Star-View Outdoor Theatre
Streamwood, Illinois1948-1987
Shop Star-View Outdoor Theatre tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. The Star-View in Streamwood, Illinois, switched to X-rated films in 1976, and Cook County sued under an ordinance against screens that could be seen from private homes. The owners planted 3,000 trees and added lights, and their attorney said the point was to keep out people who had not paid. Pick a style below, then read the full Star-View history further down. We are an American small business bringing back the signs and logos of places and teams that are long gone but remembered fondly.
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Star-View Outdoor Theatre History
The Star-View Outdoor Theatre in Streamwood, Illinois, opened on October 15, 1948, about four miles east of Elgin near Route 59 and Lake Street. Earlier that year two widows, Rose Picone and Petrina Leonetti, had asked the Hanover Township zoning board to allow it, and the county approved the rezoning. It held about 500 cars. Boxoffice wrote it up that November as the Star View, and listings since have used Starview.
For decades it ran ordinary pictures, including Disney shows. In September 1976 it switched to X-rated films. Cinema Treasures says the screen could be seen from Route 59 and was blamed for several crashes there. Cook County had a shield ordinance for this situation, with a fine of $2,500 per showing when a picture could be seen from private homes. The Cook County State's Attorney sued, and in 1981 the Illinois Appellate Court upheld most of the ordinance in People ex rel. Carey v. Starview Drive-In Theatre, while limiting it to views from private property rather than public roads.
The owners planted 3,000 trees and added lights, at a cost of about $20,000. Their attorney told the Daily Herald in 1982 that the point was to keep out people who hadn't paid, not to obey the county. A prosecutor agreed the trees hid the screen from homes in summer, but said it could still be seen that winter. The theater's attorney planned to go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Listings say it closed in 1984, but a commenter who checked the Chicago Tribune found it running through the end of the 1987 season. It sat in ruin for about a decade. Townhomes and a park now cover the site.