It’s 5:45 p.m. on a weekday, and traffic is backed up at the Buckner-Garland intersection. The drive-time congestion is nothing new, but worsened today by construction dirt, rubble, roadblocks, and onlookers straining to see what’s going on at the under-construction plaza.
If you’re here, you might be here a while, or a long while depending on whether or not that traffic light is functioning. If you sit long enough, your meandering gaze might just settle on the old theater marquee, and your mind might drift down Memory Lane.
What was on display when you first visited the Casa Linda Theater — “Superman”, “Good Morning Vietnam”, or “Titanic” perhaps? Maybe Mom used to drop you off for the afternoon while she shopped the plaza; or you held your first job there tearing tickets; perhaps you recall peddling your bike there alone and seeing that scary flick — “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, for example — that kept you up for weeks; or walking down the darkened aisle hand-in-hand with your first date.
Ah, yes, the Casa Linda. To longtime East Dallas dwellers, it represents an escape, a paycheck and a playground of yesteryear. Don’t wander too far, now — it will be your turn to drive forward, eventually.
We asked a handful of neighbors for their favorite Casa Linda Theater memories, and here’s what they shared:
“I remember going to the Casa Linda back around 1976 to see the musical movie, “Tommy”. They played it in the smaller seating room, if I remember correctly. I went, along with a friend from high school named David Lowery — hope I got his last name right. The little things still stand out in my mind — concessions stand, especially the popcorn. Years later, while they were getting ready to set up for the auction after The Casa Linda had closed, I met Richard Peterson, who managed the place. I wanted to come in and take pictures and he said to be careful because there was a lot of junk lying around, but to go ahead and have a look around and take all the photos I wanted. At the time, Mr. Peterson also ran the Astro Drive-In Theatre in Oak Cliff. I bought about five Astro Drive-In T-Shirts from Mr. Peterson. He was selling them trying to raise money to keep the Astro open. I still have all of those shirts. Of course, the Astro didn’t make it either. Anyway, I looked around the empty Casa Linda, took several shots with my old point-and-shoot film camera. They didn’t come out too great, but at least I had something for my collection — I still have them tucked away. Mr. Peterson was real kind for letting me inside to take the photos. —Randy A. Carlisle, former White Rock area resident
“I have the most wonderful memories of watching movies at the Casa Linda Theater with my classmates when I was a student attending Reinhardt Elementary in the mid-1950s. Back then there was a shortcut from the neighborhood behind the theater to the front of the theater. On Saturdays the neighborhood kids would pay 25 cents and see a matinee and cartoons. The theater had two cry rooms at the back of the balcony. As I remember, the teenagers would sneak into the cry rooms and cause problems, and the manager was always running back and forth between the lobby and cry rooms. After the movie, all of us kids would walk down to Ashburn’s Ice Cream for a 10-cent ice cream cone. Ashburn’s was about where that gym is now. When my son was a baby, I took him there to his first movie, “Three Men and a Baby”. He slept through the whole movie. Now he’s 21 years old and in college, but I am glad the theater was there long enough for him to experience a little of what I enjoyed so much during my childhood, even if he did sleep through it. —Lucan Watkins, Casa Linda
“Good times. Good memories. I moved to this area in 1946 and watched the theater as it was being built. During that time, there were only three parental movie ratings: Good, Bad and Under-No-Circumstances-Are-You-Allowed-To-Go-See-That. In 1950, I entered high school at Woodrow Wilson and was finally allowed to start dating, but that only included chaperoned parties or the movies. The Casa Linda Theater was a special place to take a date because way in the back in the mezzanine balcony, there was a really neat place called the cry room. That’s where families could take their kids, close the door, and no one could hear or be disturbed by the sounds of a crying baby, yet they could still see and hear the movie. Well, it was also a place to take your date, especially on matinees because families didn’t use it then. Getting dressed in my best pair of jeans and my blue suede shoes with $2.50 in my pocket meant I was headed for the Casa Linda Theater to meet my date. At the movies I could buy two tickets, popcorn and drinks and still have change left over. I quickly became addicted to movies and never missed a single episode of “Buck Rogers in Space” or “Sky King” with Penny and The Songbird, but with a great date, who watched the movies anyway? Casa Linda was the place to go. —Doug Woodham, Old Lake Highlands
