But a few fine relics have been left on Michigan roadways, and there’s no better time than now to hop in your jalopy for an end-of-summer retro road trip that may well involve a double feature or double chocolate malted.
Ford-Wyoming Drive In
At many places in southeastern Michigan you can smoke, eat and drink at your leisure, but there is only one theater where you can do so: at the mega-huge, nine-screen Ford-Wyoming Drive-In. So grab a six-pack of Ghettoblaster ale and a bag of Better Made potato chips, and check out a double feature at the largest drive-in theater in the world. In a metropolitan area that embraces the car culture and once offered 45 drive-in theaters, the Ford-Wyoming is the last standing, a monument to the Golden Era, with its original art-deco style screen measuring 75 feet tall and 30 feet wide (due to celebrate its 60th birthday in 2008). It has plenty of charm from days gone by like old 1950s countdown cartoons, complete with dancing hotdogs.
Open all year.
10400 Ford Road
Dearborn, MI 48126
313-846-6910
Chick Inn Drive-in
When a sandwich has a name like Paul Bunyan, expectations can be nothing but large. At the Chick Inn Drive-in, open since 1953, the Paul Bunyan consists of a half-pound cheeseburger on a sesame seed bun with lettuce, a thick slice of onion, and secret Paul Bunyan sauce. On trips home, former Ypsi residents have been known to cart back bags of burgers like precious contraband to their new residences. Legendary Paul Bunyan aside, the Chick Inn also has renowned shakes (try the strawberry-pineapple) and cheese steak hoagies – all delivered with a smile to your vehicle by a friendly bunch of carhops (sorry, but the dribble down the front of your shirt is your own responsibility). The ambiance is mid-20th-century hip, with lots of neon, a TIME TO EAT clock on the front sign, and, of course, happy chicken heads decorating the premises.
Open all year.
501 Holmes
Ypsilanti, MI 48198
734-483-3639
Miracle Twin Drive-In Theater
If you happen to find yourself within a 50-mile radius of Flint at dusk, you just may want to crank your steering wheel toward the Miracle Twin Drive-In Theater. Simple, with no-frills, this is the place to gasp and shudder through a couple action-adventure flicks while cozied up with a cooler of Pabst and a bag of fried pork rinds. Choose your double feature from the red screen or blue screen, then tune in your radio, or hook up speaker, to take in a Hollywood thrill under sleepy, mid-Michigan stars.
Open seven days a week through 2007; call for 2008 schedule.
6383 East Court St.
Burton, MI, 48509
810-744-3800
Lutz’s Drive-in
To blend in like a local at Lutz’s Drive-in, order the hamburger basket, hot beef or hot pork sandwich, or the pizza (all of which have been menu items since its 1962 opening, barring the pizza which appeared in 1963). Bob Lutz was 29 when he built his restaurant on a corn field. Today, at 74, he still flips burgers, cleans the kitchen, and cracks the whip at the carhops running food out to customers. A whopping 32 jalopies can park under the magnificent 80-foot canopy, and the original neon sign sports stars and slashes and a whiz-bang, three-color cartwheel on top. Sure, hamburger prices have skyrocketed from 35 cents when Lutz’s opened to $2.25 today, but it’s worth the inflation to hang out at a place so faithfully serving this corner of rural Americana.
Open for carhop service mid-April until late October (weather dependent); 60-seat dining room open all year. Note: the Five-Mile Drive-In Theater is right next door
28102 M-152
Dowagiac, MI 49047
269-782-5676
Sunset Auto Theatre
Continuously open since 1948, this single-screen vintage drive-in theater is in the heart of southwest Michigan’s fruit belt in a rural area unpolluted by city lights, translating to excellent outdoor film viewing. Movies are cast on the original screen, recently restored and repainted with its 1948 logo. If you’re really going for the nostalgia, try a barbeque beef sandwich which has been on the menu since the theater opened (although today’s favorite is the chili-cheese fries). While the car speakers are long gone, you can tune in through the FM modulator and hear the verbal angst of your modern-day Hollywood favorites through your car stereo. The theater owners and their family – parents, children, nieces and nephews – run concessions and the box office and always play the 1940s ten-minute intermission clock tape featuring skipping sodas and frolicking ice cream cones.
Open through the end of October; reopens in May.
69017 Red Arrow Highway
Hartford, MI 49057
866-624-4194
Dog ‘n Suds Drive-In
This western Michigan relic is the sole surviving Dog ‘n Suds in Michigan, first opening in 1963. Here you’ll savor those Coney dogs, homemade draft root beer served in that famous frosty mug (thirst quenching enough to warrant a 200 mile trip), and famous Char-Co burgers – all from the comfort of your vehicle. Car-hop service is true to form, or you can sit along the White River under an umbrella and relish that root beer float or corn dog on a stick.
Open until mid-September, early October, weather dependent; reopens mid-April.
4454 Dowling St.
Montague, MI, 49437
231-894-4991
Cherry Bowl Drive In Theatre
Perhaps Michigan’s most authentic and nostalgic drive-in experience, the Cherry Bowl Drive In Theatre remains impeccably true to its 1953 roots, complete with vintage cartoons that play between movies. The single-screen Cherry Bowl has a family focus, with no films rated higher than PG-13. There’s games for the kiddos and adults, including 1950s-style putt putt golf, hula hoops, and a sandbox. An onsite diner makes pizza and broasted chicken; popcorn sizzles from the original 1953 popcorn popper. You may not have a 1955 Chevy Nomad Station Wagon to watch from, but the original vacuum tube amplified speakers will blast nostalgia into your Prius or Vue just the same.
Open weekends through September; reopens first weekend in May.
9812 Honor Highway
Honor, MI 49640
321-325-3413
Nick and Ivy’s Country Diner
If the wafting aroma of Nick’s to-die-for chicken and dumpling soup doesn’t reel you in, than surely sitting in a restored 1955 Jersey-made stainless steel diner will. The décor is all stainless steel panels and windows (not easy to find outside of the Northeast), with booths upholstered in green vinyl and a long stretch of a counter for growling over a plate of French toast, the daily paper, and a cup of joe. The original phone booth sits at the end of the diner and the original jukebox still gets plenty of play. The diner was rescued and restored by the previous owner from a truck stop in Pennsylvania where it stood vacant. Nick and Ivy have been running the joint since April – cooking from scratch and serving local customers hearty and affordable eats.
Open all year.
3023 U.S. 23 South
Alpena, MI, 49707
989-358-1955
Melinda Clynes is a Detroit-area freelancer. Each month she offers up another unique take on Michigan travel. Her last travelMode article was Beaches And Brews.
Photos:
An old postcard of the Ford-Wyoming Drive-In (courtesy image)
Chick Inn Drive-In - Ypsilanti (photo by Dave Krieger)
Dogs and Suds - Montague
Dogs and Suds - Montague (photos by Brian Kelly)