Screen Towers.

The Drive-In Theater in America. Photographs by Steve Fitch. Introduction by Katherine Ware.

George F. Thompson Publishing, 2025. 136 pp., 12x10½x1¼".

SIGNED COPIES AVAILABLE!

Please join us for a book launch party and exhibition with Steve Fitch, celebrating his new book Screen Towers: The Drive-In Theater in America!

Saturday, November 8th, 2025, 3-5 pm

photo-eye
1300 Rufina Circle, Suite A3
Santa Fe, NM 87507
505-988-5152

Steve Fitch will be signing books during the event and Pre-Orders for Signed Copies and Limited Editions will be shipped the following week.

View the some of the prints in the exhbition here.

Beginning in 1933 and expanding greatly after World War II, mid-century America saw a boom in the construction of large outdoor screen towers on which a projected movie image could be viewed from a parked car. Actually, hundreds of parked cars. This was the era of the drive-in movie theater, which saw the marriage of the automobile and the Hollywood movie. At its peak during the 1950s and 1960s, more than 4,000 drive-in theaters dotted the American landscape, coast to coast.

Starting in 1971, Steve Fitch traveled throughout the United States photographing many of these drive-in theaters, concentrating on the often stunning neon and painted murals that decorated the street-facing (back) side of the tower that supported the white, rectangular screen. These dramatic murals often depicted scenes that related to the local history of the surrounding community, and they could be seen from many miles away. Working with black-and-white film, Fitch mostly photographed at dusk or at night, making striking images that captured the seductive beauty of these roadside monuments.

In 1980, Fitch began working in color with a large-format 8” x 10” view camera, initially making pictures of the back (street) sides but then shifting his emphasis to the white screen itself and the inside spaces of the theater. This was a period of transition, when more and more drive-ins were being repurposed, abandoned, or even torn down. As Fitch shows, the golden era of the drive-in theater was nearing its end, even as some 285 drive-ins still operate in America, keeping alive, at least for some, the thrill of watching a movie outdoors under the stars, in the comfort of one’s car.

Screen Towers is the first book in nearly three decades to portray the iconic drive-in movie theater in America. Anyone interested in the architecture, culture, and history of the drive-in theater will be smitten by Steve Fitch’s new book

ABOUT THE LIMITED EDITION

Contains a SIGNED first edition of the book and one of three signed and numbered archival pigment prints, each printed in an edition of 20.

Editions 1-5 $250
Editions 6-10 $350
Editions 11-15 $450
Editions 16-20 TBA

Image size is 7½x9½" on 8x10" Canson Platine Fibre Rag paper from digitial files prepared from the original 8x10 color film negatives and printed by the artist himself. Prints are in a protective sleeve and inserted into signed Trade Edition copies of the book.

Limited Edition Print A: Star-Vu Drive-in, Longmont, CO, 1980

Limited Edition Print B: Victory Drive-in, San Fernando Valley, CA, 1973

Limited Edition Print C: Sage Drive-in, Van Horn, TX, 1981

Cat# ZK802H Hardbound $45.00 (978-1-960521-11-8)
In Stock! Usually ships in 1 business day.

Cat# ZK802H Hardbound [Signed] $45.00 (978-1-960521-11-8)
Pre-order this item, due October 2025. More Info

Cat# ZK802L Limited Edition [PRINTA] $250.00 (978-1-960521-11-8)
Pre-order this item, due October 2025. More Info

Cat# ZK802L Limited Edition [PRINTB] $350.00 (978-1-960521-11-8)
Pre-order this item, due October 2025. More Info

Cat# ZK802L Limited Edition [PRINTC] $250.00 (978-1-960521-11-8)
Pre-order this item, due October 2025. More Info

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