It’s
been a while since The Movie Sleuth has explored and covered local homegrown
Michigan Film venues, whether it be a mom-and-pop operation or a larger chain
of theaters stemming from a single management company. I had never heard of the Farmington Civic
Theater up until recently when it came up that a friend wanted to see the
latest (and possibly last) Clint Eastwood film as leading
actor-writer-director.
Located on Grand
River Avenue in Downtown Farmington, Michigan, initially the small downtown
theater sounded like the single screen movie house akin to the Elk Rapids
Cinema or the Bijou by the Bay Theater on the precipice of Traverse Bay. While those expectations were mostly met,
what I didn’t know going in was just how high the founders of the theater were
aiming in its creation and just how far out it would branch itself out into the
community with live shows onstage and right outside the main entrance of the
theater itself!
Founded
in 1939 in a newly opened spot which was formerly the site of an abandoned A&P
supermarket, the movie house was designed and constructed under the supervision
of architect C. Howard Crane, the same man who oversaw the creation of
Detroit’s Fox Theatre in a mutual Art Moderne style. With an attractive, tall neon-lit sign and a
canopy over the front entrance, the Farmington Civic Theater boasted a large
single screen with elegant stairwells leading to the upstairs balcony seating.
The
centerpiece of Downtown Farmington, Michigan, the ornate single movie house was
managed by Edward Hohler who opened the theater in 1940 with the romantic
comedy Hired Wife. Eleven years later, Edward purchased the
Farmington Civic Theater business ownership altogether before eventually
bestowing the reins to son and manager Greg Hohler in 1973.
In
1989, Hohler enlisted the help of architect Louise Wiltse who took to
remodeling the balcony into a separate upstairs auditorium, making the once
one-screen movie palace into a duplex.
For the first time ever, the theater shut down for five weeks while the
remodeling went underway.
Ten years
later, the City of Farmington purchased the building from Greg Hohler outright
with a grand gala reopening, citing its cultural and historical significance to
the community. Gradually the city, in
keeping up with the demands of the movie business and the changing times,
replaced their 35mm film projectors with digital projectors as well as
upgrading the sound to Dolby Surround 7.1.
To accommodate the technical upgrades, a new screen was installed upstairs
along with new speakers.
What
sets the Farmington Civic Theater apart
from the pack, however, has less to do with their movie screenings than their
live concert performance events. Much
like the Redford Theater, the Farmington
Civic Theater alternates frequently between showing films and holding live
musical acts on stage. Split into two
separate events running monthly from September until April (sans December), the
first concert event known as Friday Night Live sponsored by St. Joe’s Medical
Group comprises a musical event in the upstairs stage auditorium showcasing
singing-songwriting talents.
The second
and far more involving for the community is known as the Out Front, or
street-performing or ‘busking’. Starting
in 2016 during warm weather, the event features musical performers stationed
outside the main entrance of the theater, giving passerby entertainment
outdoors as well as adding a nice finishing touch to a moviegoer’s exit from
the theater.
Voted
the ‘Best Movie Theater in Metro Detroit’ in from 2013 to 2018, the Farmington Civic Theater is a nice
little venue steeped in Michigan history that remains a staple of the
neighborhood and presents a welcome alternative to the big expensive multiplex
theater scene. In conjunction with the
theater, several neighboring restaurants in the area offer discounts to any
patrons presenting their ticket stub, making the theater experience far more
outreaching and involved in the immediate area than your average chain
multiplex.
That the theater branches out to involve the community with its
unique blend of concert events both indoors and outdoors makes the venue a
hotspot for a variety of entertainments cinematic and musical, projected and
live on stage. Always eager to discover
new or unchecked movie houses throughout Michigan, I was delighted by the Farmington Civic Theater and look
forward to making my way back there soon!
- Andrew Kotwicki