News Article: Family-type films for the teen population and other newer releases are planned for Cadillac's Drive-In this year, according to James Chipman, the new manager. The drive-in was purchased by the Robert Goodrich Corp. in early January. Chipman also is manager of the University Drive-In, Big Rapids. Remodeling the concession stand is planned and they hope to have safe, gas, in-car heaters installed soon. The theatre's opening is tentatively set for March 27. It will be a weekend operation until June 1, then to a seven-day schedule to September 8. (Boxoffice Magazine 1/70)

Update: Even though I grew up in the Lansing area, the countless trips to see relatives in Cadillac usually lead to driving by the Cadillac Drive-In on what is now Old US-131. My parents never took me there, nor any drive-in for that matter. I don't know when it closed - sometime in the early-mid 80s. It was torn down in the late 80s - maybe early 90s. I'm sure the adddress number you give is correct, but the road today is Mackinaw Trail, otherwise known as Old US-131. The freeway leading up to the south side of Cadillac was completed in the early/mid 80s, and 131 was redesignated. The freeway also took a considerable chunk of property out of the drive-in. The drive-in is located at the southwest wedge of the Mackinaw Trail overpass over the 131 freeway. Today, the property is an empty field with scattered pine trees. Its entrance is directly across from No. 46 Rd. The only things that remain on the property are the concrete pads of which the screen sat on and a lonely power pole. A for sale sign has been sitting on the property for several years. The screen sat on the south side of the property next to the road, facing northwest. If it was still there, a perfect view of the screen could be seen from the freeway. ( Kurt Ahlgrim 12/15/99)

Update: I frequented this theatre summers (and into fall; seems like they stayed open weekends from Labor Day to almost Halloween) in the early 1980s. The place could get pretty packed, depending on what was on the (double) bill. The speakers were the mono hang-in-window type, which of course let in the mosquitoes. (Lucky thing they also carried Pic coils, and showed a red-tinted commercial for them between shows!) You could indeed see the screen full-view when you passed by on the new US-131, but only briefly--and the only sound was over the speakers inside. The snack-bar ads were first- or second-generation (boys in ca. 1960 crewcuts and checkered shirts bite with a grin into barf-ecue sandwiches), the pre-show teasers and announcements were a mix of old and new, and there was about five minutes of "America the Beautiful"-themed footage, before the second show. I just missed double-dating here the last weekend of the 1985 season, home from college... and as it turned out, that WAS the last weekend, as we found out in the local newspaper the following January. (The same company ran the Chippewa Drive-In in Manistee, fifty miles away, which was also shut down.) The screen was still up as late as the summer of 1987 (everything else had been torn out and the ground levelled), but was gone by the early 1990s. The gravel had an unusually high number of Petoskey stones; none of great size or value, but good as examples. (William 7/1/05)

Update: My friends and I spent a lot of time at this drive-in. Dale, Dave and me. We seen some pretty cool movies in the 70''s. Death Race with David Carridine and a young Sylvester Stallone. Jan Michael Vincent in "White Line Fever" a rambunctious trucker movie. Remember those?? We used to hide the movie ads from our parents when a Russ Meyer "Vixen" movie was showing! LOL! We never did sneak in or storm about the property. We went and enjoyed the movies, laughed like fools and then off to cruise Cadillac from Big Boy to A&W, back and forth, back and forth in my buddy Dales 67 Chrysler Newport 4 door! Crusin'' got better when he picked up a 70 340 Duster but it was harder to get in and out and no roll down rear window! The 80''s brought dates and some real good clean fun times! Probably not what you expected to hear but hey, we were their to watch to movie! Plenty of time for smoochin'' later! The drive-in went down hill quite quickly when it lost it''s family atmosphere and the drinking, fights and drug "parties" took over the back rows and eventually, I believe, brought the drive-in to a close. B-Grade movies and good times. The youth today are really missing a whole part of being young. (Waterwinterwonderland.com/Steve Fraley 8/6/07)