What started out as a place where you could take the kids, ended up being a place that you wanted to keep your kids away from. It was the Crest Drive-In that opened on Friday, Sept. 8, 1950 in East Lansing along M-43 (1096 W. Grand River Avenue).
It was intended to be appealing to kids, complete with a merry-go-round and a playground in which to spend time while we waited for it to get dark so the movies could start.
The Crest held between 700-800 cars and for a time, especially throughout the rest of the 1950s and 1960s, the place seemed to always be packed on weekends.
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After 22 years, the Crest was sold and in 1972 the new owner turned the family atmosphere on its head: now it was for adults only, with X-rated movies replacing Disney flicks and Doris Day epics. This obviously did not sit well with the nearby residents, who may not have approved of the films, but also didn’t want their kids to try and sneak through the trees to get a good look at what was on the screen…