It is amazing to me the different things that one gets to experience in a small town. And not just any small town, but a small town that is MANY miles (like 90) from the nearest city that has more than 5,000 people. I find myself discovering and experiencing new things almost daily now that we live in Quincy, CA.
One of the things that has really struck me recently about living here was in regards to going to the movies. It really got me thinking about the way in which a lot of people in America approach going to the movies in the 21st Century. And rather than trying to be general and off-base (because this is NOT a scientific study of any sort), I will focus more on the way in which I, personally, had approaching going to the movies, and how that has changed since moving to Quincy.
I remember, even when I lived in Boerne, Texas, there was a theater named "The Palladium" that was only about 10 miles away from where we lived. Boerne, itself, didn't have a movie theater - which made me think at that time that Boerne was a TINY city (boy, have I discovered how wrong I was about that). Anyway, the Palladium had 20-some screens, was gigantic, and even had two VIP movie screens that were for adults 21 and over, had full-sized leather seats, and full arm rests. It was a huge and incredible theater. When Christi and I would talk about going to see a movie, we had a few decisions to make: 1) Should we go to the Palladium, or one of the other multi-screen theaters within another 5-8 miles? 2) What movie of the 20+ choices should we go see? and 3) What time should we go see the movie we wanted to see (of the 5+ times available each day)? It was quite the smorgasbord of options to choose from.
I admit that I used to think that made life "simpler" - to have all those choices and times - so you could go see what movie you wanted and when you wanted. However, that might be more "convenient", but I have come to discover it is not "simpler." I have discovered movie-going simplicity since moving to Quincy, CA.
At first when we moved to Quincy, I was thinking, "Hey... this can't be much different than Boerne, even if Quincy is less than 1/2 the size. Quincy has a movie theater! Woohoo!" But boy is it different... and that difference has come in the experience of Movie-Going Simplicity!!!
Quincy has a movie theater... yes... but it is only a ONE-Screen Movie theater. In addition to that, it only has one showtime per day (7 pm) except for Sundays (it has two 4 pm and 7 pm) and Wednesdays (when it is closed completely). If you want to see a movie there, you have approximately 3 days to see it. The movies show from Sunday through Tuesday or from Thursday through Saturday. And then, when you get inside, you will find a quaint little snack-bar. There are very few options, but at least the prices are not as steep as the mega-plexes. The theater itself isn't too large, and is clearly available for both movie showings as well as live theater, as there is quite a large stage stretching out in front of the screen.
So, in short... what is Movie-Going Simplicity? It is: 1) Do you want to go to THE movie? And that's it. If you want to go to the movie, there is only one show time to go to. And if you don't go to the movie that is showing now, in 3 days max, it will be gone. Different - yes. Bad - not at all.
And, just to add to this post of simplicity, I had to take pictures of this single-plex to show what I am talking about. Enjoy.
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