Starlight Drive-In
Alton, Illinois1950-1984
Order Starlight Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. The Starlight's screen tower in Alton, Illinois, rose in rounded tiers around a central column, with the name in huge lit letters on both sides so it read Star Light twice. Cinema Treasures compares it to a set from a 1930s Flash Gordon serial. Pick a style below, then read the full Starlight history further down. Down Home Apparel is an American small business remembering the best places and teams of yesteryear, and every shirt is printed to order in the USA.
4 products
Starlight Drive-In History
The Starlight Drive-In in Alton, Illinois, opened on May 6, 1950, at 3500 College Avenue, east of Upper Alton. Rain had pushed the grand opening back from late April, according to a Boxoffice report that month. The owner was the Alton Starlight Corp., whose main stockholders were Joe Goldfarb and Harry Beck of Alton and Charley Goldman of St. Louis.
The screen tower is what people remembered. It rose in rounded tiers around a central column, with the name in enormous illuminated letters on both sides of the column, so it read Star Light twice. Cinema Treasures compares it to a set from a 1930s Flash Gordon serial, which is about right.
Bloomer Amusement of Belleville bought the theater in 1952. A second screen came in the mid-1970s and raised parking to about 960 cars, then a playground under the original screen cut that to about 800. A commenter recalls a miniature train that gave children rides before the show.
The Starlight closed on October 14, 1984, when the land was sold to a developer. A medical building went up on the site.