Drive-in theaters gained prominence during the 1940s and 1950s, offering families and couples a novel form of entertainment. These outdoor theaters featured large screens and in-car speakers, allowing patrons to watch films from the comfort of their own vehicles. Although drive-in theaters experienced a peak in popularity during the post-war era, their numbers dwindled in subsequent decades due to urban development, land costs, and changing consumer preferences.
Westbury Project Has Space for 2,000 Automobiles
New York Times, July 25, 1954 — One of the largest drive-in theatres in Nassau County has just been completed on a twenty-eight-acre tract on Brush Hollow Road, off Exit 34 of the Northern State Parkway, in Westbury. Known as the Westbury Drive-In, it is sponsored by the Drive-In Westbury Corporation, of which Saul Lerner is president.
Providing accommodations for 2,000 automobiles, the project also includes a concession building, a playground for about 500 children, and a nursery supervised by a matron. The concession building will have a dining area, a personal telephone service for professional people and patrons, and automobile maintenance facilities.
The motion-picture screen weighs thirty-five tons and is embedded in a concrete foundation. It is on a tower 100 by 130 feet. Mr. Lerner, identified with the theatre industry since 1931, operates other drive-in units in Hempstead, Commack and Massapequa.