Starlite South Drive-In
Rochester, Minnesota1965-1987
Shop Starlite South Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. The old Outdoor Theatre took the Starlite name on April 15, 1965, in script on a salmon pink tower with an aqua base, and the South came later. It closed on September 6, 1987, and only 150 cars came for the final night. Browse the styles below, and the full Starlite South history is 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.
4 products
Starlite South Drive-In History
The Starlite South Drive-In in Rochester, Minnesota, began as the Outdoor Theatre. Cinema Treasures, citing the Post-Bulletin, dates its opening to August 6, 1948, with Randolph Scott in Gunfighters, though the town's other drive-in opened that year too and that item may belong to it. It stood at what is now 1308 Hadley View Court, and it held about 1,090 cars at its largest.
It reopened as the Starlite on April 15, 1965. A snapshot from that July shows the new name in script above OUTDOOR THEATRE on a salmon pink tower with an aqua base. The South came later, once the town's other drive-in on Marion Road was renamed Starlite North in 1971. Mid-Continent Theatres ran it until June 1975, when Carisch Theatres took over. It was twinned in the early 1970s and tripled in May 1978, down to 800 cars by the end.
It closed on September 6, 1987. The last bills paired that summer's films with older ones, and only 150 cars came for the final night. A U-Haul and a storage business are on the site now.