Almost three decades have passed since Sandy left Danny at the drive-in movie theater. As Grease nears its 30th birthday on June 18, it’s clear that Danny and his “sin wagon” have lived on, immortalized. But what about the drive-in?

Truth be told, the drive-in seems to be an endangered species.

“Boy, can I speak to that,” said Jon Hegeman, co-founder of the Fremont Outdoor Cinema. “There’s one up in Everett, the Puget Park, and there’s the Star-Lite down in Tacoma-Lakewood.”

Actually, the Star-Lite closed as a drive-in in 1996. Apart from the Puget Park, the only other drive-in within driving distance from Seattle is the Valley 6 in Auburn. The Valley 6 is about 40 minutes from the UW, and the Puget Park is about 25 minutes away.

The six-screen Valley 6 is the largest drive-in in Washington state. To win this title, it had to best just seven other competitors.

The Aurora Drive-In was once Seattle’s only drive-in. Today it’s a Sam’s Club. Only one shopper in the Sam’s Club parking lot Wednesday morning said she knew it was once a drive-in theater. When asked for her name, she jumped in her car and locked the door.

Barbara Griffith, a 45-year-old Seattle resident loading groceries into the back of her pick-up truck, said she remembered going to the Aurora drive-in once or twice. She had no idea, however, that she was standing in it.

“I miss drive-ins,” she said. “They were fun. You could take the kids, put them in their pajamas and go to a movie. It was great.”

So what happened to the drive-in?

Andrew McMasters is the artistic director of Wing-It Productions. Wing-It produces Jet City Improv and took over production of the Fremont Outdoor Cinema from Hegeman in 1999.

“The thing about the drive-in itself is that it takes so much space,” McMasters said. “Basically, as land becomes such a premium, people can’t afford to have them.”

That is where Hegeman and co-founder Charlotte Buchanan came in.

“We decided that since drive-ins were vanishing, as there wasn’t enough space and opportunity for them close to cities anymore, maybe movies had to evolve,” Hegeman said. “So that’s how we got the idea of the outdoor cinema.”

Situated at North 35th street and Phinney Avenue North, the parking lot that houses the Fremont Outdoor Cinema could fit maybe 70 cars, McMasters said. On movie nights, however, cars are banned and an average of 900 people crowd in to create what Hegeman calls “urban campsites.”

The Fremont Outdoor Cinema encourages “wacky seating,” according to its Web site, and in its early years, would award prizes for the best setup.

“People were bringing in living room sets, La-Z-Boys, a toilet bowl,” Hegeman said. “There was a four-poster bed that won first prize once.”

Now, Wing-It Productions organizes games and contests that encourage audience involvement at each movie. They also do “Twisted Flicks,” which are B-movies shown in the style of Mystery Science Theater 3000 — that is, with the movie on silent and the dialogue replaced live.

“It’s really a fantastic thing because it turns into a real community event,” said McMasters, adding that even with crowds of 1,000 people, they still pick up all of their trash on the way out.

The first film of the Fremont Outdoor Cinema’s 16th season is Superbad, playing June 28.

For more information on the Fremont Outdoor Cinema visit www.fremontoutdoormovies.com.