Starhops

Starhops is 1978 exploitation comedy film directed by Barbara Peeters, based on a script by Stephanie Rothman, writing under a pseudonym, and was edited by future Oscar winning screenwriter Steve Zaillian.

Three carhops team up to save their cash-strapped Venice Beach drive-in restaurant from the clutches of a greedy oil baron who wants the land it sits on.

Rothman originally wrote the script, then entitled Carhops, while she was at Dimension Pictures. She took it with her when she left Dimension in 1975 and sold it to some producers, only to have them hire Barbara Peeters as the director instead. The movie was retitled due to the fact there was another film released with the same title. Rothman took her name off the movie, using a pseudonym (Dallas Meredith), as she felt "there was not an idea, a scene, a word, or even a comma left from my original script."[1]

The drive-in was located on the northeast corner of Knox St. and N. Maclay Ave in the San Fernando Valley. The Masonic Lodge with its distinctive white pillars and square sign is still across the street.