Uranium Drive-In
The Uranium Drive-In in Naturita, Colorado, opened on Sunday, March 13, 1954, with War Paint and Africa Screams, according to a report in the Nucla Forum quoted on Cinema Treasures. It was a single screen with room for 275 cars, near Colorado Highway 97. The name fit the area, where uranium mining drove the local economy in the 1950s.
Bill Moore opened the theater and planned a double feature every night. A 1960 Boxoffice item reported that Clarence Files had taken over. Files also ran the Starlite Drive-In in Grand Junction.
The closing date is not documented. The theater was still advertising in 1976 and appeared in the final 1988 edition of the Motion Picture Almanac drive-in lists, but a listing is not proof of a season. The ramps and concession stand were still standing in September 2019, and by October 2019 work was under way where the concession stand had been. The restored marquee stands on the main road through Naturita, not on the original site. The theater later gave its name to a 2013 documentary about the town's debate over a uranium mill.
