Starlite Drive-In
2523 E. Club Boulevard,
Durham,
NC
27704
2523 E. Club Boulevard,
Durham,
NC
27704
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The screen was burned in 2004 during a screening of home on the range
@ Raysson I attend the Raleigh Road Outdoor theater in Henderson from time to time. Of course I live over an hour away.
This opened on June 9th, 1948. Grand opening ad posted.
Drive-In 54, Kris4077, and jrwoman 10: The ONLY outdoor drive-in still in operation in the Triangle is in Henderson at the Raleigh Road Drive-In. Sad but true if you want to drive that far to see a movie at bargain prices.
And the sadder part is that section of North Durham is a wasteland. Nothing.
Everything I have looked at shows this D-I still there minus its screen and ticket booth. Walmart is further north.
It could be reopened again….You could show movies and still have the flea market.
In its last years the Starlite Drive-in also operated as a video-rental club and a gun shop; VHS videotapes and firearms were displayed in the concession building.
This drive-in theatre was a victim to WAL-MART.
SHOWGIRLS played here at this drive-in theatre in early 1996. It was the only theatre that show it due to its controversial and graphically sexual content due to its “NC-17” rating.
The Wall Mart is one block north.The Starlite’s screen is gone but the projection booth-concession stand is still there. A flea market opened 4-2011
I’m 48 yrs old now but I remember when I was a teenager around 16 or so, going to Drive in movies in Wilson, NC & there was also one on Capital Blvd in Raleigh, & of course the Starlight Drive in Durham. Now there aren’t any Drive In’s in the Triange area! What a shame! Everything has become so commercial & controlled. Maybe someone will become adventurous & an outward thinker & open a new drive in movie for the Durham/Raleigh area. That person would surely become rich because I for one, would go! Especially if there’s good hot food & reasonable prices like the Starlight use to have!
From the previous comment:
“Lots of shopping centers around here now occupy Drive-In land. However,most of the shopping centers were built on these old drive-in spots today sit empty and falling apart,much like the drive-in’s they replaced”.
For one,here in Durham,the Starlite Drive-In Theatre off Club Blvd.
was built during the mid-1940’s and was one of the most popular drive-in theatres in town. It was second to another cherish Durham drive-in landmark,the Carolina-Duke drive-in(Off Chapel Hill Blvd.),and the Forest Drive-In(off Wake Forest Highway),and the Midway Drive-In(off Hillsborough Road between US 70 and I-85). By the late 1970’s through the early 1990’s,the Starlite survived thanks due to a reopening that occured during the late 1990’s and remained that way until its closing in 2007,under new management.
When they built that Super Wal-Mart where the entrance was,it marked the end of era in Durham. The Starlite was the last of the dinosaur drive-in theatres that were in operation throughout the surrounding Triangle area. The same can be said,about the South Square area,which opened in 1975 as one of the largest indoor shopping centers in Durham. All that change when Southpoint opened in 2002,and South Square was demolished,change the landscape of an area of land which was at one time,part of a drive-in theatre during the 1950’s(The Hope Valley Drive-In,which is not listed on the Cinema Treasures site)before it was erected into a huge shopping mall. Nowadays,the area once known as South Square is now a huge strip mall stretching from Shannon Road all the way to Westgate Drive and University Drive(which is anchored by a Super Target and a Sam’s Club Warehouse).
yeah, I guess you are right,Lots of shopping centers around here now occupy Drive in land.However,Most the shopping centers built on these old Drive in spots today sit empty and falling apart,much like the Drive ins they replaced. Most were built in the 70’s and outdated compared to the new stripmalls. Thanks for the info on the Barnwell Drive ins.
WAlMART is the WORST thing ever to happen to America. They sit on so many DRIVE INS.
The drive-in theatre has been demolished. The entrance for the Super Wal-Mart has been built where the Starlite Drive-In Theatre once stood.
There are some photos and ads on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/nh7zqp
There is speculation that the drive-in will be demolished. The Starlite Drive-In Theatre has closed its doors forever,making it one of the last of the remaining drive-in theatres to operate in the Durham area and in the Triangle. The last of the dinosaurs.
The ONLY drive-in theatre that is still operational in the Triangle area is the Raleigh Road Outdoor Theatre located in Henderson,NC(about a good 45 miles from Durham in Vance County)