End of an era - 1952 Apex movie theater fire

Old Apex Theater - source unknown

End of an era - 1952 Apex theater fire

The now missing white building on Chatham Street (beside the railroad track) was the original and only local Apex movie theater from the years before 1952. The theater burned one Sunday morning in 1952 while many of its long time  patrons attended church a short distance away. It was the nearest and most popular movie theater for local patrons and was a favorite among local places to be.

The theater is fondly remembered as the local destination on any given Saturday to visit with friends and see the latest black and white movies of the era - Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Lash LaRue cowboy adventures, Superman and Buck Rogers adventures and other action movies. The theater also featured weekly serial adventures based on Superman, Batman, Flash Gordon  and other characters of the time. There were always cartoons featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Felix the Cat, Popeye the Sailor and other characters from the early days of Walt Disney Studio productions and other producers.

Admission to a full day of entertainment was 10 cents. If you had a little extra change, theater snacks were available - popcorn, soft drinks, various candies and the ever popular Cracker Jacks.

Segregation was prevalent during this era and a balcony was provided for black customers and downstairs seating for white customers. Restrooms were also segregated and signs were ever present on bathroom doors indicating "white only" or "colored only". There were occasional rounds of throwing popcorn and empty boxes to and from the balcony and occasionally animosity would lead to a fist fight erupting in the adjacent parking lot after the movie.

The movie sound would often be drowned out by the sound of passing coal powered locomotives pulling hundreds of freight cars past the theater. The point thought to be the highest level of the railroad track was near the theater so trains were always laboring to get over the rise as they passed by.

Following the great theater fire of 1952, patrons were left to find other sources for movies and entertainment and many ventured to Raleigh, Cary and Durham to other theaters. During the rapid growth phase of Apex in 2000 and beyond, a large multi-theater facility was constructed in the local Beaver Creek Shopping Center bringing family movie entertainment back to the local area.

Out for a stroll on Red Hill

On any given spring or summer day you may find these geese strolling along the side of Red Hill on West Chatham Street in Apex NC. The geese have become a regular part of the character of that area and they frequent the small pond just up the hill from this scene.

In May and June of each year the hill in the right of the picture comes alive when the Erin's Prairie daylily flowers come into full bloom.

During winter months Red Hill, a name that goes back to the 1940s-60s, was a favorite place for local sledders when winter days were short and snow blanketed the town. The hill was routinely blocked off by local police for a day or two, depending on the severity of the snow, and sledders from all over town would flock to the spot to race down the steep hill. Many a run down the hill would end in the ditch on either side or sometimes lead to crashing into a tree along the way. Rarely did anyone ever get seriously hurt, much to the surprise of the many that raced down the hill.

Even during modern times, the hill continues to be a destination location for sledders on the occasional day when a deep snow falls around the town. This has truly become one of the places where memories are made and remains a site for one of the traditions locals remember long after they have grown up and found other activities to bide their time.

Dad's garden

In the 1950s and 60s my Dad always planted a garden in the back yard. He labored long and hard all summer to raise a crop of vegetables and melons when the days were long. He would get up early before the day got hot and go out and labor in the garden each day to make sure everything was done that could help produce a bounty my Mom could can for the winter. When times were good and the rain came, most times the garden did well.

My part of the job was to pull weeds and chop the garden with an old hoe. Several days each week after school I headed to the garden to carry out the work assigned to me to help the process along. Chopping, pulling weeds, setting stakes, tying up tomato plants and later picking the beans, okra, tomatoes and squash as they began to come in made up a daily routine. The days got hotter as they got longer and each year the task seemed to last forever. When I got older, I was allowed to spray a white powdered insecticide with an old tin hand-pump sprayer onto the blossoms and plants in a continuing struggle to stay ahead of the season's bugs that also wanted their share of the produce.

After most summers we ended the season with a lot of jars of all the items the garden produced and stashed them in the small pantry in the kitchen. During the winter, one or two of the jars would be taken out every day or so to add to the other food items my Mom would bring home from the grocery store. The old garden went a long way to help provide the food we needed and is now a cherished memory of life "back in the day" when times were slower and life was good.

As I got older, the garden slowly faded into the past. My Dad continued to make the effort to have a garden most summers, but as he got older his time was more often spent going to his day job at the local auto dealership each day. The space the garden occupied gradually became part of the lawn I continued to mow until I graduated from college. My Dad passed away a month before I graduated from college and the annual garden became a thing of the past and a distant memory of how it used to be.