tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post110983630939022351..comments2024-03-24T13:26:57.317-07:00Comments on Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule: "GOODBYE, DRAGON INN" AND THE GHOSTS OF CINEMADennis Cozzaliohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01954848938471883431noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-1109927585413714552005-03-04T01:13:00.000-08:002005-03-04T01:13:00.000-08:00Wonderful stuff. Man, I like seeing movies throug...Wonderful stuff. Man, I like seeing movies through your eyes.<br /><br />Your piece got me to thinking about the movie theaters that I grew up with in Montebello. One was called the Vogue, and it wasn't very big, and I remember seeing BAMBI there and some creepy murder mystery movie that I think was originally in French but we saw a dubbed version-- that movie freaked me out for a while.<br /><br />The other theater was the Garmar, and I don't know what the name meant, except that it was a couple of blocks away from Garfield Blvd., which was a main street in town. It was one of those long tunnel-like, kinda airplane-hangar-ish structures with no style, no charm and a crappy sound system. We went to that theater often-- it's where I saw DELIVERANCE when I was not supposed to-- and the last picture that was shown there was CLASH OF THE TITANS, and my brother and I went to see it with a friend of his from college. Not the best movie to go out on, but at least Harryhausen's work was decent. Harry Hamlin on the other hand...<br /><br />For a while, Montebello did not have a movie theater, and when I lived with my brother after college, we used to have to speed up to Monterey Park or Pasadena or Alhambra or down to Bellflower or over to Whittier or over to our favorite old movie palace, the Rialto in South Pasadena, to catch a movie. It got to the point where we knew just how much time we needed to make a movie in any of these locations. My brother was the master of the 15-minute drive from Montebello to Pasadena, all the way on surface streets no less.<br /><br />The other movie theater that we frequented when I was a kid was the Golden Gate Theater in East Los Angeles. It was a big old place with courtyard outside the theater, and you reached the courtyard via a walkway that took you past a drugstore and retail stores that ringed the perimeter of the property. Here's an Internet site with a small picture, and if you look to the left in the picture, you'll see the top of the theater. Fantastic old place that has been left to rot for years. A few doors down was another ornate theater that showed Spanish-language films when I was a kid. That's where my grandmother used to go to catch movies. Oh, here's the Website...<br /><br />http://cinematreasures.org/search/query=East+Los+Angeles&search=city<br /><br />Going to the multiplex is a different feel, but if it's all you know growing up, I guess it could be sad when they knock one down to put up a bigger one. I remember Willie feeling sad when they knocked down the old Burbank AMC to put up the new Burbank AMC. He remembered some of the movies that he had seen there. I don't think he's ever been to a single-screen movie theater. Someday I'll have to take him to the Rialto or to the Vista.<br /><br />AndyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-1109880945370138752005-03-03T12:15:00.000-08:002005-03-03T12:15:00.000-08:00Bravo! What a nice piece of writing, and now I'd ...Bravo! What a nice piece of writing, and now I'd like to see the movie. Maybe my non-Blockbuster video store has it...or, even better, it'll turn up at one of the bay area's few remaining rep houses.<br />BruceAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com