Michigan Drive-Ins, Drive-In Theaters There was once over 130 Drive-In's in Michigan back in their heyday. The first Drive-In was the East-Side, which opened in 1938 in Harper Woods, only 4 years after Richard Hollingshead invented it. Many more were built in the ensuing years, particularly in the post-war years up thru the mid to late 70's. It was great to check out the movie listings in the paper and see as many drive-ins listed as indoor Theaters! The following is a somewhat accurate listing of how many there were by year.



1938 1 1948 12 1956 111 1959 127 1965 132 1968 131 1972 137 1977 126 1988 62 1990 29 1992 14 1996 11 1998-2001 10 2002 9 2003 10 2005 11 2007-2008 10 2009 9 2010-2020 8

As you can see, the 1980's were devastating for Drive-Ins. Rising property values and declining attendance made closing them and selling them off more attractive to the owners than keeping them open.



The list below represents all of the drive-ins which can be filtered by county and sorted by clicking the little arrows in the heading. Click on the name in the grid and it will take you to the detail page. Click here for a complete listing the Drive-Ins which remain open.



You can sort the grid by clicking on the header text. The numbers at the bottom of the grid allow you to jump to that page.