Return to the Mt Eden Cinema

When I grew up in the Bronx we measured distances by city blocks. The Mt.Eden cinema, or movie theater, was within my territorial range--which was established by my mother. My father deferred to her geographic prowess. 

The Saturday afternoon matinee attracted kids with an all afternoon extravaganza: a double feature and cartoons. 

On rainy Saturdays I took off for the theater with my friend Nina. Where else, save in books, did I experience the wild west and exotic places far away from the streets of the Bronx.

When it rained my mother insisted on sufficient rain gear to weather a storm even though the theater was less than a ten minute walk from home. Because the showing started
early we took a sandwich and enough money to stop and get a pickle at the deli.

One Saturday Nina and I arrived too late to sit up front. The only seats left were in the last few rows--usually occupied by high school students. Both of us were in the fifth grade.

We sat in the next to the last row. By the time we unwrapped our sandwiches, after the first feature, new words had entered out vocabulary and we had watched the couple in front of us kiss. then they scrunched down and we couldn't see, but could hear.

From then on we arrived early enough to sit up front.