REQUIEM FOR A COOL DRIVE-IN
At 1900 Douglas Avenue, north of Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Douglas Drive-In made people happy for three decades after its opening in 1955. Even in 1983, when I last saw movies there, the Douglas was frozen in the past. The film shorts for the concession stand treats and mosquito repellent were relics from the early 60s, and the clunky aluminum window speakers squawked in a voice from long ago. The ambiance was "Back to the Future" two years before that film came out, like being picked up & plopped down into a 1964 summer night.
But the Douglas as time machine was wearing down, and the projector whirred for the last time in July 1985. Since its closing, the site has slowly decomposed. Butterfield Theatres, Inc. gave the lot to Kalamazoo College, which had the wisdom to donate the neon road sign to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI where it is on permanent display. The projector and concession building was demolished in the early 90s; the yellow speaker poles stood defiantly until being plucked out in 1999. The screen finally came down in 2004 and a distributor has since pitched up a warehouse on the site.
If you find yourself in Kalamazoo, pause and pay your respects to this great Midwest drive-in. If you squint your eyes, you can see the screen lighting-up with cartoons and old movies in front of rows of shiny chromed cars. If you close your eyes, you can smell the popcorn and hear the echo of hundreds of speakers. You can feel the eerie calm of a small parcel of land that once came alive on summer evenings with a blaze of lights, screams, laughter, kisses, and spilled Cokes.