Castle Rock Cinema
928 Oakwood Court,
Castle Rock,
CO
80104
928 Oakwood Court,
Castle Rock,
CO
80104
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Just wanted to say, attended high school in Castle Rock, graduating in 1976. A lot of us students went to the Castle Rock Drive In as it was local. It was a decent experience. I do remember the hamburgers being pretty good from the snack bar for some reason.
Opened on 12/8/1956 with selected short subjects(not named) and “Artists and models”.
I was just a little surprised that no one here has yet asked about this drive-in’s original name, the 47. It was chosen by owner James Petersen after a contest in the Douglas County News attracted 329 submissions. Rather than a highway number, which doesn’t match anything around Castle Rock, 47 (no #) “embodies the Douglas county automobile license number,” and Petersen thought that it would show he wanted to attract patrons from the whole county.
To get pedantic about every name change, a two-sentence note in the June 8, 1967 News said “Old "47” Drive-In to be known under new name “C. R. Drive-In”. Grand reopening Friday, June 9th.“ An end-of-season wrap-up article called it "the Castle Rock 47 Drive-In Theater”.
Boxoffice, June 30, 1969: “The 47 Drive-In has been leased by Richard Pedersen, Bob Olds and Bill Pence. Its name has been changed to the Castle Rock Cinema. … Pedersen, who will manage the airer, has a film industry background that includes New York and the midwest. Olds and Pence also own the Flick Theatre in Colorado Springs.”
Boxoffice, June 22, 1970: “The Castle Rock Cinema opened Thursday, May 28, for the 1970 season under the management of Eugene S. Ptak. All employees are local people and look forward to serving the moviegoing public, Ptak said. Castle Rock Cinema is operated by The Flick, the same company which managed it last season. The Flick operates a theatre in Colorado Springs and is building two theatres in Denver.”
The Douglas County News reported on July 26, 1956 that the tentative opening for Jim Petersen’s 47 was Wed., Aug. 9. “Giant screen will be erected and put in place by the end of next week according to present schedule,” said the note.
The 47 actually opened on Sunday, Aug. 12, 1956, based on a two-page ad in the previous Thursday’s News. The opening program was Martin & Lewis in “Artists and Models,” plus selected shorts and “always a color cartoon.” The drive-in ran a special ad the following week thanking the community for its warm reception.
Although it advertised in the Douglas County News as the Castle Rock Outdoor Cinema as late as 1973, this theater advertised as the Castle Rock Drive-In throughout 1976. Redevelopment plans were approved over the following winter, and although a kite contest was held on the site in the summer of 1977, the screen was dismantled that August.
Funky layout for this little drive-in. It was outlined in a 1973 topo map but was gone by the 1980 edition. By 1993, the site was a full-blown housing development.
The 1958-70 Motion Picture Almanacs had it as the “#47”, capacity 200, owned by J. J. Petersen and M. W. Gieskeing. By 1972, the MPA began calling it the Outdoor Cinema, capacity 250 – a rare update to its drive-in lists during that period. It fell off the MPA list in 1977.
From the June 16, 1956 Motion Picture Herald:
James Peterson, owner of Vogue, Littleton, Colo., opening a 200-car drive-in, Castle Rock, Colo.
Hi there, im Scott. its so nice to see all this interest in the Colorado drive-in theatres. I was in the drive-in business and friends with many of the Colorado drive-in theatre as well ad indoor theatre operators of the past. It was a wonderful time. I have read many posts and looked at the photos. Most are accurate but some are not. I know about the elusive #47 drive in. That WAS the accurate name. It was the only one in Castle Rock. If antbody wants to know more about this or had any questions about any other drive-in mysteries (i know there were some questions about the Havana drive-in and the connection to Compass/Wolfberg) I can help there too. Would love to talk drive ins any time. They were my life. email me at
928 Oakwood Ct, Castle Rock, CO 80104 is the addressed based on the topo maps I’ve seen of a drive-in situated just to the east of Castle Rock mountain.
Here is what the area looks like today. https://goo.gl/maps/iHYr0
This drive-in disappeared before 1980 and was replaced by this neighborhood, so the address is from that. What the old address was I do not know.
I’d like to note that on several printed references I’ve seen regarding this theatre (primarily issues of The Film Daily Yearbook) and a verbal reference by a local longtime theatre operator/theatre buff, it’s been printed as/referred to as “# 47 Drive-In” (key difference being the missing “#”).
A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: I chose to add “Castle Rock Drive-In Theatre” and “Castle Rock Cinema” to the list of previous names for the sole reason that I own 4-5 Reed Drive-In Speakers of various vintages from Castle Rock and while a couple say “47”, with one being spelled out as "Fourty-Seven”, there is at least one that says “Castle Rock Cinema” and at at least one that says “Castle Rock DI Theatre”. With that said, these engraved speakers are the only references to these names I have ever seen or heard. Since whoever ordered the speakers would have dictated what was engraved in them, I feel confident that these were legitimate names (although I have seen one case of a simple typo on the Reed Speakers-see the pictures I posted of the speakers I have for the Kar-Vue Drive-In-Springfield,CO-where they spelled the city as “Springflied”) and I also have a gut feeling that The #47 was the only Drive-In Castle Rock ever had which would indicate that these were former names of The #47 but I’d love it if someone else here could confirm this.
This seems to be one of the most illusive drive-ins I’ve ever researched in Colorado, with my research yeilding almost zero information so I’d love to know anything that someone might be able to contribute on this. The biggest thing I’d like to learn would be the ADDRESS as I haven’t been able to come up with anything that even gives a general location of the theatre.