Evans Drive-In
2705 W. Evans Avenue,
Denver,
CO
80219
2705 W. Evans Avenue,
Denver,
CO
80219
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The Evans Drive-In was a 600-car ozoner that opened August 11, 1954 with Elizabeth Taylor in “Elephant Walk” & Cleo Moore in “Bait”. It had a seating in a walk-in section for 130 persons. It was still open in the mid-1970’s but had closed by 1980. It has been demolished to make way for a grocery store.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
The walk-in section of the Evans Drive-In had 65 seats, according to this article in Boxoffice of July 19, 1965. In 1965, the Evans installed a system allowing patrons to receive the movie’s sound track through their car or portable radios instead of wired speakers.
The sound system was provided by a Wheatland, Colorado-based company called Minicast Corp., and must have been one of the earlier instances of the use of low-power radio for sound at drive-ins. It used an AM frequency rather than the FM which later became common for this purpose. The article mentions that operator R.L. Stanger had designed the Evans Drive-In himself.
It was run under the West Evans AmusementCorp.in 1956.
The 1972 IMPA listed the Evans as capacity 600 cars “plus 120 seats”.
The 1982 IMPA had it at 500, circuit “Deluxe”. By the 1984 IMPA, it was gone.
The Evans drive-in opened 8/11/54. I am putting together a series of books about the Denver area’s drive-ins and indoor theatres. If anyone has questions on the subject, please feel free to contact me at and I’ll be happy to share my research with you. I have dozens of theatre and drive-in photos from the years gone by, but I am still searching for a shot of the marquee of the Evans. Thanks – Ken Mitchell
The topo map at Historic Aerials still shows the Evans there in 1973, but gone in 1980, replaced by the strip-mall buildings that are still there.
Once again, the Motion Picture Almanac was a little slow in noticing that one of its drive-ins was gone. ;–)
From the Aug. 21, 1954 Motion Picture Herald: “The new Evans drive-in opened here with 592-car and 130 walk-in capacity, and will be managed by R. L. Stanger, owner of the Windsor, Windsor, Colo.”
Boxoffice, Feb. 14, 1977: “De Lux Theatres, owned by Frank B. McLaughlin, has taken over the 600-car Evans Drive-In in the southwest part of the city from Cooper-Highland Theatres. … Admission at the Evans is pegged at $1 per carload, with three features screened at each show.”
The opening program on Aug. 11, 1954 was “Elephant Walk” with Elizabeth Taylor and “Bait” with Cleo Moore.
I’ve put together a booking history for the Evans Drive-in, from 1954 up to 1978 so far, in case anyone might like to know when a particular movie played there. I’ll be happy to share my research with you. Take care – Ken Mitchell ()
Grand opening ad posted.