I worked at the Belvedere theater somewhere around 1959 selling concessions. It was for all people then. My dad also worked there for a while running the projectors. We had to work long hours, and I can still remember going up the street a few blocks to buy hamburgers on my breaks. It was a very nice theater and people were not allowed to misbehave. They were asked to leave if they did. The manager of the theater was a nice gentleman and operated it with class.
In early 1960, my dad operated the Astor theater for a short while. He showed mostly “B” movies, not porn or anything like that. I could tell that it had once been elegant, with it’s carved ceiling and red velvet curtain to draw over the screen. Next door was a business that made and sold french fried potatoes for resturants. An apartment was upstairs over the business where some people lived. The neighborhood was pretty run down, and my dad did not operate the theater very long. But he did have Bill Monroe and his bluegrass band play there once. My dad also operated a drive-in theater in South Carolina and had Bill Monroe and Carl Story play there.
I worked at the Belvedere theater somewhere around 1959 selling concessions. It was for all people then. My dad also worked there for a while running the projectors. We had to work long hours, and I can still remember going up the street a few blocks to buy hamburgers on my breaks. It was a very nice theater and people were not allowed to misbehave. They were asked to leave if they did. The manager of the theater was a nice gentleman and operated it with class.
In early 1960, my dad operated the Astor theater for a short while. He showed mostly “B” movies, not porn or anything like that. I could tell that it had once been elegant, with it’s carved ceiling and red velvet curtain to draw over the screen. Next door was a business that made and sold french fried potatoes for resturants. An apartment was upstairs over the business where some people lived. The neighborhood was pretty run down, and my dad did not operate the theater very long. But he did have Bill Monroe and his bluegrass band play there once. My dad also operated a drive-in theater in South Carolina and had Bill Monroe and Carl Story play there.