NARRATOR

Yale Hotel music director Joe Luciak remembers weekdays spent at Movieland as a teenager in the 1990s.

JOE LUCIAK

Going in there, skippin’ school, and all of us going in there in our St. George's uniforms, and pumping the machines with quarters was a ton of fun.

You know, whether we were playing the old games like Time Crisis, and you know, Space Invaders was even older. You know, arcades are great, but they’re you know, kind of a thing of the past.

NARRATOR

To local graphic designer Roger Allen, taking the bus downtown from the suburbs to Movieland as a teenager in the 1980s was a liberating kind of rebellion.

ROGER ALLEN

You could tell your friends, you know, “We went to Movieland Arcade,” or we went to an arcade in the city, or we went to an arcade on Granville street kind of thing.

And in that way it’s a bit of a sign of rebellion, as a teenager you’re, you’re not just going to an arcade, you’re going to a seedy arcade.

The way it looks, it wasn’t a safe environment, you know.

It’s a little like indoor skate parks to outdoor skate parks. Indoor skate parks, you have to wear a helmet, and sign a waiver form and, you know, that kind of thing. And outdoor skate park, you don’t have to deal with any of that.

There seemed to be no rules at Movieland, and even the guy in charge, he seemed oblivious. He would give you your change without even looking at you, or the money you gave him. He just seemed to understand what you were putting in his hand.