Division Drive-In
5566 Division Avenue S,
Kentwood,
MI
49548
5566 Division Avenue S,
Kentwood,
MI
49548
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It had been demolished by 1972. Looks like a flea market or similar business was on the property at that time.
Opened on May 29th, 1948 as the first drive-in in the area. Uploaded grand opening ads as well as an 1965 USGS aerial photo.
Bloss was a well known pornographer in the 1960
s.In about 1965, he hired a young man(age 22) as a projectionist.His name was Harry Mohney.Eventually, young Mohney became Floyds partner and the two men ran several porn theaters in Michigan.Bloss experienced a tragedy when his 19 year old daughter Debra was murdered in one of her father`s porn theaters (in Battle Creek).After the murder, Bloss sold his share of the theaters to Mohney and moved to Hawaii.Mohney expanded his porn holdings and is now worth nearly a billion dollars.dollars.The location of this business is currently in the city limits of Kentwood, several miles south of the city of Grand Rapids.
The Stardust Drive-In restarted operation in August 1962 with Floyd Bloss as operator. The theater was not in operation before that. I became associated with Mr. Bloss shortly after that as co-operator and projectionist. At that time 2nd run family movies were shown. In 1964 it converted to x rated fare and closed in the 70’s. Mr Bloss now resides in Las Vegas. I left the business when x rated movies were played. Mr Bloss also operated the Hastings Drive-In and the Burton Capri theaters. John Whitman
Since it was the only drive-in in town when it opened, the original name was simply Drive-In Theater. It was renamed the Division in late 1948 or early 1949. The next name change came around 1962 when it became the Stardust.