Back in the early 70's the place to go for all the latest blaxploitation movies (an upcoming blog topic) was The Cinema 21 movie theater in Pasadena, CA. Located on Washington Blvd. just west of Lake Ave. the Cinema 21 was the place to be! The admission price was only 50 cents to get in and you were guaranteed to see the latest and hippest flicks. Risking life and limb at times to see classic movies such as Shaft, Superfly, The Mack, Cotton Comes To Harlem, Across 110th Street, Black Caesar, Cleopatra Jones, Slaughter, Coffy, Hell Up In Harlem, Blacula, and many more, the Cinema 21 was an unforgettable experience.
The theater was patrolled by the short, buffed security guard you didn't want to mess with known as "No-Neck". He would constantly patrol the theater looking for trouble makers and would keep everyone in line by flashing his flashlight on you.
Sadly the Cinema 21 theater is now abandoned and severely neglected (see photo).
Maybe I should buy it and restore it to it's luxurious past? Well, it wasn't ever very luxurious and one of the main reason we used to go there was because it was the cheapest movie theater in town.
After the movies it was about a block and a half walk to Bill's Chicken. There we would get some serious fried chicken from Bill (who was usually pretty grumpy and always had the blues playing), pop some change in the jukebox and listen to Ball of Confusion or I Can't Get Next To You by The Temptations. From there it was a long walk home.......Ahhh, those were the days.
What? You say your not hip to blaxploitation movies? Have you been living in a bubble? Well check out the Soul Cinema site http://www.soulcinema.com/ to see what I'm talkin' about and get yourself hip!
Oh yea, I used to love the Cinema 21! It was the place to be (if you could hear the movie with all of the brothers and sisters talkin'!) I remember watching Superfly, and it seemed the entire audience was snapping their fingers to the beat. It reverberated throughout the theater. And yes, Bill's chicken. We would come in after drinking a little Right Time, and Spanada wine (remember?). Oh, and Boones Farm if we were lucky. Bill would always be back there, and me and my buddies would come through the door screaming, BILL! HOW ABOUT A BAG OF CHICKEN? He would oblige, and through in more wings for 1 dollar. A big bag! We would scream for some hot sauce too. Hilarious!
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I can see my many readers share the same tastes in fine cinema and cuisine.
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