AIABaltimore is pleased to present black/white and color photography by Elaine Reed de Laszlo. Taken during the course of two cross-country trips as well as many other travels, these photographs document drive-in movie theaters from coast to coast.

Reed de Laszlo believes that these drive-ins share important truths about American history, and therefore captured most of the theaters during daylight to display them as pure forms of American architecture at its most vernacular. She documents these drive-ins for a number of reasons:

“One is to record their architecture and how they represent the dreams and escapist fantasies of the 1950s and 1960s, which many people remember fondly. Another is to comment on the velocity at which the twentieth century has moved, leaving those dreams and fantasies behind, as symbolized by the often weathered and neglected outdoor theaters that remain.”