Starlite Drive-In
Wilmington Highway and Yopp Road,
Jacksonville,
NC
28540
Wilmington Highway and Yopp Road,
Jacksonville,
NC
28540
No one has favorited this theater yet
Additional Info
Nearby Theaters
The Starlite Drive-In was open in 1955 with a capacity listed at 240 cars. The Starlite Drive-In closed in the mid-1970’s.
Any additional information on the Starlite Drive-In would be appreciated.
Contributed by
Chuck
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
When I was a kid, this place was billed as “the only adult drive-in in the country” (X-rated)! There was a restaurant next to the Starlite. My graphics teacher hosted a class dinner there in ‘75 and afterward – as we were leaving – we got the entertainment experience of our young lives! Good times …
t_law56: Was this drive in on the Wilmington Highway south of the old Red Carpet Inn (now Triangle Motor Inn)? I remember going through Jacksonville back in the 1970s and passing the Red Carpet Inn, an X-rated drive-in with a restaurant next to it, and further south was another drive-in (South 17 Twin Drive-In). The Starlite may be the drive-in I keep remembering as the Moonlite for some reason. As for the Starlite being “the only adult drive-in in the country”, they were not. There were many other X-rated drive-ins in the United States, including the North 11 Drive-In over in Kinston.
Approximate address of the Starlite Drive-In was 1690 Wilmington Highway. After demolition the property was used as a mobile home sales lot and is currently a sales lot for tool sheds.
The Starlite Drive-In operated until either 1979 or 1980; it closed about the same time as the South 17 Twin Drive-In but was demolished a few years after the South 17 became a mobile home park.
Nighthawk’s location for the drive-in is off by roughly 8/10 of a mile to the north.
The drive-in is under the northwest cloverleaf at the intersection of Wilmington Hwy and NC-24.
For mapping and address purposes, Wilmington Hwy at Yopp Rd will map accurately to the former location of the drive-in. An aerial photo from 1974 has been uploaded to this CT page.
No trace of the drive-in remains today, as it was completely wiped out when the Wilmington Hwy at NC-24 interchange was built.
NYozoner: Thanks for finding the correct address for this drive-in. Do you have any info on a drive-in at 450 Wilmington Highway (just north of the former Starlite, immediately south of the Triangle [formerly Red Carpet] Motor Inn), now the site of the Onslow County school bus garage? The aerial view of the bus garage looks like the site was once a drive-in theater.
Uploaded Starlight’s logo from the Jacksonville, NC Theaters – Tripod.com site. Site also says the concession stand was not demolished and is being repurposed.