30 Day Film Challenge-Day 6 - A Film That Reminds Me of Somewhere

Saturday, December 16, 1978. I was 14, and wanted to believe a man could fly. My mom dropped my brother and me off at the Village Green movie theater, each of us with $5 in our pockets for tickets to see Superman, which, at the time, was enough for the movie and some popcorn. The next two hours or so were amazing, even given the ridiculous portrayal of Lex Luthor, and we left the cinema elated. I remember walking across the parking lot, and leaping up onto the sidewalk, and being slightly disappointed when I did not keep going into the sky. Whenever I think about Superman, the movie, I think of the Village Green, and miss it. It was one of the first multi-plexes in our town, and it had, I think, 8 screens. My favorite being the one on the second floor that was reached by the steepest, narrowest staircase I've ever seen in a public building. It was located just off a major freeway exit, and across the street from the mall, but it had the worst parking lot design in history, and it was often easier to park at the mall and walk across the 6 lanes of serious traffic rather than try to get into the cinema parking lot. I have many fond memories of that place. It was where I saw Star Treks I and II for the first time, the above mentioned super flick, and so many others that they all blur in my memory. I might even have applied for a job there once or twice, though it never got me anywhere. It closed down a few years ago, and of all the cinemas that once were in my home town, I miss the Village Green the most. So if you ever find yourself passing through West Palm Beach, heading north on I-95 and approaching Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, that Best Buy on your right used to be a window to other worlds, other dimensions, other lives both wonderful and terrible, and used to be the favorite place to escape for a short, pudgy, very blonde teenager who believed a man could fly.