Summer is pretty much here in most of the nation, and the drive-in theaters have opened. But only 357 of them are left in the U.S., according to
Drive-Ins.com, which has state-by-state data and a searchable database. That all adds up to a good feature story if you're a journalist with a drive-in nearby. And you might enjoy the movie more than you expect; at many theaters, the old squawk-box speakers have been replaced with high-quality audio via your FM radio.
We tip our hat to
Salon.com, which has a nice
slide show of 12 drive-ins, including the
Corral (Getty Images photo) in Guymon, Okla., which has been one of the few to reopen in recent years. Others include a theater that claims to be the largest in the world, one with six screens, the one with the largest screen in the U.S., and the oldest one in the country, in Orefield, Pa.
The challenge now is that digital film technology is threatening to close theaters that can't afford to convert away from the old reel-to-reel projectors -- which they must do to get first-run movies beginning in August, according to the owner of the drive-in in Centerville TN
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