The West Side (or, Westside) was the second in the Detroit area (April 1940) after the East Side (1938). It was the first area drive-in to install a CinemaScope screen in 1954 (East Side followed days later) and the first to offer electric in-car heaters (October 1957) with the East Side following quickly.
It is curious: the three-way speakers were unusual when they opened, but if you look at the photo of the man adjusting the revolutionary hot-air heater system, notice that the speakers some 7 years later are standard speakers found in any drive-in at the time. The heater system was an expensive flop. Probably, the thought was air-conditioning could be added in the future, but about a year later, the theater was advertising “electric in-car heaters”, meaning they abandoned this hot-air method as impractical.
This popular and well-attended drive-in was the only one near Detroit that never installed in-car heaters for year-round operation. It would be open from March to after Thanksgiving, but you were on your own to keep warm on cold nights. Most odd was that after the Town Drive-in closed in 1962, the Grand River was heavily marketed as the Town’s replacement (“The Grand River - Town”) but why didn’t they take the Town’s heaters and install them at the Grand River? Considering the next drive-ins “westward” were the Walake and the Lakes, they were closed all winter too, so it seemed like a missed opportunity.
The last “stand alone” drive-in in the Detroit area to open. (The University in Ann Arbor and Willow near Willow Run opened between 1965-1968.) (The Bel-Air 2 was sort of a stand alone, but it was always referred to as a “twin” to the main Bel-Air.) The unique feature of this theater is the speakers were attached to one pole, and the in-car heaters were on a separate pole. It may also be the only drive-in in the area where the screen faced due west, meaning a later showtime start than the others as the sun set.
From what I have read, the original theater had a capacity of 2,200 cars, certainly the largest in Michigan. When the second theater was added in 1971, a piece of the main theater was shaved off, reducing capacity to 1,800 cars. The second screen parked 1,200, so that equals 3,000 total. This was Detroit’s first “twin” drive-in, and ultimately a third screen would be placed in a back corner, and a fourth screen in the front area.
The West Side (or, Westside) was the second in the Detroit area (April 1940) after the East Side (1938). It was the first area drive-in to install a CinemaScope screen in 1954 (East Side followed days later) and the first to offer electric in-car heaters (October 1957) with the East Side following quickly.
It is curious: the three-way speakers were unusual when they opened, but if you look at the photo of the man adjusting the revolutionary hot-air heater system, notice that the speakers some 7 years later are standard speakers found in any drive-in at the time. The heater system was an expensive flop. Probably, the thought was air-conditioning could be added in the future, but about a year later, the theater was advertising “electric in-car heaters”, meaning they abandoned this hot-air method as impractical.
This popular and well-attended drive-in was the only one near Detroit that never installed in-car heaters for year-round operation. It would be open from March to after Thanksgiving, but you were on your own to keep warm on cold nights. Most odd was that after the Town Drive-in closed in 1962, the Grand River was heavily marketed as the Town’s replacement (“The Grand River - Town”) but why didn’t they take the Town’s heaters and install them at the Grand River? Considering the next drive-ins “westward” were the Walake and the Lakes, they were closed all winter too, so it seemed like a missed opportunity.
The last “stand alone” drive-in in the Detroit area to open. (The University in Ann Arbor and Willow near Willow Run opened between 1965-1968.) (The Bel-Air 2 was sort of a stand alone, but it was always referred to as a “twin” to the main Bel-Air.) The unique feature of this theater is the speakers were attached to one pole, and the in-car heaters were on a separate pole. It may also be the only drive-in in the area where the screen faced due west, meaning a later showtime start than the others as the sun set.
From what I have read, the original theater had a capacity of 2,200 cars, certainly the largest in Michigan. When the second theater was added in 1971, a piece of the main theater was shaved off, reducing capacity to 1,800 cars. The second screen parked 1,200, so that equals 3,000 total. This was Detroit’s first “twin” drive-in, and ultimately a third screen would be placed in a back corner, and a fourth screen in the front area.