Seeing Paradise From Behind a Dashboard


The Westbury Drive-In opened in 1953 and expanded to three screens by the late 1970s. Eight years after this picture was taken in 1990, the drive-in closed.
"I was probably 4 years old when we first went to the drive-in; this would have been in the late 1960s and my brother Eric was a year and a month younger than me. I vaguely remember being told earlier that day that we were going to the movies that night and spending that whole day antsy and excited, waiting for evening to fall, not really knowing what to expect. Drive-ins are relatively rare now, their numbers nothing like their peak at just over 4,000 across the country in the late 1950s. They flourished until the ’80s, before being undone by the rise of indoor shopping malls and multiplex theaters, and have declined steadily until today, where there are about 300 left. But the closures are less frequent, and there are even new ones opening. ..."
NY Times

Lights from the projection booth illuminated the night sky in 1993 at the Westbury Drive-In, in Westbury, N.Y.

2010 July: Drive-in theater, 2020 May: At the Drive-In: Thrills, Chills, Popcorn and Hand Sanitizer

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