About 80 percent of the equipment is stolen from Downtown Austin Drive In.

Austin, Texas – The burglary at the Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive In was announced Thursday on the theater’s Facebook page. They said four storage trailers were broken into.

Theater owner Josh Frank said the thieves took the projectors and generators, about 80% of what they had in place. The entrance is at the top of a garage on San Antonio Street and has become a safe haven during the pandemic.

Frank told FOX 7 that he was notified of the theft by an employee who runs the site.

“And when I get there, I get reports from my boyfriend who looks at the trailers. He’s like, “They have all the projectors. They have all the generators.” And I said, “Well, what’s left?” And he said, “Not much,” Frank said. “And the irony is that the only thing they didn’t take, which they couldn’t take because it weighs 600 pounds, is our new movie projector, which was our biggest investment in a while. But this month it’s not working because we’re missing a part.”

Frank and his staff have pieced together what’s left, and the downtown show will still go on. However, make no mistake, he is upset about being a victim.

“We count on every piece of equipment we have. We count on every dollar that comes in every month and every year. So we could stay here for our fans, old and new. And, you know, it was very devastating. And it’s very personal to me,” Frank said.

They are taking new security measures and will procure new security equipment.

“For example, how awful do you have to be to go to bottom feed like that? You know, like we have more than you, but not much, you know? Also, why did you take our cooler? Do you have everything else? Why would you add insult to injury and take our $8 cooler as well,” Frank said.

So far, about $2,500 in donations have been raised to purchase new equipment. The donation link is on the disc’s web page.

“So I hope that in the next 3-6 months I can at least recover enough with the help of the community. We have some opportunities, donations and other things to get what I need to keep working right now,” Frank said. .

The original site for Blue Starlite on EM Franklin Ave., near the Mueller development, was unaffected. It remains on its regular schedule, with showing times for both locations listed on the website.