The Falcone kids came to know the valley as a place as beautiful and bizarre as North America's highest sand dunes. "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. Fittingly, Falcone said, it's in the San Luis Valley. The Frontier Drive-Inn is the first dive. Their project has been called "a continuation of Continuum's values focused on smaller, unique projects with an emphasis on community." His son and daughter, now living in Los Angeles, went on to launch a spinoff called Continuued. 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." "We wanted to keep the vernacular of the space very of the region."īy "we," he means himself along with his dad, stepmom and sister. The family determined it closed sometime in the '80s - left to stand in the wind and stir memories for locals passing by.Ī goal of the new drive-inn was to honor those memories, Luke Falcone said. That's around when the Falcones found the drive-in to first open as a gathering place for the rural communities here. 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. The snack bar has been transformed into a chef's kitchen, where guests might get to know each other while cooking. 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 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. The drive-inn is now one of the closest, noncamping overnight options to the park. 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.
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