Thursday, June 13, 2013

Planes were once allowed at drive-in movie theaters

Back in 1948, when the thought was that everyone eventually would operate their own airplane to commute to work, an entrepreneur in Asbury Park, New Jersey, tried to get to front of the future. Edward Brown Jr., a former Navy pilot, opened the first Fly-Thru Drive-in Theater. There was room for 500 cars and 25 airplanes. The planes landed in an airfield next to the drive-in, then they would taxi to the last row which was dedicated for planes. When the movie was over Mr. Brown provided a Jeep to tow the planes back to the airfield. History is unclear about the success of the venture. 

Today only 356 drive-ins operate in the United States, a big decrease from the 4,000 to 5,000 that existed in 1958, according to Drive-ins.com. I know of some drive-ins that resorted to desperate measures to stay in business. The Comerford Dive-in in Dupont, Pennsylvania, went to far as to switch from Disney films to porn flicks (heterosexual, of course). It has since closed.



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