Kaysville Theatre...A Glimpse Of What Once Was

For the past half year my daughter's been working a couple of times a week. The game shop where she works is located a few doors down from the Kaysville Theatre, a staple of downtown Kaysville for longer than I've been around, at least, I think it's been around as long as I have.

Every time I see the place, it takes me back, back to how we all used to see movies.

As a kid, I spent more time watching movies in Bountiful. I don't know why. When my dad was still alive I remember him taking the family to see Disney's Million Dollar Duck, staring Dean Jones and Sandy Duncan at a drive-in theater across the street from the current location of Nielsen's Frozen Custard in Bountiful. That was the first theater I attended in Bountiful and it's been gone for at least four decades. 

Bountiful had the Queen Theater on 5th South--gone. We also saw a lot of shows at the Sandcastle Theater on 5th West--gone. Then there was the Trolley North theater across from the old K Mart--both gone. The Sandcastle and Trolley North were both multi-screen theaters, a big advancement in movie entertainment, even though "multi" back then meant two or three screens.

All those theaters, even the ones in Salt Lake are gone. Kaysville remains as a testament to how things used to be. Yes, they transformed one screen into several, but so much of what makes the theater amazing still remains. 

We don't see many movies in theaters nowadays. My children will have different memories of how they experienced entertainment. But for me, as long as the Kaysville Theatre exists, it will be a reminder of how things used to be.

Feeling Quirky? There's A Game Store For That...

I saw the post on Facebook that my friend Craig Nybo was opening up a game store. If you know Craig, you also know that taking on yet another project is not surprising. He could say he's training to be an astronaut and you'd think, "Yeah, that makes sense."

I thought I should blog about this new venture so I began to write using pictures Craig posted on Facebook when I thought, "Why don't I just drive over there--it's only one town over."

That's what I did. I grabbed my youngest, we jumped in the car, and took the road I used to take to go to high school and stopped at Quirky Engine Entertainment Family Games. It's right next to the famous Kaysville Theater--you can't miss it!

And fortunately, Craig was there. I love chatting with Craig. Talk about talented! The guy writes novels--good novels. He creates amazing music, and puts on one heck of a show each year at his Gangrene Film Festival. He also makes games on the side. Quirky Engine is packed with games that the family will enjoy. There's little-known but great titles. There's puzzles, t-shirts, and books as well.

One of the coolest things is the Quirky Game Finder. This magical device will find the perfect game for you. Just enter your price range, age range, and number of people, click the button and...voila! It tells you what game you should get and that game is in the store!

If you live near Davis County and you're looking for a perfect Christmas or Hanukkah gift, check out Quirky Engine Entertainment Family Games. You can get more information: HERE (Facebook) and: HERE (company website). Put more FUN in you life--Play a Game!

A Field Of Beautiful German Cars...

My friend Bob texted me last Saturday morning telling me I needed to get my tail down to Kaysville. There was a car show going on and he was sure I'd enjoy what was on display.

My friend knows me very well.

Because I did go and I did enjoy it. Spread across the little league soccer field were dozens of classic Volkswagens. Beetles, vans, karrmann ghias, even a Thing. They were absolutely beautiful. This was a gathering of the Voodoo VW Club. Back when I owned VWs, I'm sure the clubs existed--I was more worried about my car working than getting in a club. But if I had one now, I'd look into joining.

Several years ago a man called and asked if I wouldn't mind donating my '65 bug to him and his son so they could work on in and see if it could be resurrected. I had no place to put the car and it was in pretty bad shape. I walked around wondering if one of these cars was my old high school ride. I didn't find any 1965 bugs that matched. It's too bad--I'd like to think it's out there somewhere, still going strong (or, at least, going...).

At the show I snapped as many pictures as I could and so I'm sharing them now. Yes, maybe one day I'll get another VW, but if not, walking around snapping pictures of other people's vintage vehicles is pretty cool, too.

  

Jr. High School Dances...The Horror

Tonight, my wife and I attended a dance recital that turned into a ball (not, "ball" as it "lots of fun" although that works too, but ball as in formal dance...). My daughter's dance academy put it on so we got to see several of the student's dances and afterward, the floor opened up to everyone to kick up their heels a bit. They played Boot Scootin' Boogie, The Macarena, and other songs, many of which we knew.

