With the recent opening, locally of the new Sunshine Mine Drive-In just west of Centerville, it brings back memories of years ago, when it was an economical way for people to have a night out enjoying a movie.

Ironically, the opening of this drive-in is not as unusual as you might think. Throughout the nation, drive-in movies are making a come back. Some old drive-ins are being re-opened and others like Centerville's completely new one, are being built. In Iowa here are now four drive-ins.

The appeal is nostalgia - enjoying a movie from a comfortable car in the cool evening air.

With all of the modern alternatives like cable, satellite television and video and DVD movie rentals, you would not think a drive-in would be viable. But the baby boomers who grew up attending drive-ins apparently want to re-live an experience from their youth.

In the old days, a whole family could get into the movie with a car load of people on "buck night." For teenagers, it was a fun place to take your date for a nominal cost.

One highlight was the concession stand. Food seemed to taste better in the evening air as you watched the movies. Buttery popcorn, icy cold drinks, hot dogs and big boxes of candy were always a staple. v Do you remember that between the double feature, they would show coming attractions and inevitably there was always the little reminder on the screen with the "Dancing Hot Dogs" telling you there was only three minutes left until showtime. This usually occurred when you were stuck in the refreshment line and thought you were never going to make it back to the car to see the beginning of the next movie.

One thing that is different than the old drive-in is the that the speakers that hung on the poles are no longer used. In the heyday of the drive-in, you pulled your car up alongside the speaker, rolled your window down and hung the speaker on your car door window.

If no one was beside you, you could also put a speaker on the back window. Then, you got to enjoy the unique, muffled sound in stereo.

Today's drive-ins use a low frequency broadcast for the movie sound that can be picked up on a portable or car radio. There is so much interest now in drive-ins from both young and old alike that there is even a website with information on current nationwide drive-ins, as well as information on old drive-ins that used to dot the countryside. It can be accessed by visiting "drive-ins.com." It was a valuable source of information for this article.

Drive-ins became popular as the love of the automobile took off.

It all began in Camden, New Jersey when a local businessman took the idea from his mother. Richard Hollingshead's mother complained she did not think the seats in the movie theater were designed for all sizes of people. She told her son it was a shame you could not sit comfortably in your own car and watch a movie.

With that idea in mind, Richard utilized a white wall of his auto parts machine shop to show a movie using a 16 millimeter projector along what would become Admiral Wilson Boulevard. He eventually built a new "Park-In" movie that opened on June 7, 1933, for $60,000. Six-hunfred cars attended opening night. The first movie shown was "Wife Beware" starring Adolph Menjou.

Hollingshead went on to form "Park-In Theaters, Inc". The charge was $1 per family or 75 cents for two people. The use of the word "drive-in" to denote the outdoor theater came into use at the peak of the industry in the late 1950's. At that time, there were almost 4,000 drive-ins throughout the country.

Because of the ever-expanding business areas in towns, land that Drive-Ins occupied became too valuable to keep them off the market. So, eventually the land was sold for development and modern technology changed the nations' viewing habits. With the invention of the video and DVDs, everyone can now have their own copy of their favorite movie to watch whenever they want. So, over the years it made it more convenient to just stay home and watch movies. -though the thrill of seeing a good movie in a theater still can be enjoyed with the many multi-plex theaters that are usually built near the malls.

The resurgence of drive-in within the last five years, is a result of people trying to recapture those fun times of their youth, plus it is a new experience for younger generations that never had the pleasure of attending a movie in their own vehicle. The figures for 2005, show that there are 419 drive-ins So when you load the family in the car to go enjoy a movie on a starry night, you will be partaking in an event that began over 70 years ago.

Originally published here: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15136725&BRD=1284&PAG=461&dept_id=179799&rfi=6