Starlite Drive-In
1100 Benner Pike,
State College,
PA
16801
1100 Benner Pike,
State College,
PA
16801
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The ticket booth was torn down in 2012
sad to see a perfectly good drive-in going to waste. hope it’s reopen and not demolished
Opened on 29/4/1950 with “When my baby smiles at me”.
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
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.”
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…
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.
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?
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)
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. …
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
Actually it’s finally been closed. They sold the property two years ago and leased it for the 2007 season, but in early 2008 they decided not to open for the season. It’s still there though for now. If anyone has a large tract of land and a big sheet, I’ll open a new one, but in the meantime RIP temple (destroyed by Wal-mart of course) and starlite (closed by the prospect of a Wal-mart relocationg of a half-mile like Lowe’s, or something else dumb that we don’t need).