Cruising?? A Movie Theater??

Okay think back to say 1991. I was a young sprat fixing to start my sophomore year at Karns High (still relying on the parentals or older friends for rides) and a short-lived phenomenon was about to explode. While the mall was still a viable hangout for teens without their own wheels, a new dive was on the rise for teens with or without a car. Of course I speak of the Dollar Movies, the Windsor Square Mecca where Front Row Joe and grumpy ass rent-a-cops all come (or should i say came) to congregate.

The Dollar Movies was a melting pot where every high school niche was represented fully. On any given weekend night (Friday seemed to be the busiest) you'd find teens cruising in their junky hand-me-down oldsmobuicks, hoping to find a buddy or, God willing, a member of the opposite sex. There was bad sound a' plenty--as EVERYONE seemed to think they had kick-ass systems. The general idea was if you turned Ice Cube, or even T, up loud enough your mom's Caravan would sound just as good as the low rider. How stupid is bass anyway? People were just driving around listening to garbage they couldn't even make out just because it had a lot of BASS? But I digress...

The funny thing was if you ever did actually see a movie the theater was half-empty--even though the board said the showing was a sell-out. Now this is of course attributed to the fact that the younger crowd would be forced to produce ticket stubs for their non-trusting parents, who assumed all was well when they saw that their son or daughter had in fact seen the 7:20 Backdraft show. The wool had been thrown over their eyes....

Anyways, it was a cool meeting place there for a few--where even older teens who were too cool for the scene would even find themselves driving by some late Friday evening, find nothing worth staying for, then jump on the Pike and head back down towards Brunswick--after all they did have a cigarette machine.