Movie memories

When our family moved from Pennsylvania to Colorado Springs in the late 1950's, the downtown looked like this.  Just a few miles out of town the prairie began abruptly, with real working ranches. 

Colorado Springs was built on Cripple Creek gold rush money. When the gold petered out, the city began to reinvent the economy around auto tourism and the military. After WWII, thousands of acres of open land were donated to the Army and Air Force, resulting in Fort Carson, NORAD, the Air Force Academy, Peterson Field. etc. 

With the huge influx of military personnel, not to mention demand for inexpensive, postwar housing, Colorado Springs spread far out from the original town core.  If you fly into COS airport these days you'll see monotonous, endless suburbia covering what was once open land.  Of course this is true of most American cities.

Unfortunately, Colorado Springs lost many downtown landmarks along with history and heritage.  The city planners in the 1950's believed you had to get rid of the old in order to build the new.  The magnificent old Antler's Hotel on Pikes Peak Avenue closed in 1964 and was torn down.

The Antlers Hotel was one of the dramatic architectural causalities, and it was replaced with something that now looks like a tired, concrete Marriott. The bland Colorado Springs downtown is the result of what happened in the '60s and '70s.

As the suburbs grew, the classic old movie theaters on Pikes Peak Avenue gradually closed.  It's kind of amazing that even small Colorado Springs supported four theaters within a few blocks: The Ute, The Peak, The Chief, The Trail. My brother and sister will recall these, because going to the movies was a big event.  They had fancy lobbies, exciting balconies and lavish theme decorations.  The Chief and The Ute were done up in a politically incorrect western "Indian" decor.

I remember the theaters better than the movies, with the exception of Hard Day's Night at The Chief in 1964, a turning point in my young life.  I suddenly wanted to be any place except boring Colorado Springs.

Oh, yes. Later there was also this drive-in east of downtown. Double dates, scratchy speaker hung on the window, dusty trips back and forth to the snack bar. 

Another place of teenage memories, but you can use your imagination on that one!