“The Casa Linda Movie Theater holds a lot of memories for me. My first kiss. My first date with my wife. My first job, actually. It was a family-run business back in 1986, and there was no Internet, no e-mail and no buying tickets online. We tore the tickets by hand, cleaned the theaters, wound and rewound the films. It was quite possibly the greatest job I ever had. I watched “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Good Morning Vietnam” at least a hundred times, and there was always some great weekend event: “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, a slew of rock movies, etc. I had to get a job. My parents instilled a rule in our house. Three, actually. You had to play a sport, soccer; play an instrument, guitar, drums and piano; and get a job to pay for half of your car insurance. So I got a job. And eventually learned a great deal about life not only through the movies but through the people I met and worked for at the theater. I’m in my 30s now, and married to that same girl I went on a date with at the Casa Linda Theater. I even moved back to Little Forest Hills after spending years abroad and in Boston. And I always dreamed of owning that theater and giving it back to the people so that maybe one kid out there could have the same great experiences I did. I even looked into it a couple of times, but ultimately never pursued anything. If I were to buy it, I would return it back to its majesty, when it was a great place to learn about life through creativity. I would show movies, put on plays, and showcase local talent from music to theater to comedy. This part of town has some of the most creative people on earth, and I hope one day that theater that gave me so much can again give so much to someone else. —Sean Brockette, Little Forest Hills
“I was not what anyone would describe as cool or popular in elementary or high school. I lived near the train tracks just outside of the Forest Hills area, and I would ride my bike to the theater, hoarded lunch money in hand, and escape from the cheerleaders and my fun-poking peers to the dark quiet of the theater. My dad took me to see “Superman II” there for my birthday when I turned 7. I went back to see it about nine more times during its run. My older stepbrother took me there to see “Tron” in the early ’80s. It was one of the last things we did together before he went off to college at UT. And I must have made a dozen or so trips on my bike to see “D.A.R.Y.L.”, about a boy who wasn’t human but a “Data Analyzing Robot Youth Life-form,” if memory serves. Man, I loved that movie. I really believe the old theater’s spirit fueled my appreciation for movies — as I entered high school and grew up, mega-theaters started popping up (like the Hollywood in nearby Garland) but I so preferred the cozy Casa Linda. I miss seeing the movie posters in the plaza and the anxiousness with which I would look at the marquee day to day to see if anything new was up. I don’t like the idea of turning it into anything other than a theater, or maybe a concert venue like the Granada. But times are changing and you have to live with that. At least the plaza is still around and we can remember in our hearts what once was. —Josh Stephens, Lochwood
“The McLendon family owned and operated the theater itself, but my great-grandfather, Carl Brown, and my grandfather, Herschel Brown, were two of the main builders of Casa Linda Plaza and the neighborhood surrounding it. On Saturdays during the mid-’70s, my mother would drop off my brother and me while she shopped. We went to see films like “Bedknobs & Broomsticks”, “Mary Poppins”, and all the westerns. After my brother Jason saw “The Legend of Boggy Creek” there, he had nightmares for a week. My dad took him to see “Rocky”, after which they walked in the front door, went to the fridge, cracked open two eggs and drank it down! The Casa Linda Theater was simply a part of our childhood. —Jennifer Brown Sherlock, former White Rock area resident
What now?
The Casa Linda Theater shut its doors for good in January 1999. Since then, new owner SC Companies has gutted, cleaned and overhauled its insides. SC Companies has secured an occupant for the spot and a sale is pending, says company principal Clay Evans, but a confidentiality agreement prevents him from announcing said tenant at this time. He says he is sympathetic to people’s concerns about the theater. “We understand people really obviously care about this place, he says. “Our aim has been all along to do something here that is right for us as well as the community around us.”
Some neighbors simply hope at least an outline of the old building will remain. “If I ever look over there and see them tearing down that wonderful old tower or marquee,” says neighbor Josh Stevens, “I swear, it will break my heart.”
