UA 8 Movies

Hi there, I worked at the UA8 in 1985 and was a high school friend of projectionist Dan Barron (he always promised to teach me how to run the projector, but never did!). I worked primarily as an usher and at concessions. I spent many hours learning “how to stand” and playing “Popcorn hockey” trying to see how far many tiles we could “shoot” a piece of popcorn on the floor. It took me years before I could tolerate the smell of popcorn again. I remember the following movies played at the UA8: Commando, Day of the Dead, Better Off Dead, Flesh + Blood, St. Elmo’s Fire, Teen Wolf, Fright Night, Weird Science and Re-Animator. I remember one midnight screening of Return of the Living Dead where about half the customers left in horror at the film. I must have watched each of those movies dozens of times (all in five-minute increments!) I remember playing the heck out of the arcade games in the lobby, especially Yie-Ar Karate, Kung Fu Master and Karate Champ. (Karate must have been big in 1985!) I haven’t been back to Escondido in years, and I’m sad to hear it’s long gone.

It was more than 1 screen, probably 8 or 10 or something like that.