Video: Kanopolis finds new owners

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It all started this week when I noticed that the Kanopolis Drive-In was posting remodeling photos and video on its Facebook page. Then I saw a comment there that the new owners were doing a good job of bringing the restrooms to the modern age. And that’s how I learned that Tyson Moyer and his wife, Jessica Eagle-Moyer, had puchased the drive-in last November from Josh and Amanda Webb. That story was covered very nicely by the Ellsworth County Independent-Reporter.

Putting on my historian hat, I can tell you a little more about this drive-in than when I first virtually visited years ago. On CinemaTreasures, someone posted a personal visit in 2010 with then-owner Irene Pacey, who said her father, Anthony Blazina, built the place in 1952 and owned it ever since. That mostly lines up. Reports show that Blazina opened what was then the Lakevue Drive-In in Kanopolis with just 186 in-car speakers. He also (still?) owned the Kanopolis in 1976 when he announced he’d show The Story of O, then decided against it. A Salina Journal article in 1988 quoted Blazina, still the owner, as saying he built the drive-in himself “in the dead of winter … with an old Ford tractor and a scoop.” The article said that opening day was May 23, 1952.

On the other hand, some reports in Boxoffice point to other owners, or at least operators, in between. Commonwealth Theaters transferred Frank Dodson to manage the Kanopolis Drive-In in early 1955, and he bought out Commonwealth’s share the following summer. Dodson leased the Kanopolis to Thomas Miller in 1960, and that’s where my magazine trail goes cold.

Blazinga passed away in 1994, and Pacey took over. The Kanopolis closed after the 2006 season (not sure why), and stayed dark until the Webbs bought the drive-in and reopened it in 2011. As described in the above video (from KWCH, Wichita’s News Leader), a windstorm damaged the screen and other equipment in December 2021. The drive-in stayed dark for another year, then reopened again in 2023.

The Independent-Reporter article said that the Webbs would be helping out this season to make sure the Moyers learn the ropes. I’m always happy to hear stories like this about new, appreciative caretakers who are maintaining the drive-in tradition for new generations.

Video: South El Monte’s Starlite sign to be restored

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First the Bad News: KB Home, which bought the South El Monte CA site of the old Starlite Drive-In in the last year or two, has taken down the old marquee, as shown in a January 2025 Google Street View.

Now the Good News: KB Home announced this week that it’s building “Astaire and Harlow at Starlite” and will restore the marquee to its former glory to “serve as a beautiful entrance monument.” If you enjoy such things, you can read the press release.

The Starlite had a historic pedigree. It was built in 1950 by Ford Bratcher, his brother Carl, and Byron Congdon, who already ran the Mount Vernon Drive-In in San Bernardino. The architect was J. Arthur Drielsma, who designed a lot of the better drive-ins in California. The Pacific drive-in chain got at least a piece of the action in 1951, although a 1953 Boxoffice note mentioned that a Bratcher was still there too. Those drive-in ownership structures are often beyond me.

When exactly did the Starlite close? I haven’t nailed down that date yet. CinemaTreasures says the screen was demolished in 1997, so it had to be by then. But the sign and the concession stand remained, the better to hold weekend flea markets. The Google Street View camera caught an active day in 2018, then a 2021 image showed the property for sale. Maybe the flea market was another victim of the pandemic.

I flipped through a few photos to try to provide some idea of what the old marquee was like. The black and white picture I chose (below) shows how interesting that sign was when the Starlite opened. For a better look at its recent state, as well as a sense of its scale, I added the YouTube video at the top of this post. I hope that soon we can add the new, restored version to this set of images.

from the Feb. 3, 1951 issue of Boxoffice

NorWest Drive-In remnants remain in Broomfield CO

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NorWest Drive-In screen support anchors, concrete blocks with short metal pieces extending at an angle, on a sunny day.
NorWest Drive-In screen support anchors, as they looked last weekend

Saturday, I saw on Google Maps that the remains of the NorWest Drive-In in the southeast corner of Broomfield CO were still visible. I don’t know why I never thought to take pictures of what’s left, so off I went.

The former entrance road to the NorWest (also spelled Nor’West or Nor-West) was blocked by heavy construction equipment when I arrived. I feared that I had arrived too late, but the work was just a flood control project for Nissen Creek, which runs just south of the old drive-in.

I had written about the NorWest in my book, Drive-Ins of Colorado. It was one of those drive-ins that chased movie patrons into suburbia, built by Leonard Steele and opened in 1967. Long story short, the drive-in was first sold in 1969 and passed through some corporate owners until Commonwealth Theatres dumped it at the end of 1986. Bill Holshoe, who already owned the 88 Drive-In in nearby Commerce City, was the final owner, running the NorWest through the end of 1996.

Holshoe closed the NorWest because civic leaders wanted to clear the way for some developer’s proposed indoor ice rink complex. That never happened, but the drive-in never reopened. According to some 2016 photos posted at CinemaTreasures.org, the snack bar building was still pretty well intact at that point. That building was removed by 2023.

The sturdy concrete screen support blocks, with short bits of metal jutting out, were all still there. Now their only audience was the prairie dog town that has taken over the drive-in site. As I walked to the remains of the concession building, I could hear annoyed yips from both directions, the first time I’ve encountered prairie dog complaints in stereo.

The tiles on the concession/restroom/projection building (see below) were in good shape, probably because they haven’t been exposed to the weather for many years. There was a new gravel path to 121st Place to the north, probably for the workers who dismantled the building. I couldn’t find any trace of speaker poles, and the prairie dog holes were more noticeable than the ramps.

If you really want a piece of drive-in history, there were a few loose tile pieces near the building foundation, but that seems pretty extreme to me. But if you just want to wade past the prairie dogs to stand and look in the direction of the old screen, with the Rocky Mountains in the distance, you could go there and imagine what it all must have been like.

Tiled floor without a building in the foreground, looking out over an empty field to mountains in the distant background.
Looking toward the NorWest screen tower supports from the floor of the projection room, maybe?