America’s oldest working drive-in celebrates 90 years in Lehigh County

NORTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — It’s a Friday night in March at the world’s oldest working drive-in: Time to bundle up, butter the popcorn, and watch a pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston battle a murderous leprechaun.

One reviewer said 1993′s Leprechaun included “bad sets, bad acting, and bad direction,” a trifecta tailor-made for drive-ins. When the lights — the sun — dimmed at Shankweiler’s Drive-In around 7:09 p.m., co-owner Matt McClanahan’s voice came over the loudspeaker and through the radios of the few dozen cars parked in front of the screen.

“Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show,” he said before the projector lit up.

Pennsylvania is home to 27 drive-ins — one fewer than New York — according to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association. New Jersey has just one, the Delsea Drive-In, in Vineland. There are none in Delaware.

“I think it’s something about our culture here in Pennsylvania that loves passing things down, generation to generation,” McClanahan said.

Shankweiler’s, which opened on April 15, 1934, in Lehigh County, is about 60 miles north of Philadelphia. The only drive-in that predates it debuted closer to the city, in 1933, on the Camden-Pennsauken border, but it closed by 1940.

Inspired by the Camden County theater, Wilson Shankweiler built his drive-in as an attraction for his popular restaurant and inn. Ninety years later, Shankweiler’s will celebrate its anniversary on April 14 ( a rally by former President Donald Trump changed the original date) by bringing in 1930s vehicles and reenacting vintage drive-in DIY, including hanging a bedsheet between two poles for a screen.

In the heyday of post-World War II America, car culture reigned and drive-ins popped up countrywide. There were approximately 4,000 by the end of the 1950s.

Drive-ins started facing leaner years when America took a harder turn toward suburbia for housing, shopping, and movie multiplexes in the 1970s and 80s. Real estate prices rose, often making the land more valuable than the theater. Over a period of decades, neon marquees from Long Island to California went dark and developers kept knocking, looking for land for self-storage facilities or shopping centers.

McClanahan and Lauren McChesney bought the property in 2022, paying just over $1 million and becoming Shankweiler’s fourth owners since 1934. At that point, the theater had been on the market for several years. Its previous owners and neighbors, according to McClanahan and McChesney, were hoping some film buffs/dreamers like themselves would fend off the warehouses popping up all over Lehigh County.

The couple now keeps Shankweiler’s open year-round, screening both first-run films like Dune Part Two and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and schlocky classic horror.

“We need a cash flow all year,” McClanahan said.

Also, there’s something cozy about a drive-in during winter, McChesney said.

“We love going to drive-ins and it’s sad more aren’t open all year round,” she said. “We actually drove out to a drive-in that’s open all year in Pittsburgh and we really enjoyed it and thought we could do that too.”

McClanahan studied filmmaking and learned the drive-in ropes at Carbon County’s Mahoning Drive-In, which he helped revive. The Inquirer visited the Mahoning, which uses 35mm film, in 2019 to chronicle its quirky, themed weekends and openness to camping.

After leaving the Mahoning, McClanahan cofounded the Moving Picture Company, which projected films at breweries and wineries.

“Now this is our full-time job,” McClanahan said.

McChesney said Barbie was a big draw last year, but they missed out on the full Barbenheimer bump: They didn’t bring in Oppenheimer.

“That was more of an IMAX thing,” she said.

McClanahan said good, old-fashioned horror always draws crowds, even Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving slasher film last year.

As always, Shankweiler’s has a double feature. On Friday, for just $12, viewers were also treated to Leprechaun 2. It’s a film with an even worse Rotten Tomatoes score than its predecessors, described by reviewer as “awfully stupid.”

Perfect for the drive-in.

Gates will open at 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 13 for Shankweiler’s 90th anniversary celebration. A magician will be visiting and themed drinks will be served. Tickets can be purchased at www.shankweilers.com