Favorite Movie Theater memories

Many people have different stories for their oldest memories as children. Mine were always seating in a dark movie theater with my mom and my brother watching the trailers of a horror/scifi movie. My mom was a movie buff and right after attending the Sunday mass at the huge Catholic church temple, located in the Plaza de Recreo of the town of Cayey, Puerto Rico, she then walk with us to the local movie theater house which was conveniently across the street from the Plaza de Recreo. Just a couple of minutes from the religious service. That was the routine every Sunday. We would eat a good breakfast at home, take the public bus to Cayey for the mass (a 30 minute ride), then head to the movies at San Rafael movie theater. Usually it was a Mexican or Spanish film, but for a major Hollywood release that was the must watch film, then instead of the Teatro San Rafael, we would walk a bit farther to the Teatro Angelica which was exclusively for American and foreign language films. Since the matinee at the Angelica movie house usually started like an hour later the the ones at the San Rafael, our mom will treat us with a great lunch at a nearby restaurant. We had hamburgers or Media Noche or Cuban sandwiches. We also used to get 'blackout' which is made of Coca-Cola or Pepsi and Vanilla ice cream mixed in a blender. Ah, the drink from heaven!!!

I remember we went to watch 'Cleopatra' when it was released on 1963 and that movie was soooo loooong that my mom got concerned we might miss the bus back home, so we didn't finish the film and when we stepped out of the movie theater it was already dark! We ran to the bus station and there was no bus on sight. My mom asked some guy who was nearby if there was another bus coming and he said 'No' and he was waiting for a a friend to pick him up. We were doomed! Stranded at night in another town! Me and my brother started to freak out, but my mom then told us we would walk to her sister's house and ask if her husband can give us a ride home. Our aunt's house was far away from where we were so that walk felt like a never ending journey. When we finally arrived at our aunt's house, all sweaty and hungry, I remember her reprimanding my mom for putting us in that situation. My aunt's husband wasn't there and he returned around 11:00pm and there was no way he was going to take us back home. So we all slept at our aunt's guest room and in the morning took the first bus back home. At our house our grandma was waiting for us and also yelled at my mom because she was damned worried what happened to us (we had no telephone to let her know).

Cleopatra lobby card

 

The Teatro San Rafael was an old movie theater and very small. I think it could accommodate maybe like 300 people. The seats were made of wood with a flimsy leather on the seats part. The floor was always sticky maybe from too many candies stucked there for years. It had two levels: the main auditorium on the first floor and the balcony section which cost an extra 20 cents (movie tickets were 50 cents for regular admission and 70 cents for the balcony). Sometimes the teenagers in the balcony will toss popcorn at the people seating downstairs. Sometimes they would spit. We avoided the 'target range section' at all cost or go to the balcony. The building on the outside was made of old bricks which gave it a cool ancient look. On the marquee outside the title of the film could be seen from a distance. The poster of the current film was displayed on the front glass and the ticket both was in a corner outside. Once you entered you could see all the lobby cards not only for the 'Now showing' film, but also for the coming soon films. Usually new releases were shown on the weekend, but by Monday it would be replaced by a different film per day. That means we could watch "Santo vs the Martian Invasion' on Sunday, but on Monday it would be 'The War wagon", Tuesday "Valley of the dolls", Wednesday "In the Heat of the Night", Thursday was usually older re-releases like 'Terror of Dracula" or "Creature from the Black lagoon" and Fridays a new release like "Santo in Operation 67" (yup, those Santo films were box office gold at that theater and always got the royal treatment).

 

Watching Rocky 4 when it came out and seeing Rocky hurt and cut Drago in round 2 and then go after him. The entire Theatre, which was packed to capacity, erupted in shouts and screams like we were at a live boxing match in the MGM Grand.

 

Did you see Rocky IV with a bunch of retarded kids or something?

 

English hooligans

 

"ALL RIGHT Rocco!"

 

I remember going with my older brother and his friend Jon, this kid we used to live on the same street as growing up to see "Coming to America" with my Mother and when "the royal penis is clean" line happened, the three of us were cackling and my mother made this disapproving sound of disgust sort of like Tsk ... good times

 

I remember watching Beethoven and being in awe of the story and acting. I loved the scene where Beethoven gets his lead caught around the clients chairs and drags them across the lawn. Beautiful cinematography. Cinema at its very best.

 

First movie I can remember watching was the original Ghostbusters and this was at a DRIVE IN movie theater on a different island. First and only time that I've been to a drive in.

The first real theater experience I remember was watching The Karate Kid and a single stand alone theater here on Maui. Awesome night.

As an adult my favorite movie theater was the Cinedome in Las Vegas on Boulder Highway. The last movies I remember watching there was War Of The Worlds with Tom Cruise, then me and my buddy walked into Revenge of the Sith right after. Loved that double feature. What made it my favorite theaters was that it just had that old school feel. Wasn't run down, just not updated. Which was nice.

I used to work at the Dole Cannery Theaters on Oahu part time a few years ago. Quality theater. Fun crew.

 

I was 16 went to see Stargate with this 13 year old. Gave him a bj. Poor kid too. Had ripped boxers.

 

It's AngelO now . Long story

 

Subtle performance by Charles Grodin

 

Panchy was there too?? and no worries they were a nice distraction from the raging aids

 

I actually watched Beethoven on Saturday with my son. It's still a fun family movie.

 

Honestly I can't pinpoint which one was the first film I can remember watching since most the ones I remember are from 1963 and I was barely 3-4 years old. I remember 'EL Lobo Blanco" some sort of Mexican lone ranger, "La Garra del leopardo" Mexican Zorro, or it could have been one of the sequels of "El Latigo Negro" (yet another Zorro-like masked avenger), or probably "Las Luchadoras vs El Medico Asesino', but most likely it was an Italian Hercules film that featured Cuban bombshell Chelo Alonso.

Chelo Alonso

 

Used to work at a theatre in high school. Was not bad. Plus I got to watch movies for free during the week.

 

No. Got paid for taking tickets and going around sweeping up popcorn with one of those sweeper/dustbin sets with the long handles so you don't have to bend over. Was only in 10th grade. Worst part was they always needed you on friday and saturday nights.

 

True. That was another part of the job for me as well. "Walk up and down the aisles and make sure no douche bags have their feet on the seats." Lol.

 

You ever leer at Teenagers making out while jacking off in your movie usher uniform?

 

That's only one of a half dozen reasons he was fired.

 

Paperback copy of "The Fountainhead" left abandoned in his employee locker after he's escorted away by police

 

Stop with the constant projection. If you ever took a breath from your routine you'd probably see how transparent it is.

 

Interesting