There Were 4,000 Drive-In Theaters in 1958. Here's What Really Killed Them

A dollar for the whole car, a white wall the size of a building, and a heavy little speaker hooked on the window. In 1958 there were more than four thousand drive-in theaters in America – today there are fewer than three hundred. This is the story of the drive-in: a backyard experiment in Camden, New Jersey, in 1933, the postwar boom, playgrounds under the screen and kids in pajamas in the back seat, the intermission rush to the snack bar, the teenagers in the back row – and why the screens went dark. It was not only television. CHAPTERS 00:00 One dollar for the whole car 01:28 The Driveway, 1933 05:59 Rags to Riches 10:26 Pajamas in the Back Seat 14:40 Intermission 18:52 The Back Row 22:18 Why It Vanished 27:45 The Last Show PRICE TAGS (then, and in today's money – BLS CPI-U, August 2026) • A carload at the first drive-in, 1933: $1.00 – about $25.77 today • A carload on family night, 1951: $1.00 – about $12.88 today SOURCES U.S. Patent 1,909,537 (R. M. Hollingshead Jr., 1933); Rodney Luther, "Drive-In Theaters: Rags to Riches in Five Years," Hollywood Quarterly (1950–51), and his 1951 marketing study; U.S. Census Bureau (Census of Business 1954; Economic Census 2012); United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association; Media History Digital Library (trade press, 1948–1949); Encyclopedia of Popular Culture; Guinness World Records; Library of Congress, National Film Registry; the Uniform Time Act of 1966; newspaper advertisements of the period (The Morning Call, Allentown; Baker City Herald). No AI-generated images are used in this video. The thumbnail is a digital illustration. PHOTO & VIDEO CREDITS Wikimedia Commons and Flickr, Creative Commons CC BY / CC BY-SA (the license of each file is in the end credits): 826 PARANORMAL; Andy / Andrew Fogg from near Cambridge, UK; APK; Arbron; Atwngirl; Berthold Werner; Billy Hathorn; Boston Public Library; bradleygee; christian razukas from Honolulu, Hawaii; Cinémathèque québécoise; D85156; Damian Morys from New York City, United States; dans362; DanTD; digitizedchaos; Dillan Payne; Discover Lehigh Valley, PA; Eddie~S; eliduke; Ellin Beltz; Ethan Long; Famartin; Fortepan; Gamma Man; Greg Hemmings; Ian Poellet; jiazi; Joe Haupt from USA; John Atherton; Jonathunder; KB35; Kiddo27; Laxbot7; Lorie Shaull; Magnolia677; mahanga; makeshiftlove; Matthew Rutledge from Seattle, WA; Michael Kilgore; Michael Rivera; Michele Hassinger; mikecogh; Mr. Matté; Neon Michael; Orange County Archives from Orange County, California, United States of America; Patrick Feller; Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand; Rotareneg; Sam Howzit; Seattle Municipal Archives from Seattle, WA; Ser Amantio di Nicolao; Steve Shook from Moscow, Idaho, USA; Steven Baltakatei Sandoval; US Embassy Sweden; Valerie Everett; Varmin; Visitor7; Wayne Wilkinson; WilliamSchweitzer; zenmasterdod. Public domain: Library of Congress (John Margolies Roadside America collection, Carol M. Highsmith Archive, U.S. News & World Report), Tichnor Brothers postcards (Boston Public Library), Curt Teich postcards (Newberry Library), The Morning Call (Allentown) newspaper archive, National Archives, U.S. Department of Energy, Google Patents and others in the end credits. Archival film (public domain, via Internet Archive, Prelinger Archives): Colaci Home Movies (1952–56), "A Date With Your Family" (1950), "Our Changing Family Life" (1957), "Drive Your Bicycle" (1955), "The Story of Television" (1956). Stock footage and photos from Pexels: Ajdin Coric, Byron Sullivan, cottonbro studio, Guilherme Xac, K, Mikhail Nilov, Piotr Wojnowski, Quentin Martinez, Sami TÜRK, Shantum Singh, Terrance Barksdale, ZEEL DIGITAL. Images were cropped, resized, color graded and animated; adapted CC BY-SA images remain under the same license. No endorsement by the authors is implied. MUSIC Kevin MacLeod – "Backed Vibes Clean", "Erik Satie: Gymnopedie No. 3", "Cattails", "Autumn Day", "Soporific", "J. S. Bach: Prelude in C (BWV 846)", "Bathed in the Light". Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. John Bartmann – "After Hours" (CC0). What was playing the last time you went to the drive-in? And who in your car fell asleep first? Tell us in the comments. #Nostalgia #1950s #AmericanHistory #DriveIn #DriveInTheater