1960 Castroville, California

Anita Orozco Ayala

1951

Castroville, California

Interviewed on January 29, 2022

By Gabriella Gutierrez

There are two movies I remember seeing as a child. The first one I saw at home. We loved watching comedies as kids, especially The Three Stooges. We would watch them on our black-and-white television at home when we had time. They always made me laugh. Frank would always try to act out the skits and try to smack us on the head, just like Larry, Curly, and Moe. We would try to translate the jokes to my mom, and even though she didn’t speak English, she would laugh because it had so much action and little words. You could laugh no matter what language you spoke. We constantly watched these comedies, but we had only two channels, so there wasn’t much choice. Since we worked so much, it was a way for relaxation. When you work in the fields, you grow up fast. It was a way of escaping from reality. It was a new way of communication that you could see, unlike the radio. 

The second movie I remember watching was when I was around 9 years old. It was the first time I had been to an actual theatre. My dad drove us to the theatre in his old Buick, I think. It was around the year, 1960, at the Castroville Theatre. I went with only my mom and dad as my aunt, who was living at the same camp as us, was watching my siblings. The theatre would show movies in Spanish on Sundays, but my parents could never attend because of their children and work. Even though we were busy, my mom decided to go because they were showing a movie with Cantinflas. I’m not sure if you know who he is, but Cantinflas was a famous Mexican comedian who was very popular in our family.

I don’t remember much about the plot of the movie, but I know it was called Around the World in 80 Days. As soon as I stepped into the theatre, I was astonished. I was mesmerized by the size of the theatre. I had never been in a place as huge as that theatre, but maybe it was because I was just a small kid. To see the big people on the screen, it was amazing. Nowadays kids get to go to the theatres all the time to watch cartoons, but when I was a kid, I never had the chance to do anything like that before. I remember thinking, am I really there? Is this really happening? I do remember seeing a large globe and planes flying around in the movie, but I really didn’t know the purpose of it. I also remember seeing these pretty ladies on-screen and mustached men. It wasn’t fancy with ushers and we didn’t eat snacks, but being there in that big movie theatre was very memorable. It was a whole new world for me.

Unfortunately, I did not have many more opportunities to see movies after that. We eventually moved to Natividad road in 1961 and we maybe went once a year to see movies. When we worked in the strawberry fields in Natividad, we were about 5 miles away from this automotive theatre called the Skyview. We would be in the strawberry field at 9 o’clock at night, picking weeds, when we could see lights in the sky. It was the Skyview theatre in the distance playing movies. We tried to entertain ourselves and said that we could see free movies, but we really couldn’t see them. Maybe with binoculars!

Every so often, when we were able to see movies, my mother and I would go to the Plaza Theatre to see Mexican movies. Sometimes we would watch movies in English and I would have to translate for my mom, but they always shushed me. I’d have to explain the plot of the movie to her afterwards, but she still enjoyed the time we spent together. People always brought in tacos and while you were watching the movie, you could hear the crunching noise, which always upset my mom. She would always say “Esta Gente!” (“these people”) and I would have to calm her down.

I have so many memories in these theatres, but sadly, they have been torn down since then. The Plaza Theatre -they tore it down and built a church. I didn’t even know until I came back, decades later, but I am blessed to still have these memories of my youth and my family.