Starlite Drive-In

275 Starlight Drive,
Christiansburg, VA 24073

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MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on November 13, 2017 at 11:18 am

Collegiate Times wrote in 2012 that the “Starlite was opened in 1953 by Richard and Dorothy Beasley. The two ‘built, owned, and operated the Starlite Theater together for all those years’ before Richard passed away in July of 2009.”

Peggy Beasley was the current owner in that 2012 article, and she’s still the owner in 2017.

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on November 13, 2017 at 11:08 am

The Starlite has radio sound, but they run “a six-speaker sound system sitting atop” the concession / projection building because some folks are afraid of running down their car batteries. Gee whiz, why not spend a little cash on rentable portable radios instead of your lawyer?

The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog listed the Starlite as owned by R. W. Beasley, capacity 162.

The Starlite’s first appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac was the 1955 edition. Again, owned by R. W. Beasley but no capacity figure. It stayed that way through 1966, with an eventual capacity of 150.

When ownership info returned for the 1978-84 editions, the “Starlight” was owned by H.W. Beasley, capacity 300. The drive-in was off the MPA lists by 1986.

TomMc11
TomMc11 on July 12, 2017 at 2:00 pm

They are experiencing some trouble with their neighbors. Seems that they were losing too many in-a-car speakers to accidental damage or souvenir hunters so they installed blast speakers. They are now going to court since the neighbors complained.

Chris1982
Chris1982 on October 11, 2014 at 6:45 pm

The Starlite Drive-In converted to digital projection in 2012.

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on March 17, 2010 at 7:30 pm

Cool its still open and almost 60years old.