Josh FrankCreator/Director, SILENTS Synced · Owner/Creator/Inventor of SILENTS SYNCED, also The Blue Starlite Urban Drive-in ATX, and Author of Super Cool books.

Welcome from Josh Blue Tour

26 May 2013 · 5 min

Watch on YouTube

5:02

In this introductory video, the host walks viewers through the Blue Starlight, billed as the world’s first mini urban drive‑in movie theater located in Austin, Texas. The tour begins with a brief history: the venture launched three and a half years ago in a narrow alley on First Street, serving six cars per night, and has since expanded through a series of larger sites, now operating on the Austin Movie Studios property with capacity for over 100 cars. The business’s aesthetic centers on vintage 1990 Allegro trailers used as the office, concession stand, and projection booth, reflecting a philosophy of reinventing classic drive‑in elements for a modern audience. Technical upgrades include a custom 12‑speaker audio system that surpasses the sound quality of 1950s car‑window setups, and a teardrop‑style projection booth. Operationally, Blue Starlight runs shows primarily on Friday and Saturday nights, with occasional Thursday date nights and Sunday family nights, limiting attendance to 50‑60 cars for an intimate experience. The host emphasizes the strong community response, steady growth, and the unique appeal of a compact, city‑adjacent drive‑in that blends nostalgia with contemporary comforts.

Chapters

Action. Oh, hi. Welcome to the Blue Starlight. This is our office. I want to tell you a little bit about us. We are the world's first mini urban drive-in movie theater. We started about 3 and a half years ago in a little alleyway on First Street in Austin, Texas with 6 cars a night. We've now been open for over 3 years now. Let's step out of the office and I'll show you around a little bit. Oh yeah, our office is in a 1990 Allegro vintage trailer, as is our concession stand. It's in a little teardrop trailer which is located right here. We decided to use vintage trailers for all of our drive-in uses because, well, we like vintage trailers, and the idea was to reinvent the vintage idea for a modern age, and that, that's what we've done with the Blue Starlight. We went from an alleyway with 6 cars to a much larger space with 20 cars, and then an even larger space last year with 30 cars. And then this year we moved to a space with 50 cars, and now we have this. We're on the actual property of the Austin Movie Studios that's run by the Austin Film Society. Now we can handle over 100 cars a night as of 2 weeks ago. Our business has grown really fast. But really steady over the last 3 years, mainly because people keep coming back and new people keep coming all the time. We seem to have hit a nerve, a good one that is. People really, uh, want a new version of the old drive-in movie experience. This is one of our vintage drive-in speaker setups. We have 12 at this location. We actually fixed these We blew these up and got all new parts and make them sound really good. So you actually get better sound than you probably got putting this in your window in the 1950s. And then over here we have our vintage teardrop projection booth. I found that 3 years ago people still wanted drive-ins around. They missed them. The problem was they just hadn't been reinvented for a modern age. So that's what we've done over the course of the last 3 years. We've reimagined what a drive-in movie theater is. All of our drive-ins, all the Blue Starlight drive-ins that is, have been located within 2 or 3 miles of a major city. Our first couple of versions were just blocks away from central downtown. We're actually on the old Mueller Airport where the planes used to land when people came to Austin before the new airport opened. There's Austin, Texas and the old Mueller Tower. As you can see, it's much bigger. However, we still go for the intimate feel, and we usually don't allow more than 50 or 60 cars a night because we want to give everyone the attention they deserve. We currently run the drive-in on Friday and Saturday nights. Some seasons we add in Thursday date nights and Sunday family nights. We are the world's first mini urban drive-in movie theater.
Show after show will feature the latest hits, the biggest stars, for fun-filled, pleasure-packed evenings. Relax, come as you are, and spend an enjoyable night out with the entire No parking problems, no babysitting problems. Thanks, folks, and once again, welcome back. Still time if you hurry. Last call for a—