Star Vu Drive In is owned and managed by OC Drive –In, LLC, and includes:

President: Mary Jean Duran, Newport Beach.

Management Committee:
Fred Armendariz, San Juan Capistrano
Bob Deutsch, Rockville, MD
Jeffrey Teller, Newport Beach

General Manager:
Dennis Lira, Long Beach

THEATRE GENERAL INFORMATION

Location: Orange County Fairgrounds, Costa Mesa, 88 Fair Drive. The fairgrounds are located just off of the 55 Freeway South at the Del Mar/ Fair Drive exit. Cars arriving will be entering off of Fair Drive through Gate Two. Exit traffic will be directed out Gate 10 to Newport Boulevard.

Capacity: 300 cars

Price: General admission (13 years and older): $8.50, Children (5 to 12 years) $5 , and free for 4 years and under.

Public information: Phone number: 949-296-7002 , Website: www.star-vu.com or email: info@star-vu.com.

The Screen: A 65 ‘ x 33’ AIRSCREEN? Premiere screen. The AIRSCREEN? Premiere has a standard theatrical screen surface, and the frame is made of PVC fabric.

Sound: Studio quality sound is delivered via FM transmission. The audience tunes their vehicle or portable radio to a designated FM station.

Projection System: The movie is shown via a state-of-the-art 35 mm projection system.

Days of operation/Show Times: Year-round except during the annual Orange County Fair. Nights of operation vary seasonally and start times vary depending on time of sunset and length of movie. For current information see www.star-vu.com/now.showing

Concessions: The Star-Vu Snack Shack offers Orville Redenbacher popcorn with 100% real butter, candy, churros, pretzels, and bottled soda and water. It is open until 30 minutes after the last movie begins.

HISTORY

History of the Drive In: The first drive-in movie theater was invented by Richard Hollingshead, a Camden, New Jersey resident who started out by combining his love of movies and cars by hanging a sheet between two trees in his yard and mounting a 1928 Kodak projector to the hood of his car. He set a radio behind the screen for sound and a concept was born.

After perfecting the screening he opened the first drive-in movie theater in 1933. By 1958, at the height of the drive-in craze, there were 4,063 theaters around the US according to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association.

California’s first drive-in movie theater opened in June 1938, and within 10 years another 43 opened in the state making California one of the leading sites for drive-ins. By the end of the 1960’s there were more than 220 in operation. More than 90% have since closed.

History of Drive Ins in Orange County: The first drive-in in Orange County was the Orange Drive-In and opened in June 1941. It was located on State College Blvd in Orange and served as a popular form of entertainment for thousands of soldiers stationed at the Santa Ana Army Air Base (now the Orange County Fairgrounds). From 1955 to 1961 Dr. Robert Schuller held Sunday morning services at the Orange Drive-In, preaching to cars from the snack bar roof.

The Orange Drive-In ran Spanish language movies in its later days and closed in 1994 but continued to operate its traditional swap meet, which had been going on since the middle of 1970’s. Its screens were torn down in 1997.

By the early 1970’s 11 drive-ins operated in the county, most of them managed by Pacific Theatres. Fierce competition forced several into holding swap meets as an additional revenue source. By the mid 1990’s, most of them were sold off due to their high real estate value. The last Orange County drive-in, Highway 39 in Westminster, closed in 1997.

Timeline of Openings and Closings of Orange County Drive-Ins from June 18, 1941 to March 31, 1997 (Source: Cinema Treasures. Org)

1. Orange: June 18, 1941 to September 11, 1994
2. Buena Park, Cina-Car, Lincoln Ave.: May 16, 1949 to July 5, 1993
3. Costa Mesa, Paulo: July 1, 1949 to February 2, 1976
4. Westminster, Highway 39: June 29, 1955 to March 31, 1997
5. Anaheim: August 3, 1955 to March 25, 1990.
6. Santa Ana, Harbor Blvd: June 29,1960 to December 24,1986
7. Huntington Beach, Warner: June 29, 1961 to October 7, 1984.
8. La Habra: July 3, 1967 to September 10, 1989.
9. San Juan Capistrano, Mission: November 1966 to September 9, 1985.
10. Fountain Valley: July 12, 1967 to October 7, 1984
11. Anaheim, Stadium Drive-In:May 27, 1970 to September 12, 1996.

History of Star-Vu Drive-In

Star-Vu Drive-In is the brainchild of four entrepreneurs, all of whom share fond memories of evenings spent at the drive-in while growing up.

The team who formed OC Drive-In LLC (the company operating Star-Vu Drive-In), includes three Orange County residents: Fred Armendariz, of San Juan Capistrano and Chief Executive Officer of CCN USA in Irvine; Mary Jean Duran, of Newport Beach and President of Duran Alvarez Solutions in Newport Beach; and Jeffrey Teller, 41, of Newport Beach and President of the Orange County Market Place, the weekend swap meet at the fairgrounds. Rounding out the ensemble is Bob Deutsch, of Rockville, Maryland, owner of Outdoor Movies, the world’s leading provider of outdoor movie services and inflatable screens for drive-ins, film festivals, filmmakers and studios.

The project was presented to the Orange County Fair Board of Directors in 2006 and received final approval in January 2007.

Something Teller finds unique about this project is that it turns the drive-in movie theater/swap meet equation on its head. In the past, drive-in movie theater locations held swap meets, but "in this case, we are a swap meet location having a drive-in movie theater," Teller said.

"This is such an exciting project to be a part of! The positive comments from the community have already been overwhelming. The Drive-In brings baby boomers back to a simpler time and will be a great new entertainment option for those who aren’t quite "seasoned" enough to share those fond memories," said Duran, who is president of O C Drive-In, LLC.

