I atarted working at General Cinema’s AVCO Center in the summer of 1986. I was attending the freshman orientation at UCLA at the time, staying on campus. Peter Bobela was my first manager, always reminded me of Bill Daniels from “Knight Rider” and “St Elsewhere”. I had attended the third day (first weekend) of “Return of the Jedi” and was amazed at the THX sound. I felt like I was in the Ewok garden.
Anyway, the first blockbuster that I worked was “Aliens”. Talk about a cash cow! That show did business for weeks. I remember getting out of there at 4am after the Fri/Sat late shows, then riding my bicycle up the hill to the dorm. Other blockbusters I experienced there include “"Die Hard”, “Stakeout”, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, “Dirty Dancing”, “Big”, “Ruthless People”, and others.
Talk about a star magnet – the AVCO was certainly that. We would always have premieres there. I remember Penny Marshall at the “Big” premiere, Susanna Hoffs (when the Bangles were popular) for her stupid movie, “The Allnighterâ€. Glenn Close was pregnant when I saw her there. Christopher Reeve stopped by, Sonny Landham (“Predatorâ€, “48 Hrsâ€, “Action Jacksonâ€), many of the Lakers (Riley, Magic, Byron Scott), Angela Lansbury, Gene Wilder and wife Gilda Radner (not long before she died). It was hard not to be wild-eyed, as a teenager.
I was there for three years, before I decided that it was time to make some real money. The last time I was there to see a movie was in 1988, when Sigourney Weaver’s “Gorrillas in the Mist†was there. They had some jerk manager there that fancied himself as the black equivalent of Mr. Rourke from Fantasy Island (I am black, and I don’t like the term “African Americanâ€â€¦but I digress). It was some kind of experience, working there. Strange, that it has been 20 years since I started there. I’ll always remember it as the one large downstairs theater (and how long it took to clean it!)
I atarted working at General Cinema’s AVCO Center in the summer of 1986. I was attending the freshman orientation at UCLA at the time, staying on campus. Peter Bobela was my first manager, always reminded me of Bill Daniels from “Knight Rider” and “St Elsewhere”. I had attended the third day (first weekend) of “Return of the Jedi” and was amazed at the THX sound. I felt like I was in the Ewok garden.
Anyway, the first blockbuster that I worked was “Aliens”. Talk about a cash cow! That show did business for weeks. I remember getting out of there at 4am after the Fri/Sat late shows, then riding my bicycle up the hill to the dorm. Other blockbusters I experienced there include “"Die Hard”, “Stakeout”, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, “Dirty Dancing”, “Big”, “Ruthless People”, and others.
Talk about a star magnet – the AVCO was certainly that. We would always have premieres there. I remember Penny Marshall at the “Big” premiere, Susanna Hoffs (when the Bangles were popular) for her stupid movie, “The Allnighterâ€. Glenn Close was pregnant when I saw her there. Christopher Reeve stopped by, Sonny Landham (“Predatorâ€, “48 Hrsâ€, “Action Jacksonâ€), many of the Lakers (Riley, Magic, Byron Scott), Angela Lansbury, Gene Wilder and wife Gilda Radner (not long before she died). It was hard not to be wild-eyed, as a teenager.
I was there for three years, before I decided that it was time to make some real money. The last time I was there to see a movie was in 1988, when Sigourney Weaver’s “Gorrillas in the Mist†was there. They had some jerk manager there that fancied himself as the black equivalent of Mr. Rourke from Fantasy Island (I am black, and I don’t like the term “African Americanâ€â€¦but I digress). It was some kind of experience, working there. Strange, that it has been 20 years since I started there. I’ll always remember it as the one large downstairs theater (and how long it took to clean it!)
Memories…like the corners of my mind…