University Drive-In

Texas2step on August 5, 2019 at 8:17 pm

This one opened on July 9, 1965. Advertised car capacity was 1,000. The opening movies were “Tickle Me” with Elvis Presley and “Young Fury” with Rory Calhoun.

jumbobrain on August 10, 2009 at 2:24 pm

This theater was part of the Butterfield chain, which ran numerous Michigan movie houses including the Michigan, State, Wayside and Campus in Ann Arbor…I don’t think they owned it, at least the operation was not directly supervised by Butterfield the way the other theaters were, but they did share ad space.

Around 1981 Butterfield sold out to a chain called Kerasotes, which may have been a factor in the University’s closure. Kerasotes didn’t last long either, and is mostly remembered for protests after they fired their union projectionists.