Holiday Drive-In
Boulder, Colorado1953-1988
Order Holiday Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. The Holiday in Boulder, Colorado, had a marquee with red neon script, a green blinking arrow and a row of mountains across the top. It moved to North 28th Street in 1969 with its sign, and the sign was restored in 2006 as a City of Boulder landmark. Browse the styles below, and the full Holiday history is further down. Every shirt is printed to order in the USA and carries the memories of bygone places and teams.
4 products
Holiday Drive-In History
The Holiday Drive-In in Boulder, Colorado, opened on July 9, 1953, with Robert Taylor in Ride, Vaquero! Claude Graves and Wilbur Williams built it for nearly $150,000 at 30th Street near Colorado Avenue, with room for 600 cars. Motion Picture Herald reported that figure in 1953. A contest named the new theater, and C. L. Onsgard won with Holiday. Its marquee had red neon script, a green blinking arrow with a curled end, and a row of mountains across the top.
The city annexed the land a few years later, over the owners' objections, and Calin Smith of Cheyenne bought the business in 1966. On July 9, 1969, the Holiday reopened on North 28th Street at Lee Hill Road, on U.S. 36, about four miles up the highway. Easy Rider played first at the new site, and a street in the neighborhood now carries the film's name. The sign moved with it, and the screen was refurbished and moved too, then coated in reflective paint containing fish scales. A second screen followed, with a grand opening in May 1970, and a second signboard to go with it.
The Holiday closed in 1988, and its concession building was boarded up in 1996. The city bought the land to keep out big box stores. For years the field sat empty, with speakers still mounted on wooden posts at car-window height, until Boulder Housing Partners redeveloped it. The Holiday Neighborhood of 333 homes went up there. The sign was restored in 2006 and stands at the edge of the neighborhood as a City of Boulder landmark.