America's Hometown Movie Theaters

A celebration of the joys of the moviegoing experience, this enchanting visual journey pays tribute to the architectural variety and endurance of America’s indoor movie theaters and drive-ins.

For more than 40 years, Benita VanWinkle has traveled the country photographing hometown movie theaters and drive-ins built before 1965 as part of her ongoing documentary project Please Remain Standing—a visual appeal to preserve these historic treasures. VanWinkle has recorded the astonishing range of these iconic structures, from repurposed Quonset huts to grand movie palaces. Her photographs depict magnificent Art Deco detailing and Mayan-style ornamentation, neon-lit theater marquees as well as the whimsical road signs that still entice moviegoers to once ubiquitous drive-ins. An impressive 512 full-page photographs, selected from the thousands VanWinkle has made to date, document 395 present and former movie theaters and drive-ins and conjure a time when Americans embraced the communal experience of going out to the movies—a few hours in which shared laughter and tears unite strangers. The book honors this beloved national pastime and highlights the continuing importance of movie theaters in preserving a town’s sense of community.