1982 photo of the Westborn Theatre
The Westborn was built as a 900 seat, single-screen movie house in 1973 for the Nicholas George chain, a chain of theatres that were well-known in the Metro Detroit area for a quality theatre-going experience.
Around 1980, the Westborn would be "twinned" (split into two separate theatres) by architecht Louis Wiltse, with each auditorium seating 425.
Some folks remember seeing "Superman: The Movie" there in 1978 and later visiting later-on in the 1980’s and early 1990’s when the second and third run films were shown.
The Westborn was known as a nice small theater with a big sign out front that said WESTBORN TWIN for many years.
July 12th, 1972 grand opening ad
In 1986, the theater was sold to the AMC chain, renamed it the AMC Westborn 2 and operated it as a discount house.
It would be closed in the late 90s, when the AMC chain closed many of its smaller and older theaters in the Detroit area with the onset of "Home Entertainment" including computers, video game systems, and of course the VCR.
Today, the former Westborn Theatre building houses an automotive retail tire store with some of the architectural design cues from the building's days as a theatre, still prominently shown to anyone who may wish to look closely. Those that remember this as a theatre, do so with fond memories of the times that they had there and not just for the films that were shown.