Blue Starlite Brings Modern Comforts to the Drive-In Experience

By Sara Grauerholz

There are certain ingredients that make for the perfect Fourth of July: Eating barbecue, relaxing with friends and family by the pool, seeing fireworks and, yes, watching Independence Day. I was lucky enough that my Fourth of July included all of these things, and to cap things off, I was able to watch the movie at the Blue Starlite, an awesome urban boutique drive-in theater here in Austin.

The Blue Starlite is not new to Austin, having held an eastside location for two years, but the Fourth of July was the first screening in their new site at Austin Studios. Since I had never previously been to a drive-in, the entire concept excited me from the beginning. I had already heard fun stories from people who had attended the Blue Starlite specifically, as well as other drive-ins, so I was curious to check it out. After researching it online, it sounded like a great way to spend an evening, especially with such a great film choice for the holiday.

My guest and I pulled into the Austin Studios lot right as the sun was setting and were able to catch some fireworks going off in the distance. A few cars were already lined up in front of the screen. The crew members were showing folks to the best spots, and pointing out where restrooms and concessions were.

One great quality of the Blue Starlite was that as much as they convince you that you are in the 1950s, they will still let you present your ticket to them on your smartphone, and although I am very appreciative of all things vintage, this feature is nice for people like myself, whose printers are constantly on the fritz. After presenting our tickets, we then settled into our designated spot and got ready, pulling out our blankets and pillows, purchasing our concessions and tuning our radio to the correct station.

To start the show, vintage advertisements played for the various concessions available for the night, including Pepsi, popcorn and hot dogs. There were also retro cartoon reminders of, "Don't go anywhere, the show will start in 10 minutes," and such, recurring as a countdown and calling to mind a childhood favorite of mine, the great Rocky and Bullwinkle. All these extra touches were helpful in heightening the excitement level and getting us pumped up for the event. After the ads, we watched a great projected fireworks display on the screen.

And of course, there was the feature film itself. Directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum, Independence Day opened on July 3, 1996. After more than 15 years, it still holds up as a classic. The term "Independence Day" takes on another meaning: With aliens headed for Earth in giant spacecrafts, it is up to the military and government to save society and fight for their freedom. The experience of watching it on the large screen with other Austinites and film enthusiasts had a really great, festive feeling to it.

Ready to check out the Blue Starlite for yourself? The drive-in officially opens for its summer at Austin Studios on Friday at 9 pm with a double feature of Dazed and Confused and Night of the Living Dead. The rest of the lineup can be found here.

Sara Grauerholz is an intern at the Austin Film Society.