Starlite Drive-In
The Starlite Drive-In Theatre was an outdoor drive-in cinema located on Montevallo Road at U. S. Highway 78 in what would later be called Eastwood. It was opened on April 20, 1951 by Newman Waters' Waters Theater Company.
Suppliers and contractors for the theater's construction included Warren Brothers Roads Company, Southern Engineering Company, Ellard Contracting Company, Dixie Neon, Sherwood Moore Iron Works, Queen Feature Service, Acme Electric Company, Birmingham Clay Products Company, Crim Plumbing Company, Birmingham Slag Company, Shook & Fletcher Supply, Pittsburgh Paint & Glass, and Floors Engineers, Inc.. The Motion Picture Operators Union, Local No. 236 staffed the projection booth.
The opening night attraction was "Pagan Love Song", starring Esther Williams and Howard Keel. "Starlite Orchids" were handed out to the first 1,000 ladies in attendance and a drawing was held for a television, a toaster oven, and a diamond ring.
After the cinema closed, the Starlite Theater Co. held onto the 12-acre parcel, which was redeveloped in 1969 as the Eastwood Shopping Plaza, anchored by the Eastwood K-Mart.
References
- "New Starlite Drive-in opens tomorrow night." (April 19, 1951) The Birmingham News