|
 The
Michigan Theater is a movie theater in Detroit, Michigan of the United States of
America. It was built in August 1926 by the architectural firm of Rapp & Rapp
for Detroit philanthropist and movie theater owner John H. Kunsky. With a
seating capacity of 4000, the concert hall/movie house was one of the largest in
Michigan. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the theater changed ownership several
times. It was subsequently used for various events: in the 1960s a
closed-circuit television provided views of Red Wings ice hockey games for those
who could not attend the actual event in nearby Olympia Stadium, and in the
1970s the theater was a nightclub and concert venue for rock bands.
After this period of closures and re-openings, the Michigan Theater was
permanently closed and partially demolished in 1976. Due to problems with the
structural integrity of adjoining office building, the main hall and lobby were
gutted and converted into a parking structure. Cars, Detroit's primary
industrial product, now fill the once-bustling theater, and the derelict remains
have, for many historians, become a symbol of the decline of Detroit.
Ironically, the Michigan Theater is built on the site of the small garage where
Henry Ford built his first automobile (the garage was transported brick-by-brick
to The Henry Ford Museum in nearby Dearborn).
The Michigan is featured in two films. In 8 Mile, the theater was used as the
parking garage where the crew rapped at before entering the Chin Tiki A scene of
The Island was shot there, as a part of a future Los Angeles.
Source: Wikipedia
Buildingsrus.co.uk - Michigan Theater
Detroit's fabulous Michigan Theater
|
