Afternoon Matinee's & Drive-In Theater's

When mom could, we were treated to a Saturday or Sunday afternoon matinee. A few bucks back in the 60s went quite a bit further than it seems to today. We could cover the cost of the movie ticket, a couple of treats from Walgreen's or Skaggs and enough to buy a popcorn or soda.

The Kimo, The State, The Sunshine, Highland, Fox Winrock, Cinema East were the theaters I remember. The Lobo & The Guild seemed to cater to more mature or supposedly mature folk. The Kimo held/holds all the historical and architectural grandeur of any great little or big theater, with the thick velvet curtains and carpet, the elegant banisters and the aire thick with the smell of freshly popped popcorn and eager movie goers, the ascent to the balcony, always seemed special, the minute you walked in... there was no doubt you were at the movies and could step into a make believe world, larger than life. We jumped into the big screen for a couple of hours and became the hero and adventurer, the suave star and very perfect person.

We saw movies like;
Green Beret, John Wayne walked tall and was in command in that one as well as all his other movies, there was Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang,***Elvis as Kid Galahad or dancing it up, gyrating his hips, doing the twirly-twirly as some babe pined over him in Acapulco or Vegas baby! **The Jungle Book, Bambi, Jerry Lewis as The Nutty Professor,The Music Man and Sound of Music along with all The Beach Parties with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.

Mom also piled all of us in the station wagon, popped a grocery bag full of popcorn, made some fried chicken or hot dogs, Kool-aid and other provisions and life was good... if that wasn't enough... we could go in our pj's! Off we drove, to the Silver Dollar, Duke City, Wyoming, Terrace, We saw Lilly's of The Field, Mary Poppins, The Incredible Mr Limpet, The Sound of Music. Just great movie-going fun!