Drive-in
A drive-in is a facility (such as a restaurant or movie theater) where one can drive in with an automobile for service. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk or roller-skate out to take orders and return with food, encouraging diners to remain parked while they eat. Drive-in theaters have a large screen and a car parking area for film-goers.
It is usually distinguished from a drive-through, in which drivers line up to make an order at a microphone set up at window height, and then drive to a window where they pay and receive their food. The drivers then take their meals elsewhere to eat. Notably however, during peak periods, patrons may be required to park in a designated parking spot and wait for their food to be directly served to them by an attendant walking to their car, resulting in the perceived relationship between the two service-types. In the German-speaking world, the term is now often used instead of "drive-through" for that kind of service. In Japan, the term refers to a rest area. In France, this term has become popular because of American movies showing that kind of service, and more recently due to the expansion of fast-food restaurants.
The first drive-in restaurant was Kirby's Pig Stand, which opened in Dallas, Texas, in 1921.[1][2] In North America, drive-in facilities of all types have become less popular since their heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, with drive-throughs rising to prominence since the 1970s and 1980s.
The largest drive-in still in operation is The Varsity of Atlanta, Georgia.[3]
In popular culture
[edit]As a symbol of the 1950s, a drive-in is featured in many films and TV series about this period. The film American Graffiti (1973) has several scenes in or around Mels Drive-In, while in Happy Days, "Arnold's Drive-In" is one of the main settings for much of the series.
See also
[edit]- Drive-through
- Drive-in theater
- Drive-In Classics, a Canadian TV channel
- List of drive-in restaurants
- List of drive-in theaters
- Safari park
References
[edit]- ↑ Wells, Dick (December 1998). "SRMA Update". Street Rodder. p. 298.
- ↑ Jones, Dwayne (1996). "What's New with the Pig Stands—Not the Pig Sandwich!" (PDF). Cultural Resource Management. Vol. 19, no. 2. U.S. Department of the Interior. ISSN 1068-4999. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
- ↑ "THE VARSITY". 2013-08-23. Archived from the original on 2013-08-23. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
External links
[edit]
- "Drive-in theatres refuse to fade away". 2005-10-13.
- "Jilly's drive-in restaurant page". Archived from the original on 2008-05-15. Retrieved 2005-10-18.
- "Searchable archive of over 5000 drive-in movie theaters". Drive-ins.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
- "Drive In Racking".
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