Category Archives: Colorado

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?

Video: Delta CO’s Tru Vu changes hands

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There’s big news on Colorado’s Western Slope. George Rodriguez is the new owner of Delta’s Tru Vu Drive-In, as reported by KREX, Grand Junction’s News Leader. Actually, there’s been a lot of Tru Vu news over the past five years, so let me get you caught up.

When we last left the Tru Vu Drive-In in Delta CO, it was an early stop in my 2017 Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I’ve written a lot about it since then, but it’s all been in my book, Drive-Ins of Colorado. If you’re a Carload completist with a copy of that book, you can skip down a couple of paragraphs.

After only a cursory check on the Tru Vu’s history, I wrote in my Odyssey stop there that it opened in 1954. That may or may not be accurate. Another passage was extremely off the mark: “A lot of drive-in theaters have some drama associated with them. They add screens, they lose screens. They shut down for a while, and sometimes reopen. Not the Tru Vu.” I couldn’t have been more wrong – in its first 15 years, the Tru Vu had the most tumultuous life of any drive-in I’ve heard of. That section took up two full pages in the book, and it’s beyond the scope of this post. Everything quieted down in 1968 when Jeannie and Stanley Dewsnup bought it along with Delta’s other theaters.

Stanley passed away in 2008, and Jeannie continued to operate the Tru Vu until she died in April 2019. James Lane and his family stepped in to run the drive-in only to hit the headwind that was the 2020 start to the Covid pandemic. He will always have a warm place in my heart, not just for this unselfish work, but also for giving me permission to use a photo of the Tru Vu for my book cover.

Now that we’re caught up, here’s the news from December 2022. Rodriguez began working with Jeannie Dewsnup in 1997 and became her “right hand” according to KREX. His daughter Jessikah Rodriguez remembered getting on a crane when her dad was painting the screen. Now the family is planning to embrace a 50s vibe and stay open longer. Sounds great!

I’m always happy to have any excuse to embed a drive-in video, and good news from a Colorado drive-in makes it even better. I hope you’ll agree that this was worth the wait.

Pueblo’s Mesa sold, will reopen

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The Mesa as it looked in 2005.

We can always use a bit of good news, as was published in this morning’s Pueblo Chieftain. Marcella Snyder and her husband Jon Parkin, already the owners of the Tibbs Drive-In in Indianapolis, have purchased the Mesa Drive-In in Pueblo CO. They’re working on upgrades to the plumbing and a few other items, and are looking to reopen around Memorial Day weekend.

The slightly sad part of the story is a farewell to Chuck and Marianne James, longtime supporters of this blog, who are retiring. They had owned the Mesa since they saved it from the bulldozers in 1994. In 2000, they added two screens to their drive-in from others in Colorado that had closed. After those decades of stewardship, it’s so nice that they found another drive-in enthusiast to take over.

In honor of the transition, the Chieftain produced a nice little slideshow video documenting some of the Mesa’s history. I would note that there are significantly more than 200 active drive-ins in the US, but that’s a minor quibble. Let’s all be happy that this Colorado landmark shows every sign of staying active for decades to come.