Starlite Drive-In

1100 Benner Pike,
State College, PA 16801

500 cars

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Outdoor Theater, Inc.

Nearby Theaters

Starlite Drive-In on the road to Bellefonte, PA

The Starlite Drive-In opened on April 29, 1950 with Betty Grable in “When My Baby Smiles at Me”. It has a single screen that measures 40-foot high x 93-foot wide. This drive-in has a capacity for 500 cars. It was closed in 2008.

Contributed by Lost Memory

Recent comments (view all 11 comments)

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on November 6, 2008 at 4:53 pm

There is an April 1950 article from the Daily Collegian on this site that discusses the opening of the drive-in:
http://tinyurl.com/5km28a

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on November 6, 2008 at 5:07 pm

This is the entry on Google archive:

New Drive – In Theatre Opens
Daily Collegian (1940 – 1987) – Penn State University – Apr 29, 1950
Opening of the new $75000 Starlite Drive – in Theatre on the Bellefonte – State College road is scheduled for tonight, according to owner Phillip Schleit. …

Denny Pine
Denny Pine on May 6, 2009 at 5:13 am

I was fortunate to have visited the Starlite in its last season. Nice view behind the screen, and the owner was very conversational.

Expanding on the first comment above, I’m kinda curious to know how many drive-ins have been assassinated by Wal-Mart (sigh of frustration)

kagami101
kagami101 on April 1, 2013 at 4:30 pm

I was never a big Starlite fan. Did see “Jaws” there though. The Temple Drive-In was closer and we went there more often before the property become too valuable and they tore it down. BTW, how come The Temple isn’t listed?

Drive-In 54
Drive-In 54 on April 1, 2013 at 5:25 pm

The reason it is not listed is because nobody has listed it yet. If you have information (location, years opened, pictures, and movie ads) about the drive-in theatre, you can list it yourself. There are a lot of drive-ins theatres still not on the website yet.

everskraft
everskraft on October 21, 2015 at 12:54 pm

We went to the Starlite often growing up in SC during the late ‘50’s and '60’s, also another drive-in called the Nittany Lion drive in, of which I cannot find a shred of information. Any history of same would be appreciated. Never went to the Temple…

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on December 29, 2017 at 11:10 am

An October 1985 article in The Daily Collegian said that Joseph Favuzza and Frank W. Royer had owned the Starlite since 1965, “but are now selling the business.”

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on October 26, 2018 at 9:19 am

This October, the site is transformed into “The Deserted Drive-In” for an interactive Zombie Resistance experience. http://www.basetactics.com/zombie-resistance-2018/

Also, based on an August 2018 Google Street View, the drive-in looks like it’s still in pretty good shape and is available for lease from HFL Corporation, 814-238-4000. https://goo.gl/maps/5vdicC6KBE72

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on October 26, 2018 at 10:30 am

Opened on 29/4/1950 with “When my baby smiles at me”.

dansdriveintheater
dansdriveintheater on January 2, 2019 at 2:15 pm

sad to see a perfectly good drive-in going to waste. hope it’s reopen and not demolished

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