Photo courtesy of the Fiftiesville Facebook page.

DavidZornig on July 21, 2018 at 11:32 pm

Description credit & courtesy of the D Tour 313 Facebook page.

Dusk at the Drive-In, Summer 1955. Opened in the spring of 1948, the Gratiot Drive-In was able to hold over 1,000 cars and featured free pony rides, an amusement playground for kids and had a large family restaurant. The back of the 115 feet tall screen tower featured a staggered curtain waterfall, illuminated at night by colored lights. To accommodate wide screen films of the early 1950’s a new screen was placed in front of the original one (seen in the photo). By Labor Day of 1984 it would show it’s last move, being razed shortly after.

Photo credit: Robert Frank, courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Arts