Bygone Stories: The Drive-In Theater — America's Greatest Outdoor Escape

The drive-in wasn't just a place to watch a movie. It was a ritual — cars lined up at dusk, AM radio crackling with the soundtrack, kids in the back seat in their pajamas. For a few decades in postwar America, the drive-in was the perfect night out.

Richard Hollingshead Jr. patented the concept in 1933 in Camden, NJ, but it was the 1950s that made it iconic. By 1958, nearly 5,000 screens glowed across the country. Every region had its landmark — the place you went on a Friday night without much of a plan.

We've got shirts honoring some of the greats: Belford Theater in Rockford, the Peoria Drive-In Theater in Peoria, and Big Sky in Madison. Each one a little piece of a world that's mostly gone.

Rising land values, cable TV, and daylight saving time did most of them in by the '80s. Most lots became strip malls. A few became flea markets. About 300 still operate today, kept alive by people who remember what it felt like.

Wearing the shirt is its own kind of tribute.