Growing Up at the Movies: Why I’ll Always Love Theaters

I've been going to the movie theater my whole life. Some of my earliest memories were of going to the theater and the drive-in with my parents.

By the time I was going to the movies on my own, the drive-in was gone, but the little two-screen movie theater in my western Nebraska hometown was everything. It was what I did on the weekend, every weekend. I'd see anything from Back to the Future to Rain Man, and My Stepmother is an Alien. There was rarely a movie I wouldn't see.

Growing Up in a Small-Town Movie Theater

I'd go by myself, with friends, and on dates. I've probably sat in every seat in that place. I'd always get my movie night special: large Pepsi and tropical Starburst, and settle in at the only other place in town I felt at home. The other was...my home.

Why the Movie Theater Always Felt Like Home

I have seen movies in theaters all over North America. From a dollar theater in Denver to see Friday the 13th Part VII: Jason Takes Manhattan, to a super fancy one in Vancouver, Canada, with a curtain and real ushers. It was probably too fancy a place to see Drew Barrymore in Poison Ivy, but I loved it anyway.

Rediscovering the Movies Through My Kids

After we had kids and they were young, I fell off going to the movies. But when they were about 12-ish, they started showing interest in the movie theater. Their love of it reignited mine. Seeing horror movies with my son and Marvel movies with my daughter have become cherished memories. Oh! And we saw The Nightmare Before Christmas at the State Theater in Sioux Falls as a family one year, and it was the absolute best.

Movie Theaters Still Matter Today

I know the theater business is having a tough time nowadays. But I hope the industry can transition to a sustainable model. I can't imagine not having a movie theater close by.

Living in Sioux Falls, we have an embarrassment of movie theater riches. Three multi-screen theaters and the exquisite State Theater downtown. But, theaters continue to live in the small towns all over the Sioux Empire.

Some of them are in more modern buildings or a mall. But several of the area's small town theaters are wonderful old institutions that still live in the town's historic downtowns. They may not be big and fancy, but they are there for the people to escape the heat or cold, and for a couple of hours escape into a dream.