The Cherry Bowl, a 1953 drive-in still glowing on US-31

There’s a screen out on US-31 just east of Honor that cars have been parking in front of since the Eisenhower years. The Cherry Bowl Drive-In opened on the Fourth of July, 1953 — right in the middle of the cherry orchards that give it its name — and on that first night a crowd watched Jimmy Stewart in “The Greatest Show on Earth” under the stars. It was one of hundreds of drive-ins flickering to life across postwar America.

Almost all of those are gone now. The Cherry Bowl is one of just a handful of drive-ins still operating anywhere in Michigan, and the only one left up in this northern stretch of the state, which makes a summer night here feel a little like time travel. The retro neon, the carhop-era diner, the speaker poles, the gravel rows facing a giant screen — it is the genuine 1950s article, not a recreation.

The founders, L.O. and Jean Griffin, built it, and after L.O. died in 1959 Jean ran the place herself for decades, famously working the lot in high heels. In 1996 Laura and Harry Clark took it over and kept it going, diner and all. Ownership has changed hands a few more times since, but the lights have stayed on, which is the rare and hard part for a drive-in.

You still tune your car radio to catch the soundtrack, still order a burger and a milkshake from the diner between features, and still watch the sky go fully dark over Benzie before the projector kicks in. On a clear July night, with the smell of popcorn and cut hay and the Platte River country all around, it is about as good as summer in Michigan gets.