To have an effective drive-in, it had to be on at least 15 acres of land. Economically speaking, it became more practical for owners to close their drive-ins in order to sell their land to developers to build malls or multi-building complexes.

The movement peaked in the late '50s, when there were over 4,600 different drive-in locations, and suffered a precipitous decline starting in the 1980s. Today, there are just 336 left in America, all of which are cataloged in the very busy map below, via braid.io, using data from drive-ins.com.

A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movies from the privacy and comfort of their cars.

The first film ever screened at a drive-in movie theater was British. On June 6, 1933, just outside Camden, New Jersey drivers paid 25 cents per car, plus an additional 25 cents per person to watch the English comedy Wives Beware at this quintessentially American institution in the open air.