september 12, 1979

we had been in los angles for several days. this was back when we would spend 5 days or more at the parks. this september had a bonus. i had gotten premier tickets to see apocalypse now at the pacific's cinerama dome, which was a big deal. i had called out about a month in advance for the tickets and i was able to reserve them for the 10:30 am showing. wow, i was excited.
the day before, the 11th, we had spent at disneyland taking pictures and generally just loafing around the park. the smog was horrible and made the day overall unpleasant. it was so bad that there was a brown haze about 3/4's of the way up the matterhorn which was very smelly and ugly.
the next day we get up in what i believe is plenty of time to get to the show, which is about 25 miles away in downtown la. as i get into the car and turn on the radio i am greeted with the news that the 12th would be the worst smog day in la for the past 25 years. undaunted, off we go up highway 5 towards downtown. traffic normally is bad, this day was just down right impossible. stop and go, nearly getting run over by a semi truck and 1 missed turn later we get to the parking lot. we get out of the car and run to the ticket booth.

the show had started about 10 minutes ago. i was crushed because these were reserved seats and that was that. it was go in and watch the movie, minus the first 10 minutes or give the tickets up.
i asked for the manager, who of course was not expected into work till around noon. dejected, we went and found a brunch down the street and waited.
at noon, we were back at the theater asking for the manager to see if we could do another showing, sometime over the next few days. good luck, opening weekend for a world preimer movie.
turns out, the manager did arrive, about 12:10, he had been running late all morning due to the smog as well and he totally understood my pleadings about being from out of town and the really horrible conditions in town that very day.
well, happy ending to this story. there were 2 seats that he had reserved for his friends at the next showing. at 2:30 in the balcony, first row, right in the middle. just amazingly awesome seats. he let us exchange for those seats and man was i happy.
my little adventure of september 12, 1979 - up the river.
{historical note of interest-$5.00 for a movie;apocalypse now was the first $5.00 movie ever}