Talk about gimmicks, in the late 60’s- early 70’s my uncle would put on a freak show in a sectioned off area in the consession stand, with caskets with skeletons in them, morbid deformed babies in big glass jugs filled with formaldehyde and other wierd stuff. Of course there was a extra fee.
It was Terry’s Discount until sold, then called “Community Discout”. I remember a great little beef stand with the best malts around called “The Dot Spot” just east of Ridgeland on 95th. Or the gas station at 95th and Ridgeland, Conoco or Enco. The best was climbing up the long ladder inside the marquee to the roof, what a view.
I worked weekends at the Starlite Drive-In (min. wage $1.25hr) in 68-70. My uncle was assistant manager for Starlite and Jack Trobe was the manager for both, Studio and Starlite. I remember the screen being blown down by the tornado of 67, Terry’s Discount Store, then sold and called “Community”, the “Slide” which was made out of fiberglass and you sat on a burlap bag to slide down the humps on (much better in the rain), the go-cart track and for a couple years they rented snowmobiles in the winter (real dogs, but then back then they all were). My uncle around Holloween or when a blood and guts movie was playing would put up a freak show in the concession stand and would dangle neon colored skeletons off the top of the screen the whole time screaming scary sounds. Ahh the good old days. He also owned a cleaning service and we would clean the Studio after it closed. About 2-3am back to Starlite to wake up the drunks and chase the cars out, then lock up and back to the Studio to finish cleaning. My uncle would lock us inside to clean and he would return about 8am to help finish up, then back to Starlite to clean the lot of all the crap thrown out from the cars. Made for a long night-day. I got a million memories and a lot of good time at the Old Starlite Drive-In.
Talk about gimmicks, in the late 60’s- early 70’s my uncle would put on a freak show in a sectioned off area in the consession stand, with caskets with skeletons in them, morbid deformed babies in big glass jugs filled with formaldehyde and other wierd stuff. Of course there was a extra fee.
It was Terry’s Discount until sold, then called “Community Discout”. I remember a great little beef stand with the best malts around called “The Dot Spot” just east of Ridgeland on 95th. Or the gas station at 95th and Ridgeland, Conoco or Enco. The best was climbing up the long ladder inside the marquee to the roof, what a view.
I worked weekends at the Starlite Drive-In (min. wage $1.25hr) in 68-70. My uncle was assistant manager for Starlite and Jack Trobe was the manager for both, Studio and Starlite. I remember the screen being blown down by the tornado of 67, Terry’s Discount Store, then sold and called “Community”, the “Slide” which was made out of fiberglass and you sat on a burlap bag to slide down the humps on (much better in the rain), the go-cart track and for a couple years they rented snowmobiles in the winter (real dogs, but then back then they all were). My uncle around Holloween or when a blood and guts movie was playing would put up a freak show in the concession stand and would dangle neon colored skeletons off the top of the screen the whole time screaming scary sounds. Ahh the good old days. He also owned a cleaning service and we would clean the Studio after it closed. About 2-3am back to Starlite to wake up the drunks and chase the cars out, then lock up and back to the Studio to finish cleaning. My uncle would lock us inside to clean and he would return about 8am to help finish up, then back to Starlite to clean the lot of all the crap thrown out from the cars. Made for a long night-day. I got a million memories and a lot of good time at the Old Starlite Drive-In.