Posted on 09/06/2025 5:21:34 PM PDT by Libloather
OREFIELD, Pa. (AP) — In a romance and adventure worthy of the big screen, a Pennsylvania couple is preserving the past and forging a future as the owners of the world’s oldest operating drive-in movie theater.
Lauren McChesney got more than admission to a double feature when she handed her ticket to Matt McClanahan at a different drive-in he managed in 2018. They started dating a year later, and, in August, got engaged. In between, they purchased Shankweiler’s Drive-In Theatre, which was Pennsylvania’s first drive-in and only the nation’s second when it opened in 1934.
The couple began brainstorming about drive-ins during a cross-country road trip that included stops at both operational and abandoned theaters. Their original goal was to open a new drive-in, but when they learned Shankweiler’s might get sold to developers, “the light bulb went off,” McClanahan said.
**SNIP**
The drive-in movie theater industry began in Camden, New Jersey, in 1933 and peaked in the late 1950s, with more than 4,000 drive-ins, according to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association. The numbers dropped rapidly in the 1970s and 80s as other entertainment options increased, along with land values that made selling for redevelopment attractive. Though popular during the pandemic, by 2024, there were only 283 left, according to the association.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
My first remembrance of ever going to the drive in was 1963/64. My Mom and our next door neighbor piled the kids in the car to see an Elvis movie. I think it was Fun in Acapulco or possibly Viva Las Vegas.
They are just trying to revive what we used to call Drive in Theaters aka Passion Pits.
I went to one in Memphis. Speaker hung on the window and they had a round heater w fan to warm the cab.
BINGO aka stupidity control on duty.
You’ll likely be using your phone now....
There is one still operating in my neck of the woods, Milton-Freewater, OR. Went there once.
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