In 2016, near the heart of Colorado’s San Luis Valley, the Falcone family came to a curious, dusty slice of Americana where the possibilities seemed as endless as the open fields all around.

The old silver screen, neon sign and snack stand remained of the abandoned drive-in theater by the town of Center.

“The original projectors were there, the old popcorn machines,” Luke Falcone recalled. “Some of the old speaker systems were still around. … There was like five or six vintage trailers on site. We still have our hands on those. We’d love to someday bring those back to life in some way.”

So continues the rebirth of the Frontier Drive-In.

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It’s now called the Frontier Drive-Inn and entering its first full summer — the slight addition of the “n” hinting at the major reimagining here not far from Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

The drive-inn is now one of the closest, noncamping overnight options to the park. It’s probably the most unique.

The concept is similar to the Star Drive-In across the valley in Monte Vista, which has also been known as the Best Western Movie Manor. Rather than those typical hotel rooms overlooking the big screen, the more intimate, more stylish Frontier Drive-Inn has been remade with 14 accommodations in Quonset huts and yurts.

The snack bar has been transformed into a chef’s kitchen, where guests might get to know each other while cooking. As for the 80-foot screen and sign, those have been touched up but made to look the same as they did in the mid-1950s.

That’s around when the Falcones found the drive-in to first open as a gathering place for the rural communities here. The family determined it closed sometime in the ’80s — left to stand in the wind and stir memories for locals passing by.

A goal of the new drive-inn was to honor those memories, Luke Falcone said. “We wanted to keep the vernacular of the space very of the region.”

By “we,” he means himself along with his dad, stepmom and sister. His dad, Mark, is the Denver area developer behind Continuum Partners, which over 25 years has stated a mission “to create human habitats of extraordinary character and enduring value.”

His son and daughter, now living in Los Angeles, went on to launch a spinoff called Continuued. Their project has been called “a continuation of Continuum’s values focused on smaller, unique projects with an emphasis on community.”

The Frontier Drive-Inn is the first dive. Fittingly, Falcone said, it’s in the San Luis Valley.

“We grew up as kids going to the valley a bunch,” he said, adding that his dad was on the Nature Conservancy board that preserved the landmark that is Zapata Ranch.

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The Falcone kids came to know the valley as a place as beautiful and bizarre as North America’s highest sand dunes. It was a place of mountains and streams, of an alligator park and an alien watchtower, of settlements rooted in spirituality and deep, Spanish lore.

And then there was the Frontier Drive-In. It symbolized how the Falcones came to see the valley: overlooked, forgotten.

“The site itself was pretty rundown and in rough shape, and some of these interior valley towns have experienced a lot of that same desertion,” Luke Falcone said. “And so this was a really cool opportunity to kind of put some life back into a part of the valley. … I see this as going hand in hand with trying to revitalize this old site while also trying to bring some love back into the town.”

Falcone said he’s heard some local excitement. One man showed up saying his grandpa ran the projector back in the day. Now the grandson is set to do the job this summer.

Some weekend themes have been announced through September: “Weekend of Wayne,” “Dance Fever,” “Really Fast Cars and Bald Strong Guys,” and “Bugs, Bugs and more Bugs.”

Those are in line with the eclectic movie thinking previously announced: “an unexpected mix of classics, cult and independent films, art house and experimental cinema, foreign movies, special debut screenings and blockbusters of years gone by.”

Indeed, expect the unexpected, Falcone said. “We like the idea that you’re in for a surprise when you get here.”

Another idea they’ve had: “We have a little saying, ‘We want you to stay with us, but don’t stay with us. … We’ll have a movie for you when you come back. But the rest of the day should be spent exploring the San Luis Valley, because it’s just so magical.”

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