Growing Up: Movie Theaters

Some of my happiest memories growing up was with movie theaters in my area. A lot of places that were my getaway to fun, excitement, scares, and such. Here a few of those said locations:

The Hilltop Drive In Theater



I saw many films here, including Cujo, Lady and the Tramp, and Star Trek The Motion Picture. It was a sad sad day when it decided to shut down. I lived so close to it too.



The Hilltop was the last drive-in theater to be built in the Richmond-San Pablo-El Cerrito area and the last one to close, finally ceasing operation around 1984. Like most drive-ins in the country, especially single screen ones in urban areas, the land it occupied was just way too valuable to be used for only a few hours a day. 

The Rancho Drive In Theater


This where most of the more R rated stuff would play. I saw The Incredible Melting Man and Lazerblast here. It closed in 1978 due to under performance and a rise in gang activity.

Showcase Cinemas/San Pablo Theater


I saw a LOT of movies here. I miss this place. I actually liked it more that the Hilltop cinemas at Hilltop Mall. especially since it was all the time double features for the price of one film. 

I remember seeing that Rocky III/Clash of the Titans one and Raiders/Dragonslayer one here. I also saw Poltergeist, Twilight Zone The Movie, Close Encounters, Secret of NIHM, Watershed Down, Lord of the Rings (animated) and much more here. I miss this place a lot.

Hilltop Mall Cinemas


This one lasted the longest until Century 16 opened. I remember when this theater opened it was a major event. This is where I first saw....well, all these films listed here:




Plot was bought out by Cineplex Odeon and it stayed that way until the 90s. For a while it also becomes a second run $1 movie screen and was a hangout for me all through my college years.

CENTURY 9/10 CINEMAS  IN PINOLE


Alas, no photos exist online of this location. It was a theater with a mega video arcade. This theater was responsible for the downfall of Hilltop Mall cinemas. At the time it was the state of the art. However, as it got closer to the 2000's it became a run down place that also was not exactly safe anymore. Then again, this was around the time I also moved away from this part of the bay and started spending more time in San Francisco and Berkeley.

So...those are just some of the theaters I grew up with. Anyone else remember any of these?

Young Actors Workshop: Mama's Chicken

In the year 1991, I joined up with a group called The Young Actors Workshop in San Pablo, California. It was a gaggle of kids age 8-18, and we would be performing monkeys for the adults to enjoy. In some cases, some of us were literally performing monkeys. It was humiliation like none other.

I have many happy memories there, but I also have memories that I wish I could forget. Alas....I can't. So instead, I shall write about them from time to time. This is one of those times.

In the first summer of my time at YAW, (the acronym for it), a woman named June was in charge. She had this idea to do a sketch comedy show around Dracula. It had all the appeal of seeing Whoopi Goldberg naked to us kids. So instead we went with Heroes vs Villains in a show called Heroes Of The Future Right Now.

Catchy, eh?

The show did have a couple of Dracula carry over that was fun, but that needed to die badly in a blaze of glory was called ‘Mama’s Chicken’. It was offensive as fuck. It may have seemed innocent...but oh no it was not. Not at all.

 OK, so here goes the fresh that was this idea that should have never left the head of the one who thought it up: a woman and a child, (no clue if it is mother and child or nanny with ward or Alabama school teacher with student lover), are having a picnic. In the night. Because you know, everyone takes their child/ward/love slave on moon lit picnics. Suddenly, Dracula appears. Shock and horror then appears on the faces of all that has all the force of a fart coming out of a prolapsed rectum.

Nice visual, huh? Let that simmer in your head for a moment.

OK, moving on.

So, Dracula appears and is threatening to suck the blood of these two until the child offers Dracula a piece of fried chicken. He takes a bite, enjoys it so much, and proceeds to eat it all while the humans flee the scene. The worst part? The child cast as Dracula was African-American.

I wish I was exaggerating this part for entertainment reasons, but this is completely true. However, it gets worse. How, you ask? The original version was a lot more different. And racist.

So, the version of ‘Mama's Chicken’ you just read above was all done as a pantomime (acting with no dialogue for you non theater people). Originally, this scene not only had dialogue, but a song. A fucking song. A song sung by the woman, the child, and Blacula about how Mama’s Chicken tastes good because it is fried in Crisco. Dear God, I wish this was fiction, but it seriously happened.

June thought it was a great idea until she was told it was racist to have a black child singing about the joys of Fried Chicken cooked in Crisco. It didn't help that I mentioned to a apprentice director that I was waiting for the dancing watermelon slices to do a soft shoe sand dance while a sign comes down saying that they were in Jigaboo Junction. 

Yes, I actually said this to then Apprentice/assistant director Susan. She was none to happy with the way I put it, but the point came across, and she talked June out of it. I think this is where my reputation of being a naughty influence at YAW began as well. 

True story.