Beltline Drive-In

1401 Sunset Drive,
Columbia, SC 29203

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Beltline Drive-In

Columbia’s Beltline Drive-In is a drive-in in that city that I did drive by once in the 1970’s, and I want to say one of the interstate highways was real close by, but that is not how it got its name, because in the 1950’s there was no interstate going into Columbia.

The Beltline Drive-In was opened on July 3, 1952 with Maureen O'Hara in “Bagdad”. It parked 330 cars, not the largest, but Columbia never did have any large drive-ins. The Beltline Drive-In was owned in 1956 by C.S. Burts. It was closed in September 1985.

On June 3, 1987 it opened as Sam’s Club and that closed in 1997.

Contributed by MikeRogers

Recent comments (view all 6 comments)

Silicon Sam
Silicon Sam on June 23, 2010 at 5:22 am

Usually Beltline just refers to a road that circles the city, doesn’t need to be an Interstate. Like Beltline Rd in Dallas.

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on June 24, 2010 at 1:39 am

i thought it might be a Beltline road too,but wasn’t sure enough to submit. Thanks,

Drive-In 54
Drive-In 54 on February 21, 2015 at 1:40 am

The correct address is:

1401 Sunset Drive, Columbia, SC 29203

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on October 31, 2021 at 9:11 pm

Opened on July 3, 1952 with “Bagdad” along with a few unnamed short subjects, and was closed around the same month the Starlite closed its gates in September 1985.

The Beltline and the Starlite were the only drive-ins in Columbia to have a much more appropriate fare on films, which both theaters picked up first-run movies throughout most of its history, but sometimes can pick up a few other mixtures but not very harmful to audiences.

jwmovies
jwmovies on January 19, 2023 at 5:38 pm

Later became a WalMart which is also now closed. The parking lot serves as a satellite lot for The Children’s Hospital of South Carolina. Please update. FYI Sunset is now called Hwy 16 (SC-16).

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on February 25, 2023 at 1:40 am

Actually, it became a Sam’s Club (then known as Sam’s Business Club), not a Walmart. The Sam’s Club opened on June 3, 1987, and closed in 1997.

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