My wife and I hadn't planned on doing a lot of dancing. In fact, we thought we'd not stay long because of the storm--didn't want to not make it home, but it stopped snowing so we stayed while our daughter did a little dancing. The event was held in a community recreation center that doubles as a jr. high school gym.

And, boy, did it take me back--roughly forty years back--to the aging (even back in the 1970s...) gym at Kaysville Jr. High, home of the Knights. Just thinking about those afternoons when everyone in the school knew a school dance was scheduled sent shivers up and down my spine.

And not in a good way.

No, as if the overall experience of jr. high school wasn't bad enough, they had to twist the uncomfortable knife even deeper. It's like the final piece of the crap puzzle that was jr. high school. You throw hundreds of socially awkward kids together and then you tell them to dance. The most successful jr. high school dances were the ones where my friends and I snuck out through the back of the gym and caught a #70 bus home.

Tonight's dance was not like my childhood nightmares. Families, little kids, jr. high and high school aged people were on the floor. And the fact that it was put on by a dance academy meant the kids could actually dance. Still, sitting in a darkened jr. high school gym watching people dance while listening to poorly acoustically delivered music, those memories came flooding back. Those were tough times--glad I got through them.

The Kaysville 7-Eleven...No Mas

My wife and I were driving last weekend in a town that in many ways, fells like my hometown. I attended jr. high and high school in this town. I ran those streets with my friends. I cruised those same streets on weekends and it's just a great place to live.

I have many memories of Kaysville, Utah, and one of them has to do with the local 7-Eleven. The convenience store opened Homecoming weekend, 1980. I remember because I was a freshman (when you're in high school, the world revolves around high school and its students...) and before the Homecoming parade (my brother helped make one of the floats...), we all stopped in at the recently opened store. It was new and shiny. They even gave it precious real estate in the 1981, Vol. 67 Davis High School Yearbook.

But, as all material things are created, so must they end. We drove passed the store last weekend and it's boarded up. It's gone. Downtown Kaysville, in many ways, looks as it did decades ago, especially when you're driving by. But when you take a closer look, you'll see the changes, the new high school, the different businesses, the effects of time.

It's kind of like when you look at those of us who used to run and cruise the streets. From a distance, or when you're driving past, we kind of look the same. But, up close you can see the changes, the wrinkles and yes, some of us are no longer here.

My Trip To Kaysville...

Tonight I drove to the next town over, something I've done many times over the years. For some reason, tonight's drive reminded me of when I used to make the same drive thirty plus years ago.

And I realized, much has changed and much has stayed the same.

Back when I was in high school I drove that same road, the upper road through Farmington and into Kaysville, except back then, I drove my prized green VW bug. Well, it wasn't so much "prized" as it was barely a car. My 1965 bug had a 1200 CC engine and 6-volt wiring. The car left me stranded almost 50% of the time I drove the thing.

Man, how I loved that car!

Cars have changed. Tonight I drove a car built in 2004. The differences between my car then and my car now are great. My car now has more than 36 horsepower. It has brakes that work and a radio. It has a heater that actually works and windshield wipers with windshield wiper fluid. These are all good things. There exist similarities, too which include four wheels, registered license plates, working lights and both are paid for.

The road to Kaysville has changed. Once you leave Farmington there are two lanes into town, but the biggest improvement is a bridge crosses Highway 89. That's important because on more than one occasion my little VW barely made it across that street without getting smashed by oncoming traffic.

The Kaysville Theater is still there, except now it shows multiple movies, not just one or two. And there's a bank on the corner, except it's not Barnes Bank, but Zions. It should be Barnes. 

In both towns there are more traffic lights now. Back then the first traffic light you came to between Farmington and Kaysville was downtown Kaysville, right next to the 7-Eleven. Now there are nine traffic lights. I remember when that 7-Eleven opened, Davis High Homecoming Weekend, 1980. It was quite an event.

I remember making that same drive many a Friday night on my way to some activity, be it at the high school or a friend's house. I usually drove it with friends, but tonight I was alone. Maybe that's why the trip made me think about how so many things have changed and how so many have not.