Sunset Drive-In
3165 US-50,
Canon City,
CO
81212
3165 US-50,
Canon City,
CO
81212
1 person
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The Walmart was built next to the Sunset Drive-In. As the Walmart opened on May 12, 1987, the Sunset Drive-In continued running films until 1990 and was demolished a year later in 1991.
The Sunset’s first night was on Thursday, Aug. 4, 1949, as described in the Canon City Daily Press. The first movie was “Mickey,” as previously noted here. Adults cost 50 cents, children were 9 cents. The grand opening ad concluded with this plea: (DO) Give us an opportunity to correct any mistakes occurring during our “First Performance.”
The Royal Gorge Regional Museum and History Center’s page about the Sunset says that it closed in 1990 and was dismantled the following year.
In both the drive-in lists and theatre circuit holdings, the 1977-88 Motion Picture Almanacs showed the Sunset owned by Commonwealth, which didn’t include it in its 1976 holdings. Aerial photos confirm that by 1999, the site was a Wal-Mart.
The Sunset opened some time in the summer of 1949. The May 14, 1949 issue of Box Office reported: “George McCormick, owner of theatres (in Denver), has started building a 300-car drive-in at Canon City.” The Aug. 20, 1949 issue said that the 275-car Sunset had opened. Its first movie was Mickey.
The drive-in’s first appearance (as “Drive-In”) in the Film Daily Year Book was the 1950 edition.
This drive-in went under the name Sunset Drive-In in all theatre catalog listings from 1951 to 1970.