As the past vanishes into dust...

While I was visiting my family over the Independence Day holiday, we took a family trip to an antique mall to evaluate a new table and chairs for my brother's apartment. As we drove there, we passed through streets and over hills I've known since elementary school. There's where my boss lived. There's where I was a counselor at Scout Camp. There's where we saw "Candide".

In some ways, little has changed along that route over the years. Yes, new houses have been built. Yes, the university tore down other houses to make dorms. But the park is still there. All the houses where my friends used to live are still there, even though the friends and even their families have long since moved away. It still feels familiar, even as the names on the doors change.

The drive took us past the Kenrick 8 Theater. Growing up, it was one of (if not the) closest movie complex. I've been there many times, seeing many movies; so many, I can only name a few. I remember being driven there in 4th or 5th grade. One of my friends was going on a date. Do kids even date in the 4th grade? Anyway, I was going along. His father dropped us off at the ticket office. I think we saw "Spaceballs", which just shows how not-date-like it was.

Apparently, the last day of operation was November 27 of last year. It was among the last of the "small" theaters in this particular chain. They're trading in all of the smaller theaters for the larger megaplexes. There are no theaters in the Wherenberg brand left with less than 10 screens in the St. Louis Co. area. In fact, five screens is the smallest left in Missouri, and that places is in a mostly-summer resort town on the Lake of the Ozarks.

It was a strange feeling, seeing the windows dark, the poster slots empty, the marque blank, and the gigantic parking lot gradually surrendering to weeds. I suppose it's nostalgia, this feeling of sadness at the decay of the area. The Burger King across the street, where I think I last ate when "Wild Wild West" was in theaters (do I still have those King Meal sunglasses?) is also closed and gone. The large shopping mall down the way, where I've been many times for Christmas and other shopping trips is also in a bad way. Mostly empty.

These closings really hit me. I don't know what it is, but I feel this particular way even for places I've never been. So perhaps there are really two sets of feelings going on. I remember driving through small towns in Illinois on my way to Florida and feeling inexplainable sadness at the dried up towns now only crossed by through traffic. Old hardware stores and dead appliance retailers, still sporting their signs and lettering from the 50's.

There don't seem to be any plans relating to this theater lot. There are no real estate signs and a cursory search of the internet turned up no plans. Will the theater chain build again in this "blighted" area? Can a large multiplex even be the keystone for a renewal project? It's hard to tell.

Feels weird to think that my friends will never gather and say, "What's playing at Kenrick tonight?