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Historic place

Starlite Drive-In

5101 S Lamar St, Dallas, TX

Described by a commenter as Dallas' first African American drive-in, with a jet mural and red and blue neon.

🏛️ TheaterDemolished
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The story

The Starlite Drive-In stood at 5101 S. Lamar Street. It was a single-screen theater listed at 500 cars, though one commenter says the lot held about 350. A 1955 photo shows it already operating, and it showed films for more than 25 years before closing.

A commenter describes it as Dallas' first African American drive-in, labeled the Southwest's finest for colored entertainment. It was known for a jet mural and red and blue neon. Hail reportedly broke the neon, and a fire at the screen tower in April 1962 was linked to that damage. The tower was extended for CinemaScope films. Newspaper listings appeared only for a few Blaxploitation films in the mid-1970s, when it competed with the nearby King Twin.

What's There Now

Nothing remains of the drive-in; the page does not name a current use.

Everything that was here

Did you know?

A fire at the screen tower in April 1962 was linked to hail-damaged neon.
The screen tower was extended to fit CinemaScope.
The nearby King or Cinderella drive-in was also demolished.

Nearby history

Poor David's Pub

1313 S Lamar St · 760 m away
A dart bar on McKinney Avenue that became a songwriter room when David Card started booking music in the late 1970s.

Cotton Bowl

1300 Robert B Cullum Blvd · 3.4 km away
Built as Fair Park Stadium in 1930, renamed the Cotton Bowl in 1936, and home to the early Dallas Cowboys.

Longhorn Ballroom

216 Corinth St · 3.5 km away
Built for Bob Wills in 1950, briefly leased by Jack Ruby, and the room where the Sex Pistols played in 1978.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalog Center

1409 S Lamar St · 4.0 km away
A catalog warehouse of over a million square feet where workers once used roller skates to speed up orders, now lofts an

The Bomb Factory

2713 Canton St · 4.6 km away
A Henry Ford assembly plant that built wartime jeeps and practice bombs, then hosted Phish, Nine Inch Nails and the firs

Adair's Saloon

2624 Commerce St · 4.7 km away
A hamburger-and-jukebox bar that started on Cedar Springs in 1963 and moved to Deep Ellum in 1983, still with free live

Know something about Starlite Drive-In? An old photo, a date, a memory of what stood here before?

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Sourceshttps://cinematreasures.org/theaters/14330/comments