It's good news that so many movie theaters are opening again. I've spent many years in a darkened theater watching exciting adventures on the big screen, and I get nostalgic thinking about how much I enjoyed that while growing up.

During grade school, my cousins and I spent most of our weekends at the Clyne and Avalon, two movie houses located across the street from each other in a neighborhood called Bessemer.

Both theaters always scheduled a double feature plus “added attractions” which included one cartoon, a serial, film previews, and a newsreel. Wide-eyed, we enjoyed every offering while gorging ourselves on popcorn, Milk Duds, and ice-cream bars. Sometimes we went from one “picture show,” which is what we called the theatres then, directly to the other. We were insatiable when it came to movies and goodies.  

When we were a bit older, we hopped on a streetcar for a bumpy ride to one of the downtown cinemas. We loved the Chief because of its lavish red and gold interior -- but preferred the Main’s more buttery popcorn. The Colorado usually offered a double feature which was hard to resist. And sometimes we stopped off at the Mesa Junction to take in another flick at the Uptown, famous for its “bank night” giveaways.

Those were the days! 

(Excerpt from my award-winning CONFESSIONS OF A MOVIE ADDICT, available on Amazon.com.)