A saddening sight

[Jack]

In San Diego, CA - at the bottom of the district of Mission Valley - a huge theater lies half torn apart, like its drowning in its own rubble. Contruction workers have just started to knock it down and pave it over. This theater has been around for decades, dating back to the 60's, and was started before shopping malls overtook Mission Valley.

This one-screen theater was quite massive, known as Valley Circle. It was one of the first 35 theaters in the world to show Star Wars on opening day in 1977. It held a lot of fond memories for me, for that was the first place I was introduced to Disney with The Little Mermaid. I saw films like The Great Mouse Detective, Beauty and the Beast, and Rescuers Down Under there.

I remember waiting with all my young friends, standing in line for tickets for The Lion King, anxiously awaiting to see it for the first time. Same for Toy Story - I remember going to get my popcorn from the grand concession stand when popcorn was much cheaper than $8, and taking my seat only be astounded by the first computer animated movie.

This was THE place to see movies in San Diego when I was a youngin.

That's when the numerous malls were built. Chain multiplexes like AMC and Regal established several theaters amoung the dozens of shops. They took away all the business from Valley Circle and shut it down.

At first, the place was converted in to some sort of church. But even that didn't last long. Soon after, the decision was made to tear it down.

When I first saw it being demolished, I felt like my childhood memories had been abashed. So many memorable moments happened there, its pretty sad to see it gone forever.

[Luke]

That's sad. At least you have the memories...they can't knock those down and pave them over.

[BasilOfBakerStreet427]

I second Luke.You can't knock down memories.

[Marianne81]

I too was very sad when my dad told me he saw them tearing it down. I remember seeing The Lion King there as well. It was opening day and we stood in this massive line, but I didn't care. There's was nothing else like seeing a movie on that huge screen. I mean I saw the Special Edition of Star Wars and Titanic there. Both awesome experiences. It's a real shame there are not any one large screen theaters in San Diego any more.