Ottawa Drive-In

2360 E. Harbor Road,
Port Clinton, OH 43452

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Ottawa Drive-In

Charles and Ann Marecek who were from Muskegon, Michigan, selected Port Clinton, Ohio, for their new drive-in theater. Eight acres of land was purchased from Eva Hines. The planning and construction phase began in April 1950, with opening day on June 22, 1950. The drive-in had a capacity of 600 cars featuring in-a-car speakers and a 40 X 50 screen tower. The Marecek’s also built a family home in front of the drive-in.

In 1973, Rick Smith from Fremont, Ohio, leased the drive-in theater from the Marecek family. He operated it until October of 1991. He finally closed it due to low attendance and hard economic times. Drive-in church services were held there by the Trinity United Methodist Church in 1990’s. Co-Operative Theaters of Ohio was the booking and buying agency. In 1994, Ann Marecek sold the property for redevelopment. In its place are storage units and various businesses.

Contributed by Randy Studer

Recent comments (view all 3 comments)

Drive-In 54
Drive-In 54 on July 10, 2012 at 7:35 am

Uploaded some pictures and ads!

Movietechson
Movietechson on September 15, 2023 at 11:12 pm

Spent 20 years of my life working there for my father. I hated mowing because I donated more blood because of the thorn bushes that surrounded the place, but driving the old farmall mower around was awesome. I was sadden the day we removed everything out of it. I still have most of the equipment in storage and get asked all of the time if there will ever be another drive in built in P.C. because alot of people miss it. The mosquitoes never hahaha

Kenmore
Kenmore on September 16, 2023 at 11:01 am

The projection booth/concession stand still stands and just a hint of the ramps and outline are still present as well.

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