New US 23 Drive-In
5200 Fenton Road,
Flint,
MI
48507
5200 Fenton Road,
Flint,
MI
48507
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“Opened on 15th June, 1951 with Dreaming out loud”, “Fatal hour” and “Trail of Robin Hood”.
The US-23 Drive-In Theatre opened on June 15th, 1951. Grand opening ad posted.
At WaterWinterWonderland, there’s a 2003 comment by “Cinema Treasures” (hmm), saying, “The second 38 x 76 screen was assembled in 1986 using parts from a dismanted (sic) drive in screen tower, which originally measured 60 x 120, fabricated by Selby Industries. The original wood screen tower was destroyed in a 1997 arson fire and was replaced that year with the remaining parts from the aforementioned screen tower. As a result of the fire, a planned third screen will not be built.”
Robert, that’s an old caption. I count fewer than 330 active US drive-ins as of July 2017.
Nice ad video, steelbeard1! As great as that sign looks, it’s ever better with the arrow in motion.
TenPoundHammer, the 1949-50 Theatre Catalog already listed two Flint drive-ins. The Corunna West Side had an address of M-21, and the Dort East Side was on Dort Highway. Each had a capacity of 775 and was run by W. M. Rice.
Those two were joined by the U. S. 23 in the 1952 Catalog. For Exec, it listed (deep breath): L. Stallard, L. Warrington, Wallace O. James, Mgr., and William Clark. Capacity 1200. (The Corunna’s capacity grew to 900, the Dort’s to 1010.)
R. O. Fredley was the US 23’s Exec in the 1955-56 Catalog. Its capacity was down to 1130, while the Dort had mushroomed to 1406.
There were four Flint drive-ins listed in the 1959 IMPA – Eastside (Dort?), Westside (Corunna?), Northland, and US 23. With a few name changes that foursome continued through the 1976 edition.
By the 1982 IMPA, those four were joined by the Miracle Red & Blue. All five survived through the last IMPA drive-in list in 1988.
The caption says “…with only 800 remaining drive-ins…”. That may be down from 5,000 several decades ago but is up from 500 just a few years ago.
Cinema Treasures has uploaded a TV commercial for this drive in. http://cinematreasures.org/video/us-23-drive-in-theater
Description’s inaccurate now. This was always the only DI in Mundy Township. For a long time, Flint did have two DI’s (the Miracle Twin being the other) but it wasn’t even close nearby. 23 is now the only one left.
O.K. O.K.
1956, it was co-owned by Stallard and Warrington.
Cool looking marquee ken mc.
Here is a night photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y7hqsgx
Become a US 23 Drive-in Facebook friend. Their Facebook page is at View link
the 3rd screen is made up of shipping containers stacked ontop of each other. pictures here View link
To update info, the US 23 Drive-in Theatre has three screens now.
something i thought about. what would make this theater even better is to rebuild the original screen. dig up the blue prints and rebuild it. FYI the original screen burned down.
the drive in will remain open for another 5 years. the theater has been leased to a company who plans to overhaul the theater which includes adding 2 more screens to bring the count up to 4. it opens may 8th and will remain open through October.
There’s a 1997 interview with Lou Warrington posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUXCJXvHZ40
I’ve already started making plans to come up to this one. Looks like a great place from the photos I saw. Hopefully somebody will buy the drive-in and keep it open in memory of Mr. Warrington.
The Warrington family will reopen the drive-in for one more season in late April in Lou’s memory. Lou’s widow, 75-year-old Diane Warrington will manage it again with granddaughter Avery Warrington running the refreshment stand. Eldest son Lou Warrington III is not interested in holding onto the drive-in so after it closes this fall, it will be put up for sale. My fear is that in a couple of years, it could be a larger Kroger store to replace the smaller one next door.
Aw, how sad. Lou loved that drive-in. Any news on what will happen with it after this season?
The owner, Lou Warrington, passed away on February 18th, 2009. According to a Flint News story, the family will open the drive-in for more year as a tribute to Lou. Please come out often this summer and experience this fantastic theater. Lou and the 23 will be missed.
US-23 photos here.
this could be its last year of operation. the owner suffered a massive heart attack he survived but is incapacitated. sense he does all the up-keep and maintenance himself this could be its last year of service. please support this drive in while you can.
The screen parts were from the South Dort Drive-In
Mundy Township is in southern Genesee County.
This drive in is mentioned in my article in The Uncommon Sense at View link