It was on June 6, 1933 that the first drive-in movie theater opened in Camden, New Jersey.
Originally called "Park-In Theaters," movie fan Richard Hollingshead was inspired by his mother's struggle to sit comfortably in traditional movie theater seats.
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He experimented with projection in his own driveway, even mounting a projector to the hood of his car, and pinning a screen between trees, and a radio behind it for sound.
At the time, watching a film outdoors was not a new concept -- but watching it inside of a car was a fresh, and welcomed idea.
Hollingshead patented his idea, in May 1933, and his first theater opened a month later.
The idea didn't really take off until the invention of in-car speakers in the early 1940s, and by 1958 -- the number of drive-ins in the U.S. had peaked at more than 4,000, accounting for 25 percent of the nation's movie screens.
Drive-ins mostly showed lower rated movies, not the finest of Hollywood. When first opened, drive-ins charged 25 cents per car and 25 cents per person.
In the 1970s, however, drive-ins had to compete with home entertainment - color television and VCRs.
By the late 1980s, less than 200 drive-in theaters were in business.
By 2013, drive-ins accounted for only 1.5 percent of the nation's movie screens.
As of March 2014, there were 348 drive-in theaters in the U.S., down from 443 in 2000.
If you're feeling nostalgic, there are still some drive-in theaters open in Michigan, but most of them are outside of the metro Detroit area.
The Ford Drive In in Dearborn offers 9 screens with parking for 2,500 cars. It's was at one point the largest drive-in theater in the U.S.
Here's a full list of active drive-in theaters in Michigan.
Check out these old drive-in intermissions from the 1960s -- grab your popcorn!
