Fans of Starlite Drive-In plan rally they hope will save theater

Though the Starlite Drive-In has likely already been sold, a dedicated group of fans is organizing a rally this Saturday to save the drive-in.

A group of people, led by relatives of longtime theater manager Jim Quick and the New York-based drive-in theater owner Rick Cohen, will gather from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Chapin Park, 3800 S. Hydraulic, just north of the drive-in.

The drive-in was closed earlier this month by its owner of two years, Chuck Bucinski, after a series of events this year led people to assume the Starlite would eventually be bulldozed to build an industrial warehouse.

Bucinski, through his land-development agent, successfully rezoned the land at 3900 S. Hydraulic — which was previously restricted only for drive-in theater usage — to accommodate a wide variety of industrial and commercial uses this summer.

Bucinski, then 36, told The Eagle the move was for estate-planning, and that he didn’t plan on closing the drive-in.

Cohen and Blake Smith, co-owner of the Admiral Twin Drive-In in Tulsa, Okla., have offered to buy the drive-in from Bucinski for $750,000.

Bucinski was left the drive-in theater in previous owner Jim Goble’s will, and he has been paying off three separate mortgages on the property since taking over in 2016.

One of the mortgage holders, who lives in Denver, said he heard Bucinski has already reached a deal to sell the drive-in land, and the sale will close at the end of November, after a liquidation auction on Nov. 13.

The drive-in’s potential buyer is still unknown, as the deal had not yet closed as of Monday.

This story was originally published October 29, 2018 at 11:42 AM.