The $1 Theater Sets The Stage For Family Memories

I grew up watching movies. My dad is a hard core movie buff, and since he usually got to pick the movies, right from the time I was a kid I started watching terrible 1980s action movies and weird foreign films that, even in retrospect, I still don’t fully understand.

But my favorite moments to watch movies with my dad were when he, my brother and I would head over to the $1 theater for a double feature. Sometimes, if we got there early enough and there were multiple double features, we would get out of one double feature, go get something to eat, then come back to watch another two movies.

Now you might ask yourself, “Wow, how good were these movies?” And the answer would be that they weren’t all that great. As a matter of fact, I can’t even remember a single film that I saw at that dollar theater specifically, but what I do remember was how much fun it was to hang out with my papi and my brother during those grueling Inland Empire summers.

When we would go to the movies, I would get excited not because I wanted to see the movie necessarily, but because it meant we would be spending time together for an extended period of time. It may also be pertinent to mention at this point that my family is that annoying one in the theater talking to each other through the movie — I’m sorry, okay, it just enhances our enjoyment of the film.

As an adult now, and a single one, there are still times I wish the three of us could wrap some sodas in aluminum foil, head over to the ATM, and then enter the movie theater knowing that nothing would come between us for the next few hours but for a few people asking us to, please, “sssh.”

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD