Category Archives: Michigan

Project Drive-In roundup

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I’ll admit it. I’ve been so overwhelmed by the local media coverage of Honda’s Project Drive-In that it’s been hard to write. On one hand, I don’t especially want you to vote for some Florida drive-in over one on Ohio or vice versa. Heck, I’ve even noticed that Honda has added at least a couple drive-ins (such as the Apache) that weren’t there when voting started.

There are only so many ways I can spin the local news when it says that nearby drive-in X needs to convert to digital projection, and its best / only hope is if it is one of the Project Drive-In winners. So I’m just going to gather them all a bunch of them in this list. There are probably lots of interesting, fresh details here and there about each drive-in, but I’m going to let you discover them. If you find something sufficiently cool, post a comment about it, will you please?

Your candidates, alphabetized by state:

Whew! That’s 20 theaters so far. I’ll see how many more I can round up for our next installment.

Getty Drive-In goes digital

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At Carload, we love a good excuse for video, and here’s a nice report from WZZM, Grand Rapids MI’s news leader. In nearby Muskegon, the Getty 4 Drive-In has committed to a quarter-million dollar upgrade to digital projection. The only sad note: “The four old projectors that were used since the 1960s are heading for a metal salvage yard.” There’s just got to be a use for those old projectors, right?

More drive-ins in MI, PA commit to digital

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Getty Drive-In marquee

photo by MichiganDriveIns, used by permission

Here are a couple more notes that support what, thankfully, looks like a growing trend. The Lehigh Valley (PA) Morning Call ran a happy note about Shankweiler’s in Orefield and Becky’s in Berlinsville, which have both switched to digital projection.

Not only is Shankweiler’s indisputably the oldest active drive-in, it appears to have been only the second drive-in ever built when it opened in April 1934, according to the book Drive-in Theaters. Becky’s isn’t quite as old, it opened 12 years later, but it’s always nice to hear of another drive-in making a successful conversion.

Over at Mlife.com is a similar story of the Getty Drive-In (Muskegon MI), except that it hasn’t quite made the transition yet. The story says that the Getty’s general manager, Kevin Sims, wasn’t sure exactly when it would happen, but it could be as early as June. “Luckily, we have a great company that backs the drive-in,” he said. For the full story, plus a photo of the film projector, go check it out!