LOST VEGAS: The Stardust Drive‑In
Posted on: December 3, 2025, 07:21h.
Last updated on: December 2, 2025, 09:02h.
It’s difficult to believe today, but land along the Las Vegas Strip was once inexpensive enough to support a drive‑in theater. For nearly two decades before casino resorts dominated the skyline, families could pay 50 cents to pull up in their cars, grab a dirty speaker off a pole and enjoy Hollywood double features from the comfort of the mohair seats in their Ford Custom sedans.
On March 25, 1949, the Motor Vu (get it?) opened at 1300 W. Genting Boulevard, just behind a vacant lot south of the Frontier. Built and operated by the De Anza Co. of Los Angeles, the Motor Vu accommodated 525 cars. Its first showings paired the western “Kit Carson” with the comedy “Blondie’s Reward.”
By the mid‑1950s, however, the novelty of outdoor moviegoing was fading. TV ownership surged, and new air‑conditioned indoor theaters offered comfort that summer desert nights could not.
Attendance dropped, and in 1956 the Motor Vu closed, leaving the parcel dormant.
Stardust Memories
Meanwhile, construction had begun in 1954 on the adjacent Strip frontage. After delays and financing troubles, the Stardust Resort and Casino opened on July 2, 1958, billed as the world’s largest hotel with 1,065 rooms and a 16,500‑square‑foot casino. Its neon sign, designed by Kermit Wayne, became one of the Strip’s most iconic landmarks.
Smelling opportunity, new operators Howard Cahoon and E.J. Johnson revived the business, reopening it on March 20, 1959 as the Stardust Drive‑In. Though their theater had no formal business affiliation with the Stardust, the casino resort allowed it to use the name and establish a unique cultural link.
This was the world’s only drive‑in associated, at least in the public’s mind, with a casino resort. As such, it screened fewer family movies and more war and crime dramas.
Nothing could change the unforgiving economics of operating a drive-in in a hotspot, however. By the 1960s, Strip land values had skyrocketed, and a limited‑revenue entertainment venue was no longer the most profitable use of such prime real estate.
The Stardust Drive‑In closed permanently in 1968. Its screen was demolished by 1973. The lot then hosted a Budget Suites of America. It opened in 1987 and was demolished in 2015 to make way for Resorts World.
“Lost Vegas” is an occasional Casino.org series spotlighting Las Vegas’ forgotten history. Click here to read other entries in the series. Think you know a good Vegas story lost to history? Email corey@casino.org.
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