Can owner of the former Starlite revive the glory days of drive-ins?
When was the last time you went to a drive-in movie? It’s a question that can evoke fond memories of sitting in a car on a starlit night, watching a movie that’s a hundred times larger than life. George Welsh and Mark Frey want to bring those memories back to the North Hills. They hope to open a three-screen, 500-car drive-in theater in April in West Deer that will show classic movies combined with themed events, such as pajama parties and trivia contests. If everything comes together, the drive-in would join only one other still open in the Pittsburgh area. For Welsh, it would be the achievement of a longtime goal. As a former owner of Wexford’s Starlite Drive-In in Pine, Welsh laments the day he was forced to close the 40-year-old theater in 1989. He and his wife, Cindi, had bought the theater in 1987 and operated it as a family business. Welsh said he was told that he could buy the 12 acres off Route 19 for $1.5 million or vacate within 30 days. “We didn’t own the property, and we h
