When I was a kid growing up in Tulsa, going to a movie was a big deal.

I grew up near McClure Park (11th street and Memorial Drive) and we were close to the Admiral Twin Drive-in. The park and the drive-in are still there.

When the Crosstown Expressway (I-244) was built, we were afraid they were going to buy the Admiral Twin for right-of-way and close it down. They didn’t.

The Admiral Twin was great fun. When I was little, our family would go there for a movie. They had a playground right next to the screens and we would play there until it got dark enough for them to start the movies.

When I was in high school, my buddies and I would go to late movies at the Admiral Twin on Friday and Saturday nights. Each car had a speaker on a pole. The sound wasn’t so good but it was cheap to get in. Some people would park their trucks backward and sit in the back on lawn chairs while watching the movie. I never took a date to a drive-in.

There used to several drive-in theaters around town. There was one at 11th Street and Mingo Road and one on Apache Avenue west of Memorial Drive near the airport. There was the 51 Drive-in on 71st Street near 129th East Avenue in Broken Arrow and one on the west side of the Arkansas River (I think it was the Bellaire Drive-in) next to I-44. It’s a car lot now.

I can remember when the Boman Twin opened in the Boman Twin Shopping Center at 31st Street and Sheridan Road. I am pretty sure it was the first twin indoor theater in Tulsa.

Imagine that – an indoor theater showing with two screens showing separate movies at the same time. Now, there are few theaters in Tulsa without multiple screens.

I can remember standing in line to watch blockbuster movies at the Boman Twin. It was fun to watch movies there because it was air-conditioned. It’s now Laser Quest on one side and a mattress store on the other side.

I went to some movies at the Will Rogers Theater on 11th Street, west of Yale Avenue. It had a balcony and was one of the older theaters in town even back then. It was torn down and now there’s a church there.

The Delman Theater was at 15th Street and Lewis Avenue. As I recall, it was one of the classier theaters. It had velvet wallpaper and looked a bit like a bordello (not that I have ever been in a bordello).

The Circle Theatre is still around on Lewis Avenue at Third Street. It’s been restored and they tend to show offbeat movies there that aren’t in the big screen theaters.

The Brook Theater was on Peoria Avenue on Brookside. It actually used to show movies. I’m not sure what it is now but the building is intact.

There used to be the Village Theater on Garnett Road near Admiral Boulevard. It was the first heavily discounted indoor movie theater. The building is still there but the last drive I drove by it, it looked abandoned.

Shortly after we got married in 1982, we moved near 31st Street and Sheridan Road behind the Boman Twin. A fancy theater with several screens opened in the Mall 31 Shopping Center. It was cheap and the theater was glitzy. It’s closed now.

There was a dollar cinema in the Fontana Shopping Center that we used frequent but it is gone.

There used to be an indoor theater near Southroads Mall. That is where Susan and I went on our first date. It’s gone.

Back when I was single, you asked a girl out and you bought her dinner and took her to a movie. Maybe you could substitute a concert for the movie or maybe a round of miniature golf. That was standard fare.

Not too long ago, I went to the dollar theater at 71st Street and Memorial Drive (close to Red Lobster). It was cheap and clean and showed second-run movies. It closed and has been replaced by another theater.

We don’t live too far from Eton Square Cinema, which is about the cheapest theater around. But I have stopped going to cheap movie theaters. I got spoiled after being invited movie previews at some of the nicer theaters around. It’s worth a few extra bucks to sit in an over-sized recliner with great sound.

I haven’t been to the Warren Theater in Broken Arrow but I have been to the one in Moore and it is very nice.

We don’t go to a lot of movies because we know that in a few months, we can watch these shows on our own TV in our living room. And our popcorn doesn’t cost $12 a bucket and we don’t have to drink a 32-ounce Dr. Pepper to wash it down.

I wonder what watching movies will be like five years from now?