Star-Lite Drive-In
2801 James L. Redman Parkway,
Plant City,
FL
33566
2801 James L. Redman Parkway,
Plant City,
FL
33566
2 people
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Talgar Theatre Company
Previous Names: Plant City Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
The Plant City Drive-In was opened in November 1950. In October of 1952 it was renamed Star-Lite Drive-In. was in the south part of Plant City, on the west site of State Highway 39. It was closed on September 3, 1985 with Eddie Murphy in “Beverly Hills Cop” & Nick Nolte in “48 Hours”. It was reopened but finally closed in 1992. It was demolished in 2002. A Lowe’s Home Improvement is built on the site today.
Contributed by
Rick Cohen
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
This drive-in is visible on Google Earth using historic aerial imagery.
290 Parking and owned by Talgar theatres. CT member Nick Dimaggio took hundreds of pictures of Drive-ins in Flordia one Summer. I bet he has this one if he had the time to get them all on!
Handbills and photos of the remains of this drive-in on its gallery page at Drive-ins.com: http://www.drive-ins.com/pictures/fltsta3007.jpg
Video from 1996: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oO5oUgHnb0
Opened in October 1952, closed on September 3, 1985 with “Beverly Hills Cop” and “48 Hours” as its last films after it failed to draw an amount of people since 1981. Yes it may sound confusing because the last films they’ve shown were second-runs since both films released a year prior. It sat abandoned for many years, falling apart, until demolishing in 2002.
UPDATE: I just found this not too long ago that the Starlite actually first opened as the Plant City Drive-In in November 1950. It became the Starlite in October 1952.
UPDATE: According To The Tampa Tribute, I just recently found that the Star-Lite closed in 1992 according to a March 30, 1999 evidence on the Star-Lite being auctioned off. Unfortunately, the theater did close on September 3, 1985 with those two films because it failed to draw an amount of people since 1981. I guess it did reopen either a couple or few years later. Not sure what happened afterward.