Gratiot Drive-In Theater - Roseville Michigan

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Gratiot Drive-In Theater

Name: Gratiot Drive-In Theater Street: 31900 Gratiot

City: Roseville State: MI Zip: 48026 Phone:

County: Macomb

Operator: Alex Schreiber, Gratiot DriveIn Theatres Co.

Open: 1948 (4-30-48) AD

Closed: 1984 (9-3-84)

Capacity: 1000

Status: Demolished

Screens 2

Owner History Alex Schreiber, Gratiot Drive-In Theatres Co. (1957) - Community Theatres (1977)

Web Address: N/A

Notes: 2 Screens Reportedly cost $400,000 to build

Number of visits to this page since February 23, 2007: 30573

Click here to show pictures only

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Entry Date: 2/2/2010 - Denise Chegash: Back in the 60''s my folks took us 5 kids pretty often as we were growing up. As I recall,
there were always 2 or 3 cartoons for the kids before the fist of two movies began. Many times the sun hadnt completly set when they began, but that didnt bother anyone. The younger kids were in the back of the station wagon with snaks, pillows, and blankets, and usually were sleeping soundly, a short while after the 1st movie started. It was sooo cool.
In the 70''s when we could drive but didnt have any money, a few of us teens would jump in the trunk and try to get in while only paying for the driver but only one teen was a dead give away (duh) and they caught us (almost) every time. Finaly we found a big hole in the wall in the back and one dropped off the rest by the hole, then drove in with an empty trunk. We found each other a the consession stand and have a blast on the cheap! The pizza was awful! God I miss the Gratiot Drive In.

Entry Date: 11/21/2009 - Fred Smith: I don''t know how got to this site, but glad I did. My father Fred J Smith was the first manager @ the Gratiot Drive-In. He also was manager @ the Bel Air Drive -In,also the Jewell theater in Mt Clemens , I my self worked @ the Punch & Judy in Grosse Pte
while going to high school. Thank You ..site very interesting...

Entry Date: 4/27/2008 - AMAZING JOHNATHAN: After 6 months of working non-stop on this labour of love project I can happily say that The Gratiot Drive-In lives again! Well, a small clone of it does anyway.

I have recreated the drive-in that I spent many summers at watching movies and, for a short time, working at. I have stuck to the details building each aspect of the screen the surrounding fence and every other detail I could glean from web sites and people who worked there.

So where is? In a giant warehouse in Las Vegas right at the end of one of the runways by the airport. Inside is where I store 20 classic cars and I thought it would be cool to display them for my friends in that setting but I really got carried away and made it fully functional. It even has stars in the sky with cloud formations made from Planetarium projectors. When you sit in the cars and put the speaker in your window you feel like your at The Gratiot Drive-In. I have giant 80 foot murals on each side with rows of cars added so it looks like your in a long long row.

I put in the concession stand and have all the same foods and candy they had.

I am comedian The Amazing Johnathan from Comedy Central and Letterman and I''m originally from Fraser going to Fraser High as John Szeles. It''s like having a place to go that reminds me of being young again. Last night I had David Copperfield and his crew to test it all out and they had a ball. I''ve made it "interactive" with flying saucers projected over the cars in the sky and anything else you want.

Check out the Website going up on the first of May at www. indoordrivein.com for more details.

AJ

Entry Date: 6/5/2006 - William Jaeger: Look in the legendary photography book by Robert Frank--The Americans--and see an image of this drive-in as part of his commentary about America around 1955. And if anyone knows what movie is shown in the picture, post it here. Nice to see the Gratiot has lived on.

Entry Date: 9/12/2004 - Macomb Daily: Old Gratiot Drive-In sign remains intact

PUBLISHED: September 4, 2004

By Jameson Cook
Macomb Daily Staff Writer

Joe Niedzielski remembers the night of Oct. 14, 1984, for something other than most Detroit-area people recall it.
While revelers celebrated the Detroit Tigers World Series victory by honking car horns and screaming from their vehicles on Gratiot Avenue, Niedzielski worked up a sweat within a couple hundred feet of the main drag.

