Chief Drive-In
2868 North Avenue,
Grand Junction,
CO
81501
2868 North Avenue,
Grand Junction,
CO
81501
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To clarify, there was some form of a “soft opening” on March 20, 1952. I learned this from personal conversations I had in the early 1980s with the original projectionist and other staff. Officially, yes, the Grand Gala Opening was on Friday the 21st. The Thursday “opening” was a trial run to make sure everything was working and ready. Whether it was a paying even, I have no idea and my original source has long since passed away.
I can’t find any evidence that the Chief showed movies at any time before its Grand Opening on March 21, 1952. rivest266 has the ad from that day’s Daily Sentinel, and here’s what it looked like the day before:
Note that the opening program was “Distant Drums” with Gary Cooper, the short “Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd in Sweden,” and a Cartoon Carnival.
The Chief’s final night was Labor Day, Sept. 4, 1989, showing “Star Trek V” and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” The next day, its section of the United Artists theater ad said simply “Closed.”
Two years in the making? Boxoffice, April 15, 1950: “GRAND JUNCTION, COLO. – T. B. Noble jr., general manager of the Westland Theatre Corp, says his firm will build a new drive-in on North avenue here. It will accommodate 600 cars.”
This opened on March 21st, 1952.
Chief Drive-In opening Fri, Mar 21, 1952 – 5 · The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colorado) · Newspapers.com
There was Rocket DI also. I have some information on that one also. It is on my to do list to get it added,