Wednesday, June 19th, 1974

We got paid today.

I met Terry here at 11 and then we went over the river.All the new stuff was out but we didn't get any so we wouldn't have to carry it. We caught the bus at 12:40. A little over an hour later, about 1:45, we finally arrived at Tri-County Shopping Center. We asked some people for directions but no one knew exactly. So we walked across the street to a gas station and got directions there. We started walking but after about 10 minutes, we had to stop and ask for directions again. We finally found the right road but we had to walk all the way to the other end to find the theatre! It took us so long that we literally arrived just moments before the picture started.

We did get to see THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD, though and it was marvelous!

At first sight of the Showcase Cinemas I was very elated! I never thought we'd actually find them! I was in the same building as THE EXORCIST, too.

Took us forever to walk back, too, and then we had to wait on the bus and take the hour long bus back to town and then the TANK bus back to Kentucky! By the time I got home, I had a bad headache and stomachache and had to skip work! It was late enough that Mom and Dad were already at the Office by the time I got back.

I felt terrible by the time the day ended but I wouldn't have missed it. Also saw three more theaters along the way--The Alpha and the Princeton 1 and 2.

NOTES: The Showcase Cinemas in Tri-County had been open about a year at that point I believe but I had never been there. They had 6 screens at a time when 2 was the maximum anywhere else. The ads in the paper always said "Near Tri-County Shopping Center" so, of course, it made sense to take the bus to the Center and then walk. Only it wasn't THAT near the Tri-County Shopping Center! It took nearly 90 minutes to get there down a long country road about half a mile North of the Mall and it was an extremely hot day!


So about 90 minutes to get to Tri-County from Kentucky, 90 minutes to walk to the theaters, arriving just in time for a 90 minute movie, followed by a 90 minute walk back as the sun started setting, then waiting for the return bus and another 90 minutes to make it home. About 8 hours to see the new Ray Harryhausen film!


Now here's the thing. If one is driving, it really is about five minutes away from the Shopping Center (now called a Mall). Only two geeky teenagers would walk it! For many years in the nineties, the Cincinnati Old Time Radio Convention would be held just across the street from it. I often looked out at the theater from the hotel parking lot and remembered that hot, looooong day.