Niedzielski, who lived nearby, used his 1958 Edsel to drag heavy steel letters that had been perched on the top of the Gratiot Drive In theater screen. He was salvaging them from a demolition site.

"Everyone is celebrating and here I am dragging these things," Niedzielski said. "No one knew what I was doing. I was trying to preserve history."

The last film was shown at the theater Labor Day 1984, which was Sept. 4, 20 years ago this weekend. The landmark on Gratiot near Masonic was razed within weeks.

On demolition day, Niedzielski asked the construction crew chief if he could have the cursive art deco letters, which are several feet high, and made of steel and coated with porcelain.

"He said if I could take em away I could have em," he said.

Too heavy to carry, he attached a chain to his Edsels back bumper and dragged them from the demolition site.

He left them there overnight while waiting for transportation in a trailer a couple of days later. While sitting there unguarded, the dot to the "i" in "Gratiot" was lifted.

"I couldnt believe someone would take it," he said.

Last fall the Roseville Historical Society was contacted by an elderly woman who was moving from her longtime home. While rummaging through family artifacts, the woman discovered the dot. Her son apparently had taken the dot. The woman gave it to the society, and it is being stored as part of the city library archives.

"Its about as big as a laundry tub," society president Pat Chownyk said.

Chownyk said she has known for years that Niedzielski saved the letters. The city allowed him to store them at the Department of Public Works building until 1989, about the time he purchased a St. Clair County home.

Chownyks interest piqued after the woman donated the dot, and the 20th anniversary of the theaters closing and demolition approached.

Niedzielski, 49, last week moved the letters from a friends farm in Capac to his home in Kenockee Township, west of Port Huron. He plans to display them in his yard.

"Ive seen Roseville lose a lot of its past," the Roseville native said.

Niedzielski, who has a collection of Edsel cars, said the sign reminds him of the 1950s when he was a child, and automobiles, outdoor movie screens and waterfalls were bigger than life.

He would like to see the letters restored, which could be expensive.

"Theyre in pretty bad shape," he said. "They didnt take it down gently."

The letters crashed to the ground from more than 80 feet during demolition, he said.

The letters are noteworthy because the Gratiot Drive In was a destination. Opened in 1948, its screen structure was stronger and more elaborate than most drive-ins, Niedzielski said. It featured a waterfall from the top, with the water cascading to a small pool on the ground, and was built to withstand strong winds.

According to a 1948 photo published in the Echoes of Macomb book published by The Macomb Daily in 2001, the first movie to play at the drive-in, on Friday, April 8, 1948, was "Yellow Sky," starring Gregory Peck and Anne Baxter.

"Everyone from this whole area knew about the Gratiot Drive-In," Chownyk said. "People came from Warren, Eastpointe, St. Clair Shores."

Chownyk remembered pranksters putting soap in the tub to produce a mountain of bubbles.

The area in front of the screen served as a playground for youths.

Chownyk recalled watching movies with her husband at the theater many times before and after they were married. They often took their children on weekends.

"The kids would bed down in the back and watch the show," she said. "It was cheap entertainment for the family."

Today, a three-foot tall model replica of the old drive-in screen is on display in a glass case in the lobby between the Roseville City Hall and Roseville Library.

Entry Date: 10/16/2003 - MichiganDriveIns.com: I still have fond memories of this old DI. The curious perpendicular "screen" was not a screen at all, but a barrier put up in the last years to keep light from a new strip mall next door from washing out the images on the screen. (Bob Alexander 4-1-03)

Entry Date: 10/1/2003 - Karen P Hunt: In its last years, it also operated as a flea market during the weekend days. I remember being brought there as a kid. I used to love the sign, and I wished I could see it as a waterfall.

Entry Date: 1/6/2003 - Drive-Ins.com: The Gratiot Drive-in defined the backdrop for cruising Gratiot from the 1950s through the early to mid 80s. It was an awesome site with its water fall and large "Gratiot" sign atop of the screen. It reminded me of the twentieth century fox movie sign with the drums and spotlights because it was so majestic.
Chuck