The drive-in is a mid-century building type, and most of them are gone. The United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association counts a peak of 4,063 in the United States in 1958. About 280 remain, and California has 13 on the association's list.
What follows is where the screens are still lit, mostly in California, where else to watch a film outdoors, and the car for the occasion. Everything here was checked in early October 2026. Drive-ins close without much notice, so look at the theater's own site before you set out.
How it started
Richard Hollingshead Jr. opened the first drive-in on June 6, 1933, in Pennsauken, New Jersey, just outside Camden. Smithsonian Magazine gives the price as 25 cents for the car and 25 cents for each person in it.
California's first came the next year. The Pico Drive-In opened in Los Angeles in September 1934, at Pico and Westwood boulevards.
The decline had several causes. Smithsonian points to rising land prices as towns grew out to meet the theaters. Then, in 2013, the studios were phasing out film prints, and each screen needed a digital projector that cost $75,000 or more.
Southern California
Paramount Drive-In, Paramount. Opened in the late 1940s, went dark for more than twenty years, and reopened in April 2014 with two screens. It is open now.
Rubidoux Drive-In, Jurupa Valley. Opened on November 4, 1948. The theater says its original screen tower is still standing. Three screens, open nightly.
Van Buren Drive-In, Riverside. Opened in 1964. Three screens and a citrus-grove theme, with a mural and vintage fruit-crate labels.
South Bay Drive-In, San Diego. Opened in 1958 and has had three screens since 1974. The theater says it is open nearly every night of the year.
Skyline Drive-In, Barstow. Two screens in the high desert, on the old highway. It is on the owners' association list, though we found no showtimes dated this year, so call first.
Vineland Drive-In, City of Industry. Opened in 1955. We could not confirm that it is still showing films. Check before you go.
The one nearest Palm Springs
Smith's Ranch Drive-In, Twentynine Palms. One screen, opened in 1956, near Joshua Tree National Park. At this writing it shows films on Fridays and Saturdays, and admission is $10.
The Coachella Valley has none of its own. According to Cinema Treasures, a database kept by theater enthusiasts, the Sun-Aire in Cathedral City ran from 1950 to 1987 and the Palm Springs Drive-In on Ramon Road from 1964 to 1988.
Central and Northern California
Sunset Drive-In, San Luis Obispo. Opened in 1950, one screen, with the name in neon on the back of the screen tower. It marked its 75th year in 2025, and it takes cash only.
West Wind. The Syufy family's chain runs three California drive-ins: Sacramento, the Solano in Concord, and the Capitol in San Jose.
Recently lost
The Mission Tiki in Montclair closed in January 2023 and has been demolished for warehouses. The Santee Drive-In closed at the end of 2023. West Wind's drive-in in Goleta closed in September 2022, and the Hi-Way in Santa Maria closed in January 2022, with housing planned for the site.
Worth a detour elsewhere
Shankweiler's, Orefield, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1934. Guinness World Records lists it as the oldest drive-in still operating.
66 Drive-In, Carthage, Missouri. Opened in 1949 on Route 66, closed in 1985 and reopened in 1998. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the National Park Service notes its original neon sign and glass-block ticket booth. Seasonal.
Bengies, Middle River, Maryland. Opened in 1956 and is the only drive-in left in Maryland.
Wellfleet Drive-In, Cape Cod. Opened in 1957. Open from Memorial Day until shortly after Labor Day.
Admiral Twin, Tulsa. Opened in 1951 and appears in the 1983 film The Outsiders. This year was its 75th season.
Without a windshield
Cinespia has shown films on the lawn at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles since 2002. Its 25th season runs through Halloween.
Street Food Cinema has run outdoor screenings around Los Angeles since 2012. Its main season ended in early October, with more dates listed through December.
Rooftop Cinema Club shows films year-round on a terrace in downtown Los Angeles.
In Palm Springs, the Palm Springs Cultural Center has run free Movies in the Park in the Downtown Park since 2022, and the Ace Hotel showed poolside films on Sunday evenings in August and September this year. Neither had October dates posted when we looked.
The Continental you should arrive in
The 1961 Lincoln Continental began as a proposal for a different car. According to the automotive history site Ate Up With Motor, the designer Elwood Engel drew it as an alternative Thunderbird, and Robert McNamara, then a senior Ford executive, had it turned into a four-door Lincoln.
It was 14.8 inches shorter than the 1960 Lincoln. The rear doors were hinged at the back, an engineer's idea for making the rear seat easier to reach. Under the hood was a 430-cubic-inch V8. Every car was road-tested for 12 miles before it left the factory, and the warranty ran two years or 24,000 miles.
The sedan started at $6,067. Lincoln built about 25,000 cars that first year, roughly 2,900 of them four-door convertibles, and offered the convertible through 1967.
We found no buyer's guide we could vouch for, so the only advice here is the obvious one. The convertible top folds itself into the trunk through a series of relays, and it should be checked by someone who knows these cars before any money changes hands.
Then drive it to Twentynine Palms on a Friday.