a car.”

Counts told WTVF, Nashville’s News Leader, that visitors will experience the perfect climate-controlled, mosquito-free viewing experience. “Close your eyes and imagine the perfect Summer night in a classic American drive-in movie theatre in 1965, and that’s where August Moon is going to take you,” he said.

But this isn’t an “indoor drive-in theater,” as some sources have reported. (During the heyday of drive-ins, there were occasional rumblings and trial balloons about true indoor drive-ins, but I don’t believe any made it off the drawing board. But I digress.) One of the basics of a drive-in theater is that you, the patron, must be able to drive your car into the theater. Hence the name.

The closest match to the Harvest Moon is the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Disney World. There diners sit in faux cars and watch a looping 40-minute hash of old movies and extras. That also sounds pretty cool, but not too many people will refer to it as an indoor drive-in theater.

Bonus: Here’s a silly article from the Sep. 19, 2005 issue of the wildly fictional tabloid Weekly World News saying that opening night for the world’s first indoor drive-in movie theater, in Ventnor IA, “ended in disaster when dozens of patrons had to be hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning.” It interviewed the suspiciously named owner, Ken Shoddy, presumably because Bat Boy wasn’t available.

So the Harvest Moon is the latest addition to our occasional series. Like grade school kids who sit in decorated cardboard boxes and watch a projector in the gym, like the local Chamber of Commerce lawn-chair night next to the civic center, and like the home theater that you can set up in your back yard, the Harvest Moon is definitely Not A Drive-In.