“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” blared across the massive screen at Riverside Drive-In on April 2 to mark opening night of the 2026 season at the Parks Township theater.
But owners were quick to say that without recent community support, the screen would have remained dark.
A GoFund Me organized by employee Chris Davis seeks $7,500 for operations and renovations. As of Friday afternoon, more than $7,000 had been donated.
“We’ve also had some very nice, anonymous donations come through,” said Emma Ament, who with her husband, Todd, has owned the drive-in along Lees Lake Lane since 2005.
“It makes me feel good because I know things in this area are tough.”
During a time when drive-in theaters have become the exception in the movie-viewing universe, Riverside has managed to stand the test of time. Barely.
A dismal 2025 season — attributed to 14 weekends of rain — mixed with insurance costs and the necessity of major repairs, contributed to the financial struggles, Ament said.
Davis’ fundraiser will help pay for a $10,000 roof replacement on the concession stand.
The Brackenridge resident said he’d like to bring in enough money to install air conditioning in the snack bar and also enlarge the lone ticket booth.
“I love working there,” said Davis, 49, a carpenter by trade. “When we found out last season that we might not open this year, I didn’t want to let that happen.”
The fundraiser is not the first organized for the drive-in.
Years back, when projections switched from film to digital, community support helped save the Aments from closing.
“When we went digital, that support was truly beyond essential,” said Ament, of Vandergrift.
At that time, Davis insulated the projection room as needed for digital capacity, he said.
Now, he’d like to renovate the snack bar with a fresh coat of paint and new drainage.
“The biggest improvement and the most expensive is that it needs air,” he said. “The snack bar can get very hot in there with all the food being cooked. Since it’s made of concrete blocks, it turns into a giant oven.”
Originally opened in 1951 under the name Woodland Drive-in, the property has survived to become the sole remaining drive-in in the Alle-Kiski Valley.
While it draws patrons from the tri-state area for its twice-a-season monster-themed weekends, regular attendance has dwindled enough to close the site during the week.
It used to show movies every night.
Increased utility rates and low weekday attendance dictated the decision to go weekends-only. There wasn’t enough people in the lot to pay the nine people on the payroll, Ament said.
The downfall of the Paramount Decree, which mandated a certain amount of time pass before films could be shown on TV, was the final straw, Ament said.
“It kills us that everything hits streaming so fast,” she said.
Despite the community outpouring, it is still too early to say whether Riverside will remain open next year.
“We’re just not that far yet,” Ament said.
A time gone by
For younger generations to truly comprehend the battle of keeping a drive-in theater alive in today’s environment, it’s important to understand the history of drive-ins.
The first drive-in theater in the United States, Theatre de Guadalupe, was opened in Les Cruces, N.M., on April 23, 1915. It was a hybrid theater having an indoor seating auditorium plus a parking area for about 40 cars.
After quickly being renamed “The De Lux Theater,” it closed after only one year, in the summer of 1916.
In the 1920s watching movies outdoors became more popular. But viewing movies from the comfort of an automobile was a different story based on the logistical issues of parking and having a clear line of sight to the movie screen.
As time passed, however, the concept of a drive-in theater evolved and was patented by Richard M. Hollingshead Jr. an industrialist who operated a chemical plant in Camden, N.J.
In 1928, he began testing his concept. Hollingshead nailed a screen to the trees in his backyard and set a Kodak projector on the hood of his car.
He experimented extensively with sound equipment and placed blocks beneath the wheels of his car to determine the best spacing and topography for a parking area in order to provide an ideal view of the screen.
He applied for a patent in 1932, and it was granted the next year.
Hollingshead Drive-In Theater opened on June 6, 1933 with the film, “Wives Beware” staring Aldolf Menjou. There was space for 400 cars, and the movie screen measured 40 feet by 50 feet.
His advertising slogan was “The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are.”
Unfortunately, that first drive-in theater was not as profitable as Hollingshead had hoped, and he sold it after three years.
His concept, however, did catch on with the American public, and drive-in theaters began to open across the country.
The second patented drive-in theater ever built was in Pennsylvania. The Shankweiler’s Drive-In opened on April 15, 1934, just outside Orefield, Lehigh County.
It’s still open today, holding the distinction of being the oldest operating drive-in in the United States.
By the 1950s, there were more than 4,000 drive-in theaters operating across the country, 330 of which were in Pennsylvania.
Drive-ins had become immensely popular, especially for young families. Food was provided via concession stands, where a typical menu might include hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza.
Local history
Eventually, Pittsburgh became known as “The Drive-in Capital of the World,” boasting more than 40 theaters serving the metropolitan area.
Some theaters also had miniature golf courses or playgrounds to provide further entertainment for kids.
In the Alle-Kiski Valley, there was a time when five drive-in theaters were in operation: The Harmar, Gateway, Family, Sunset View and Riverside.
• The Harmar Drive-In opened on Aug. 30, 1950 on Indianola Road off old Route 28. It closed 18 years later, on Nov. 4, 1968, due to the construction of the Allegheny Valley Expressway.
• The Gateway Drive-In sat along Greensburg Road, near the Parnassus section of New Kensington. Featuring two screens, it opened June 16, 1950, and closed after a 40-year run on Sept. 16, 1990.
• The Family Drive-In in Lower Burrell opened May 20, 1948, and was owned by the Mannarino family. It sat near the intersection of Leechburg and Wildlife roads, at the site of the current Burrell Plaza.
When the Tarentum Bridge opened in 1952, it was originally a toll bridge. As an added incentive, the Mannarinos decided to reimburse toll costs for any customers who had crossed the bridge to view their films. The drive-in closed Nov. 15, 1970.
• Located on Route 908 in Natrona Heights, the Sunset View Drive-In opened on May 22, 1952 and closed after 37 years in 1989. The site is now occupied by a #1 Cochran car dealership.
• The Riverside Drive-In is still in operation along Route 66 in Parks Township. It opened in 1951 and originally was named the Woodland Drive-in. It had closed in 1980 but was reopened in 1995 as the Galaxy Drive-in.
The Galaxy closed in 2004 and was refurbished and reopened as the Riverside Drive-in under new ownership.
By the 1980s, the number of drive-in theaters began to decline, mostly because of the arrival of air-conditioned multiplex theater complexes, often positioned near shopping malls.
Around the same time, cable TV and video rental companies, such as Blockbuster, also began cutting into the movie market.
By 2023, there were only 300 drive-ins remaining across the country. Pennsylvania checked in with the second-largest number among the states.