Missing the State Theater....a Corvallis institution
Jul 11, 2022 14:20:37 GMT -8
TheGlove, lebaneaver, and 2 more like this
Post by 2ndGenBeaver on Jul 11, 2022 14:20:37 GMT -8
There we were, family of four, celebrating younger son's birthday at the Carmike? AMC? <insert large less than memorable franchise name here> Cinemas.
After tix, popcorn, pop, candy etc., we were looking at around $90.
I glanced knowingly at my wife, fellow OSU alum, and said "I miss the State Theater".
My sons asked what that was, and so here I present some of my fond memories that I presented to them in homage. Some of you who were at OSU in the 80s (maybe earlier? before my time) might be able to fill in your own stories.....
The midnight movie at State Theater was where you went to see movies that likely already had run their course at a more mainstream theater.
Had already had a sequel, maybe a breakfast cereal or movie-themed waffle.
Everyone in attendance had likely seen the movie, internalized the dialog, and knew when to shout at the screen, when to fling beer cans at the "bad guy", when to sing along.....and if not, you were likely three sheets to the wind, creepy, crawly, maggoty falling down dead drunk and didn't care or notice that your timing was off. Also, since the din and bedlam of everyone interacting with the screen and each other overwhelmed the sound system, it didn't much matter.
You didn't wear your good shoes to the theater, lest they stick to the floor. You also (for similar reasons) didn't wear flip flops there.
The movies were priced right, when I first showed up in Corvallis in 1987, at $0.99, with the ticket counter keeping stacks of pennies to make change for the endless steam of dollar bills being presented.
That 99 cent price fit well the budget of mine and my then-girlfriend, now wife's very challenged checking account, where we would often grapple with existential issues like "there is $7 left in the checking account and 3 days left in the month.....". [We have been married 29 years, and experiences like that make me somewhat confident we can weather today's financial storms].
Now, the State had a similar business model as today's cinema-plex, but at their low budget and knowing their customer base they were not above basically frisking down theater-goers at the door in a futile attempt to thwart would-be snack and drink smugglers from circumventing their snack counter. While I lived off campus, in my early grad school years I dined with a colorful set of Sackett Hall denizens, collecting in the Weatherford dining hall (another venue no longer in existence) for meals. We would cook up popcorn, stuff it in a pillow case, and one of the members of our posse of the female persuasion would be pregnant for the night, as even the State theater friskers had the good taste not to pat down expecting mother's popcorn belly.
Early in our dating life, I was my wife's hero the term I taught a CS class to over 200 students in Milam auditorium as a GTA (I had 5 recitation TAs as a TA - no wonder I spent 11 years in gradual school!), because that allowed us to cruise down the waiting line of students outside the State until someone recognized me and said "hi", and we would join them in line, allowing us to get a better seat (i.e. functional seat back not terribly askew, not much sticky stuff on the seat or floor, off to the sides of the theater away from errant items thrown at the screen, not in front of people so drunk that they might toss their cookies during the show).
I remember many a night emerging from the State at nearly 2am.....but I don't recall many of the movies I saw there.
Now the site of the State Theater is a parking lot for the bank next door (cue Joni Mitchell). I still drive by there often. And I still miss it.
:-).
After tix, popcorn, pop, candy etc., we were looking at around $90.
I glanced knowingly at my wife, fellow OSU alum, and said "I miss the State Theater".
My sons asked what that was, and so here I present some of my fond memories that I presented to them in homage. Some of you who were at OSU in the 80s (maybe earlier? before my time) might be able to fill in your own stories.....
The midnight movie at State Theater was where you went to see movies that likely already had run their course at a more mainstream theater.
Had already had a sequel, maybe a breakfast cereal or movie-themed waffle.
Everyone in attendance had likely seen the movie, internalized the dialog, and knew when to shout at the screen, when to fling beer cans at the "bad guy", when to sing along.....and if not, you were likely three sheets to the wind, creepy, crawly, maggoty falling down dead drunk and didn't care or notice that your timing was off. Also, since the din and bedlam of everyone interacting with the screen and each other overwhelmed the sound system, it didn't much matter.
You didn't wear your good shoes to the theater, lest they stick to the floor. You also (for similar reasons) didn't wear flip flops there.
The movies were priced right, when I first showed up in Corvallis in 1987, at $0.99, with the ticket counter keeping stacks of pennies to make change for the endless steam of dollar bills being presented.
That 99 cent price fit well the budget of mine and my then-girlfriend, now wife's very challenged checking account, where we would often grapple with existential issues like "there is $7 left in the checking account and 3 days left in the month.....". [We have been married 29 years, and experiences like that make me somewhat confident we can weather today's financial storms].
Now, the State had a similar business model as today's cinema-plex, but at their low budget and knowing their customer base they were not above basically frisking down theater-goers at the door in a futile attempt to thwart would-be snack and drink smugglers from circumventing their snack counter. While I lived off campus, in my early grad school years I dined with a colorful set of Sackett Hall denizens, collecting in the Weatherford dining hall (another venue no longer in existence) for meals. We would cook up popcorn, stuff it in a pillow case, and one of the members of our posse of the female persuasion would be pregnant for the night, as even the State theater friskers had the good taste not to pat down expecting mother's popcorn belly.
Early in our dating life, I was my wife's hero the term I taught a CS class to over 200 students in Milam auditorium as a GTA (I had 5 recitation TAs as a TA - no wonder I spent 11 years in gradual school!), because that allowed us to cruise down the waiting line of students outside the State until someone recognized me and said "hi", and we would join them in line, allowing us to get a better seat (i.e. functional seat back not terribly askew, not much sticky stuff on the seat or floor, off to the sides of the theater away from errant items thrown at the screen, not in front of people so drunk that they might toss their cookies during the show).
I remember many a night emerging from the State at nearly 2am.....but I don't recall many of the movies I saw there.
Now the site of the State Theater is a parking lot for the bank next door (cue Joni Mitchell). I still drive by there often. And I still miss it.
:-).
