For a few glorious decades, the American summer night had a particular shape: a big screen glowing against the dark, rows of cars nosed up to it, and a tinny speaker hooked over the window.
The drive-in movie theater was born in 1933, when a New Jersey man named Richard Hollingshead opened the first one in Camden, having reportedly worked out the sight-lines by parking cars in his own driveway. The idea was perfect for a car-crazy country, and after the war it exploded. By the late 1950s there were more than four thousand drive-ins across the United States, and Route 66 — a road defined by the automobile — was a natural home for them.
They were never really about the movies. They were about the car as a private room on wheels: families in pajamas with the kids asleep in the back seat, teenagers with very little interest in the second feature, whole communities gathered in a field under the stars for the price of a carload. The films were often B-grade. The point was the ritual.
Most are gone now, the great screens rotted or demolished, the lots turned into shopping centers. But a handful survive, including the 66 Drive-In in Carthage, Missouri, still lighting up its screen on summer nights, right where it always has.
The road gave America the car. The car gave America a new way to go to the movies.
We are offering licences for ROUTE 66® Beer in specific territories. An invitation to others to become part of this story. To carry a piece of the road with them and to contribute to the story. We will share a percentage of royalties with Route 66 associations to keep the story alive.
The journey continues. This story is brought to you by ROUTE 66® BEER. Find us at ROUTE66BEER.COM
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