The Rat Palace
A hearty hi-ho to all those who ventured into my patch of cyberspace. Sit back, grab some popcorn & ju-ju bees and sit for a spell. Today we take a trip to the movies.
Since we lived in a small town (no stop lights, only 4-way stops), we had to go to the county seat if we wanted to go to the movie house. It was the only one in the county. It was called the Palace Theatre, but we nicknamed it "The Rat Palace".
This theatre was forever old. The seats were wooden, and folded at the slightest hint of getting up. The floor also had a sticky film from one too many Cokes being spilled on it. It looked just like the movie house sometimes shown on "Happy Days", minus the balcony. If it had a balcony, I was never in it.
The one nice thing about the Rat Palace was that it only cost $1 to get it. It was one of the "second screening" movie houses so you had to wait a while before the big blockbuster came to town. Five bucks got you & a friend in, plus you both could get cokes & popcorn or candy. Try doing that today.
We saw many of the big movies of the 70's there. We also saw many movies that probably didn't make enough profit to cover the cost of making them. Believe it or not, the largest crowd I can remember there was for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band starring Peter Frampton & The Bee Gees. It was the only movie that I paid my dollar for standing room only.
We drove by it the other day. The name has changed, but it's still standing.
Did you go to the movies alot as a kid (or teen?)
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