If you grew up in Lubbock, there’s a decent chance some of your happiest memories were made inside the slightly sticky walls of Showplace 6.
And, if your grandma took you? Forget Disney World. You won the lotto.
There were a few unspoken rules to the experience.
First of all, Grandma was absolutely sneaking snacks in.
Mine always crammed 2 cans of off-brand cola and a couple of Snickers bars in her purse, between used tissues, receipts from 1987, peppermints, and other mysterious old-lady items no child was permitted to touch. I remember hearing the cans clanking together as we walked through the lobby. She would always give me a mischievous grin and a wink. I’d be extra careful not to blow our cover, but she did most of the heavy lifting, being an adorable, innocent granny…with a bag full of secrets.
The second rule was that you never complained about the movie selection.
Showplace 6 wasn’t about seeing the newest blockbuster films. It was about seeing a movie for cheap, and maybe even another one afterward, if Granny had enough in her coin purse (or was feeling rebellious enough to sneak in). Mine drew the line with sneaky snacks, but yours could have been a wild woman.
The third unspoken rule of visiting the dollar theater was that you understood the building itself was hanging together by pure determination.
The seats were falling apart, the floors were permanently sticky no matter what season, and the carpet looked like it had survived not one, but many wars. Did you ever think about that when you were a kid? Absolutely not. Not a single complaint was uttered. If anything, you cried when it was time to go home…