In our increasingly fragmented world, the Frontier is a reinvented throwback, a mashup of old and new. One thing has remained the same: When the sun goes down, it’s time to watch a movie.

Originating in the early 1900s and patented in the 1930s, drive-in movie theaters boomed in mid-20th century America. About 4,000 operated in the 1960s; today, just 300 drive-ins still light up at night.

The original Frontier Drive-In was one of the casualties. It opened in 1955, closed around 1990, and then sat in a state of stasis until Denver-based Born Hospitality Group reopened it in 2022. Frontier co-owner Luke Falcone spearheaded the project with his sister Sonya Falcone, his stepmother Ellen Bruss, and his father Mark Falcone, a real estate developer and founder of Continuum Partners, Born’s parent company.

Before shuttering the drive-in, Spanish-language films entertained a migrant workforce that harvested San Luis Valley potatoes during the day.

 When the Falcone family bought the drive-in, they took their time updating the place.

The checklist included replacing 1950s-era arc-light projectors, constructing lodging and restoring the snack bar. The drive-in screen had stood the test of time, and San Luis Valley winds; they refurbished it, pulling it down to the corrugated metal screen, then sanded and repainted it.

The old snack bar is now a kitchen shared with guests. Sean Chavez, the projectionist, also operates the popcorn machine. The drive-in is part of his family’s valley heritage.

“My great-grandfather, my grandfather, and even my father ran the projector at times,” said Chavez as he meticulously seasoned and served big cups of popcorn. “That was the old kind of projector.”

The new digital projector is compatible with anything with an HDMI port.

Luke Falcone said that kind of experimentation is central to the Drive-Inn’s strategy: The San Luis Valley already had one drive-in with an adjacent motel, Best Western Movie Manor in Monte Vista, so differentiation was a necessity. “That’s why we’re not a traditional drive-in anymore,” Luke said. “We wanted it to be a really immersive kind of a place where you would meet new people and really have the whole experience together, instead of sitting in your car and not talking to anybody.”

The Frontier Drive-Inn screens movies Thursdays through Saturdays. Each weekend’s schedule is themed, running the gamut from baseball to Sandra Bullock to horror.

Movies “can’t be your core business,” Luke continued. For the Frontier, “That means leaning on what the San Luis Valley has to offer. The San Luis Valley is this unbelievable gem of Colorado in terms of recreational activities and culture and history. We knew that one of the things we had to do was at least get people out there, so overnight accommodations were always part of the vision.”

With 10 yurts, four suites and lawn space for about 500 people, the Frontier is just getting started. The next phase includes RV and tent campsites, more suites and restored Airstream trailers.

The Falcones also are restoring the old 100-seat Center Theater, about two miles north of the Frontier in downtown Center, with an eye towards film festivals and other events. General contractor Randy Barrientez, who oversaw construction at the Frontier, has directed the renovation, which includes four second-level apartments for overnight guests when the theater opens in late 2024.

Like the Frontier, the Center Theater dates to the 1950s, with vintage seating, door handles, and a façade straight out of Hollywood’s golden era.

The theater, like the local drive-in, was dormant for decades before construction commenced. “E.T. was one of the last movies people remember seeing here,” laughed Barrientez. “When we have opening night, we ought to have E.T. again.”

Back at the Frontier, a sense of the extraterrestrial emanates from eight chimney-like structures to the right of the screen, their open tops framing the sky above them. Ronald Rael, an architect with Berkeley, Calif.-based Rael San Fratello, created these “Skylos” with a robotic arm that 3D-printed them from adobe.

Rael noted that the Skylos were designed as celestial observatories in this certifiably dark-sky valley. “It gives you the opportunity to have two different experiences. One is about the moving picture and about light, and the second is about solitude and silence in the dark sky at night.

“So it offers both those juxtapositions, and I think it connects you back to the landscape in a way. Maybe it’s the cosmos, but still, it allows a visitor for a moment to get out of the heat during the summer, to experience the stars at night.”