While there were makeshift drive-in cinemas as early as the 1910s, the first patented drive-in movie theater opened on June 6, 1933 by chemical company magnate Richard Hollingshead in Camden, New Jersey. He created it as a solution for people unable to comfortably fit into smaller movie theater seats after creating a mini drive-in for his mother. Appealing to families, Hollingshead advertised his New Jersey drive-in as a place where “The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are.”

Hollingshead’s drive-in was originally located on Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Pennsauken Township.