Mayorb

Just a quick memory of the original theater...

At some point they turned the movie theater into a two screen venue. They did this by simply building a wall straight down the middle of the theater. They didn't change the orientation of the seats though. They were placed in a pronounced arc, probably due to the size of the original screen. This resulted in all the seats being aimed at the center of the old screen. But the new setup had people facing the far right of the left screen, and the far left of the right screen. You literally had to turn your head to watch the movie!

I was looking for old photos also. The place has really evolved over the years, as has the hospital across the street. When I first went in about '73 Sears and Ward's were at the south and north end . There was a fountain in between, by Walgreen's, which had a small restaurant at the time. So did Sears.

Just across from Walgreen's was Weingarten's, a grocery store. There was also THE GAP which sold nothing but Levi's brand clothing at the time. Parker Music, Spencer's, 5-7-9, County Seat (for wrangler's), Lee Ward (think Hobby Lobby), Firestone (I think) which had service bays that opened to the west parking lot, Hickory Farms, Oshman's, Pipe Pub, Wicks and Sticks, Pipe Organ Pizza, Military Recruitment Office, The bible store, Craig's,  Battlestein's, Orange Julius, Celebrity Cafe, Waldenbooks, Piccadilly cafeteria, York steakhouse, Kinney shoes, the model shop, the record shop, and of course that wonderful LARGE screen movie theater with the balcony. In today's theaters I feel like I'm just watching a big screen TV.

The first Pong game I saw was in Sears near their package pick-up. There were two people playing and about 15 people watching. Later, Celebrity Cafe evolved into a game room, and Quiptar's moved in about 200 feet east of them. Green's was a game room that was built on the real estate previously occupied by Sears restaurant.