Information About The Pines

    The Pines Theatre was completed in 1941, since then we have seen well over 2 million patrons come through our doors.

    Famous Architect C. Howard Crane of the Kellogg and Crane firm designed The Pines in a hunter's chalet style.  C. Howard Crane designed the Fox Theatre in Detroit, along with many other Michigan theatres.  Sieter Brothers Construction handled the construction of the theatre, along with helping on the 1973 restoration work.  Other firms that have helped us with the restoration of the theatre over the past 35 years are; Don Blue Construction, James Gouin Construction, R.W. Riedel Construction, Miegs Roofing, Strictly Stone, The Floor Store, and many other companies.

In 1941 the Olson brothers owned many theatres in Northern Michigan, and the Pines was to be the premier theatre in their circuit.  They hired the best Architects and builders in the area and chose the best materials.  Much of their original foresight can still be seen in the quality of construction of the Pines. 

After Mr. Olson's passing in the late 1950's  the theatre was run by his family for several years, until it was sold to Triangle Theatre company sometime in the early 60's.

With the increasing popularity of television in the 1950's and 1960's, the theatre industry was having a rough time.  Triangle Theatre Company allowed the theatre to get into a state of disrepair.  We have very little information on this time period of the theatre's history, other than that the theatre was very poorly maintained. There was some log repair done by a local builder, James Gouin Construction in 1971.

They sold the theatre in 1973 to C. Floyd and Ruby Huddy.

Floyd and Ruby immediately began restoration of the theatre after their purchase.  This included removing many rotten logs from the theatre's exterior, repairing and updating the projection room, repairing many water damaged areas in the roof, paving the parking lot, adding a catwalk system, adding full stage lighting, restoring the seats in the auditorium, adding a modern concession, among 100's of other things.  Floyd was a retired GM executive and the couple poured countless hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars into the restoration of the theatre.  Ruby passed away in 1995 and Floyd retired in 1996.

In 1997 Louise Fraser and Les Newton completed purchase of the theatre from Floyd and Ruby.  Les has been a projectionist/manager of the theatre on and off since 1953.  Louise began working at the theatre in 1987. The theatre is currently run by Les and Louise along with her husband Steve and son Adam.  Since 1997 we have continued the restoration work that Floyd and Ruby started. We have replaced the Asbestos tile roof with a modern roof,  completely restored the two massive 15 foot wide natural stone fireplaces, updated the theatre with one of the few Dolby Digital Sound sound systems in a Northern Michigan single screen theatre, replaced floor coverings, updated the mechanical systems of the theatre, replaced the original water well with a state of the art 6" high volume computer protected well, added over 1000' of irrigation line, painted the exterior of the building, among many other small projects.

We continue to strive to be the best theatre in Michigan, along with giving our patrons one of the most unique theatre experiences in Michigan.  Our efforts have been featured in countless documentaries, magazines, internet articles, and television shows.  We appreciate your patronage and hope to serve our customers for many years to come.

Some of the unique features of the Pines:

Ground water air conditioning system. 

Dolby Digital Surround Sound: We are one of the few small town theatres in Northern Michigan to feature state of the art digtial surround sound with the highest quality speakers on the market.

Simplex XL film projectors: Built in 1954 these projectors are considered to be the Cadillac of film projectors and continue to provide superior image quality to our public.  Many small town theatres have second hand, poorly maintained equipment.  You will not find this at The Pines.  We have not lost a show that was not related to a power outage or storm in over 10 years.  When equipment does need to be replaced we replace it with the highest quality on the market.

Two projectors in the projection booth with ability to run changeovers:  This adds to the redundancy of our system.  If by chance something does break, the show will be back up in typically under 10 minutes.  Something even big city theatres typically do not have.

A cry room: We offer a cry room for people to be able to watch a film with their children, but not bother other patrons.

Owners on staff every night:  You will find that we strive to offer the best customer service, you will not find untrained teenagers running the theatre. 

A Cretors Hollywood 48 popcorn popper: Our popper is from the late 1940's and makes much better tasting popcorn than modern popcorn poppers.  We use premium Michigan grown popcorn popped in Coconut oil.

Nearly 100 trophy animals from all over the United States:  We have more trophy animals on display than many local wildlife museums.  The main attractions are an Elk with a 6' spread, a Moose with a 5' spread, a 27 point Whitetail Buck, a Buffalo, a Timber Wolf, two Wolverines and many many more.

Ability to run stage shows: We have full PA and stage lighting capability.  Although it does not get used a lot, it has come in handy for movie premieres, concerts, meetings, and fashion shows.  If you would like to have a concert or stage show at the Pines, contact us and we can make it happen.