The owner of the Transit Drive-In is taking extreme measures in an effort to preserve this truly American form of entertainment. Rick Cohen is walking from Kissimmee, Florida to Camden, New Jersey in an effort to raise funds to help support the theaters that still exist. And, according to Cohen, those numbers have dropped dramatically.
"There used to be over 5,000 drive-in theaters in the United States, and today there is only 330 drive-in theaters left. Along my route, there's only 5 or 6 drive-in theaters that I'll be able to stop at just because there's so few left."
Cohen attributes the demise of the drive-in to the expense of a necessary change-over to digital equipment and to urban sprawl. He will be tracking his financial progress through the social fundraising site Go-Fund-Me. The walk began yesterday and is expected to last 6 weeks.
Cohen has already raised nearly $1500.
The walk will conclude at the site of the country's very first drive-in theater, which is now an Enterprise car rental office.
