First Drive-in Movie Opens
In the 1970s, a big family night out was going to the drive-in theater. Kids would put on their pajamas and slippers, grab their pillow and a blanket and pile into the back of the station wagon. Watching a movie from the car with a melon-sized speaker just outside the window was an unparalleled experience. Drive-ins have been featured in various movies, including ” American Graffiti,” “Grease” and “Twister”. They reached their popularity in 1958, when there were 4,000 to 5,000 drive-in theaters in America, according to Drive-ins.com. Currently there are 372 known drive-ins operating in the United States.
Before the drive-in, people did watch movies outdoors, according to Smithsonian Magazine. An auto parts salesman wanted to find a way for his mother, who was not comfortable in movie theater seats due to her size, to watch movies. He set up a projector and screened movies on a sheet for his mother to watch from the car. Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr. tinkered with the mechanics and logistics, inventing a ramp system for the cars. With the cars parking on different heights, multiple rows of cars could view the movie. He patented his idea and opened the first movie theater on June 6, 1933, in Camden, N.J.
Pack up the car and head to a local drive-in for a double feature on June 6.
‘Sex and the City’ Debuts
Often imitated but never duplicated, “Sex and the City” was one of a kind when it debuted on HBO on June 6, 1998. The show was eye candy for men and validation for single women to date and shop with carefree abandon. The popular show, now in syndication and edited for a PG-13 audience, had more than 10 million viewers watching the final episode on Feb. 22, 2004. “Sex and the City” never hit 100 episodes — there were only 94.
Applesauce Cake Day
Baking apples or fruit into cakes was nothing new in the 19th century. Applesauce was also not a novelty when the first recipes for applesauce cake started appearing in cookbooks, as it dates back to Medieval times. Applesauce does not appear to have found its way into cakes until WWI, according to the “American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century.” It was considered patriotic to use less butter, eggs and sugar. Applesauce was used in place of shortening, a practice which still holds firm in low-sugar and low-fat baking. Applesauce also provided a natural sweetness to cakes in a time when sugar was rationed to two pounds per month.
Bake some applesauce cupcakes to celebrate National Applesauce Cake Day.
First Occupation of Space Station
A decade after Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on April 12, 1961, the first humans died in space. G.T. Dobrovolsky, V.N. Volkov, and V.I. Patsayev made space exploration history when they entered the space station, Salyut, for the first time on June 6, 1971.
However, after conducting experiments and beginning a 24-day flight home, the cosmonauts died during operations for the return landing of Soyuz II on June 29, 1971. They were the first humans to die in space.
