Douglas Auto Theatre
Kalamazoo, Michigan1955-1985
Order Douglas Auto Theatre tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. The Kalamazoo entrance sign, more than 21 feet long, was built in town with steel, aluminum and neon and outlined a car in green. Kalamazoo College gave it to the Henry Ford Museum in 1987, where it hangs today. Browse the styles below, and the full Douglas Auto Theatre history is further down. We are an American small business bringing back the signs and logos of places and teams that are long gone but remembered fondly.
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Douglas Auto Theatre History
The Douglas Auto Theatre in Kalamazoo, Michigan, opened on April 14, 1955, on Douglas Avenue on the north side of town, with Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront. It had one screen and held 800 cars. Albert Ochs built it and ran it until 1961, and W.S. Butterfield Theatres ran it from then until the end.
Its entrance sign was made in town by the Mulholland Sign Company. It runs more than 21 feet long and 10 feet high, in steel, aluminum and neon, with the outline of a car drawn in green neon around the name and two round lights for wheels. The Kalamazoo Public Library describes it as combining a Model T and a modern car.
The last films ran in the summer of 1985, as attendance fell. One account has Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome on July 24, and another puts the end at September 19. The Kalamazoo Gazette ran a piece that June on auto theaters driving into the sunset. Kalamazoo College gave the sign to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn in 1987. It was restored and now hangs in the Driving America exhibit, advertising a theater that isn't there. The screen stood for years afterward, and a beverage distributor bought the land in 2005 and built a warehouse.