Chippewa Drive-In

500 W. Chippewa Avenue,
South Bend, IN 46614

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Loew's Inc.

Previous Names: Moonlite Outdoor Theatre, Chippewa Twin Drive-In

Nearby Theaters

1950's aerial photo credit Photoseeum.

The Moonlite Outdoor Theatre opened on July 8, 1951 with Danny Kaye in “On the Riviera”. With a single screen, it was owned by L. Cochovetry. Loew’s took over operations of the drive-in in 1961. It was twinned on June 4, 1976 and renamed the Chippewa Twin Drive-In. Car Capacity for the ozoner was listed at 600 cars.

In later years (from 1984) the Chippewa Drive-In went over to screening adult XXX movies and closed around 1988. It was later demolished. The Showplace 16 was built on the site of the former Chippewa Drive-In.

Contributed by Chuck

Recent comments (view all 7 comments)

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on November 11, 2010 at 4:20 pm

Apparently it opened at least a little earlier that 1954 as this theater’s page at Drive-ins.com includes an ad from 1953: http://www.drive-ins.com/pictures/intchip001.jpg

rivest266
rivest266 on June 30, 2012 at 6:27 pm

1967 aerial posted here.

Studioonesb
Studioonesb on March 29, 2014 at 10:48 pm

The theater converted to an XXX outdoor showing Deep Throat for an entire season in 1984 and continued as an adult until it closed in 87 or 88. Up until 1986 the booth was staffed by members of Local 187 IATSE.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on November 23, 2015 at 10:20 pm

1950’s aerial photo added, photo credit Photoseeum. Via the Quality Retro Oldies 1900s-1970s Fcaebook page.

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