Central, PA
After almost 60 years, the Starlite Drive-In has closed for good, ending the nights of summer movies under the stars and ending the drive-in era in Centre County.

"There'll be a lot of disappointed people," said Frank Royer, who was president of Centre Starlite Drive-In Theater Inc., which owned and operated the Starlite.

The 16-acre property at 1100 Benner Pike, which was owned by members of the Royer and Favuzza families, was sold to Sevan LP last summer for $2.475 million.

Royer said that the drive-in could have opened this spring for one last season, but he decided for personal reasons that now was the time for him to retire.

“The buyers are even a little disappointed I wasn’t going to run it again this year,” Royer said.

He said that costs to update to digital technology and a lack of family oriented films scheduled for summer release helped drive his decision.

“I’m sure a few months after the season would have opened I’m going to be missing it,” Royer said. “There’s a lot of good memories.”

Sevan LP manager Alex Sahakian said Monday that Royer’s decision not to reopen the drive-in has nothing to do with any development plans.

“We don’t really have anything planned right now,” Sahakian said. “We like the location of the property. We think it has a future.”

Royer said the Starlite was built in 1949, and his family purchased it in 1966.

His family would eventually own and operate six drive-ins, and sold them off one by one, he said.

The Starlite was the last to be sold.

Two others, one in Clearfield and one in Mifflintown, were sold, but remain in operation.

He said he survived the changing times, from the advent of television to videocassettes and DVDs.

People always came back because of lure of watching flicks on the big screen, he said.

“I can remember the day we’d open in late February and be open until December,” he said. “I can remember working the fields many a night with snow on the field.”

Movies ran for seven nights then, he said, with 10- cent night on Tuesdays.

As times changed, weeknights became slower, and show times were cut back to Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

On a busy night, 575 cars would pack into the drive-in, taking advantage of $5 movies and free admission for kids.

“It was a good family environment,” Royer said.

On nights of popular movies, or events such as the popular dusk to dawn promotion, hundreds of cars would be turned away at the gate, Royer said.

“It was a good business,” he said, adding that he’s made a lot of friends over the years.

But the day of the drive-ins is past, Royer said.

In the heyday of the drive-ns, Pennsylvania and California had more than any other state, Royer said. But the number of drive-in theaters has dwindled until now there are eight or nine states with none at all.

Royer said that when his family purchased the Starlite, it was one of three in Centre County: the Nittany Lion Drive-in was in operation in the Boalsburg area, and the Temple Drive-in was operating in Patton Township.

The Nittany Lion land is now a housing development, and the Temple land has been transformed into Wal-mart, he said.

“I can’t see any feasible way anybody could build one and make money,” he said.

Costs for land, building a new screen, technology, snack bar needs would be virtually prohibitive.

“It would be almost impossible,” he said.

Originally published online here: http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/story/469549.html