STAR-VU DRIVE-IN LEADERSHIP TEAM

Mary Jean Duran, President, OC Drive-In, LLC

Mary Jean Duran, also president of Duran Alvarez Solutions in Newport Beach, is a seasoned executive with over twenty years of recognized leadership, innovation and excellence in brand building, growth, and relationship management. She is renowned for combining her management and entrepreneurial skills with dedication to community service.

Before founding Duran Alvarez Solutions Ms. Duran served as the senior political deputy for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Government Contracting in Washington D.C. Prior to that she held senior management positions with Disneyland Resort and PepsiCo. Ms. Duran was also a consultant for the Xerox Corporation and Dresser Industries, where she was actively involved in the negotiation of several international trade agreements.

She has served on many nonprofit boards including the Board of HOPE, an organization dedicated to inspiring Latina leadership in California and nationally, and the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Ana. Ms. Duran founded the chapter of the National Society of Hispanic MBA’s in Orange County with several colleagues and was elected its first president.

Her community service has been recognized with several awards including KCET’s “Local Hero of the Year” Award for public service to the Southern and Central California community, and the AFLAC Civic Award for community service.

Ms. Duran received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Saint Mary’s College of California and spent a semester at the Universidad de Salamanca, Spain. She also earned a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Georgetown University.

As president of OC Drive-In, LLC, she oversees the overall company operations and the General Manager.

Fred Armendariz, Member, OC Drive-In, LLC

Fred Armendariz is the Chief Executive Officer of CCN USA, an Irvine based company that provides digital communications systems for government agencies and municipalities. Mr. Armendariz has also served Governor Schwarzenegger as the Chairman of the Alcohol Beverage Control Board since 2005.

Armendariz came up with the initial concept of an outdoor movie event while working in Washington D.C. During the summer months the National Parks Service produces an annual movie festival on the National Mall in front of the Capital, In 2003 the thought came to Armendariz that he could do something similar in his native Orange County.

Mr. Armendariz has a lengthy track record as a successful entrepreneur. Prior to working for the US Small Business Administration in Washington, DC, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of a technology company in Southern California, which in 1997 was named by I NC. Magazine as one of the 500 fastest growing companies in America. In late 1999 he sold it to a public company and turned his attention to his other passion: public service.

His commitment to public service includes having served on several boards and commissions including The President’s Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, the Procurement Executive’s Council, Saddleback College and Mater Dei High School He also is a member of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and serves as a reserve deputy sheriff.

Mr. Armendariz earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Southern California and resides in San Juan Capistrano with his wife Amy, and three children.

Bob Deutsch, Member, OC Drive-In, LLC

After a successful “outdoor film festival” fundraiser in 1996 for the Children’s Charities at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. Inn, Bob Deutsch received such interest from others interested in outdoor movies that the outdoor movie business “chose” him. At the time he was working in the telecommunications business selling broadband networks to multinationals. According to Mr. Deutsch, after a story ran in the New York Times about the successful Comcast Outdoor Film Festival for the Children’s Inn, the old job became history.

A couple of events later, he founded Outdoor Movies in 1998, based in Rockville, Maryland, which has become a national and international sales and services organization specializing in outdoor cinema and drive-in equipment and events.

Outdoor Movies (www.outdoor-movies.com) owns the largest outdoor screen in the America’s and has the largest rental inventory in the world, which is relied on by major film festivals. Among his clients are American Express, American Film Institute, Comcast, Ford, General Motors, Traverse City Film Festival, Turks and Caicos Film Festival, Warner Brothers Studios to name a few.

Mr. Deutsch’s company is the exclusive distributor of AIRSCREEN? products in the United States. The first drive in movie theater to use an AIRSCREEN? in this country was in York, PA, which still operates today. Star-Vu Drive-In will be the second of its kind in the U.S. and has the largest screen.

Mr. Deutsch resides in Rockville, Maryland, with his wife Linda and two daughters.

Dennis Lira, General Manager

Dennis Lira of Long Beach was named the General Manager of Star-Vu Drive-In in April, 2007. Mr. Lira has more than 20 years experience in the movie theater business, having started as an usher with United Artists Theatres in 1983, he eventually worked his way up to District Manager overseeing territories including Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. Most recently he was the General Manager for Regal Cinemas in Rolling Hills Estates.

He is now leveraging his years of theatre operations experience to develop a team, systems, and processes for a theatre company the likes of which hasn’t been launched in OC in decades. As General Manager, Mr. Lira will oversee the daily operations of the Star-Vu Drive-In, including team hiring, training and development, as well as scheduling, purchasing, and guest service.

He is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach with a BA in Television and Film Production. He resides in Long Beach.

Jeffrey Teller, Member, OC Drive-In, LLC

Jeffrey Teller, president of the Orange County Market Place, the weekend swap meet at the Costa Mesa Fairgrounds, has learned the “business” from ground level up.

As a child he got the entrepreneurial bug when he sold used tricycles at the swap meet, which his father Robert Teller founded in 1969. At age 9 he opened his own peanut stand. From those humble beginnings, Mr. Teller has been a swap meet vendor, an owner of other businesses outside of the Market Place including a café and bagel shop, he and his wife Deana owned and operated. About 13 years ago he returned to work at the Orange County Market Place, and in 2002 was named president of Tel Phil Enterprises, Inc, the company that owns and operates the swap meet.

Mr. Teller is active in many business and community organizations and is currently the Vice-President of the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on the boards for Vanguard University, the Orange Coast College Foundation, CHOC Padrinos and the Orange County Sheriff’s Advisory Council.

Mr. Teller lives in Newport Beach with his wife Deana, and three children.