Ha! I snuck in, or watch over the walls, many many times at the Campus Drive-In in the mid 70’s… we would ride our bikes from Del Cerro, and climb up on top of adjacent businesses' roofs, and drop over the wall, then crawl up to the seats in the unmaintained “kids play area” in the front part, right under the screen… the old wooden seats there were all covered with ivy, but it was a good place to hide, as long as you didn’t turn the sound up too high (there were speakers next to those ivy-covered seats!)… we sometimes even got the gall to go and buy a soda from the concession stand, once the movie had started! … the only problem was that people with little dogs would let them take a dump in the playground sand, so you had to watch it up there in the “free seating area”.
The STATE Theater tried to compete with “cheap weekend matinees” in the early 70’s… but it cost $1.50 at the State Theater, and only 75 cents at the Helix – so, unless there was some special movie I wanted to see, I would usually go to the Helix in La Mesa (and save my parents some money), which offered a better experience outside the theater to run around with other kids, while waiting for your parents to pick you up… at the State, you were basically the only kid there.
I went to double feature matinees in the early 70’s every weekend during the summers (the place was air conditioned!)… saw MAROONED(1969), SILENT RUNNING(1972) & SOYLENT GREEN(1973) for 75cents there.
I saw THX-1138 at this theater in 1971… I was 12 years old at the time, and the film was rated GP; so, they probably shouldn’t have let me in by myself, but they did.
Ha! I snuck in, or watch over the walls, many many times at the Campus Drive-In in the mid 70’s… we would ride our bikes from Del Cerro, and climb up on top of adjacent businesses' roofs, and drop over the wall, then crawl up to the seats in the unmaintained “kids play area” in the front part, right under the screen… the old wooden seats there were all covered with ivy, but it was a good place to hide, as long as you didn’t turn the sound up too high (there were speakers next to those ivy-covered seats!)… we sometimes even got the gall to go and buy a soda from the concession stand, once the movie had started! … the only problem was that people with little dogs would let them take a dump in the playground sand, so you had to watch it up there in the “free seating area”.
Saw STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, there in 1982 (was a student at SDSU at the time).
The STATE Theater tried to compete with “cheap weekend matinees” in the early 70’s… but it cost $1.50 at the State Theater, and only 75 cents at the Helix – so, unless there was some special movie I wanted to see, I would usually go to the Helix in La Mesa (and save my parents some money), which offered a better experience outside the theater to run around with other kids, while waiting for your parents to pick you up… at the State, you were basically the only kid there.
Remember the “Cry Room” in the back?
I went to double feature matinees in the early 70’s every weekend during the summers (the place was air conditioned!)… saw MAROONED(1969), SILENT RUNNING(1972) & SOYLENT GREEN(1973) for 75cents there.
I saw THX-1138 at this theater in 1971… I was 12 years old at the time, and the film was rated GP; so, they probably shouldn’t have let me in by myself, but they did.