Sunday, June 4, 2017

Walk #5: Memories of the Astro Theater

Address: 2001 Farnham Street

Information: Rose Blumkin Performing Arts Center

Lunch: Bento Box #14

Destination Review: I came to what is now the Rose Theater with childhood memories of my grandma taking me and my sister to the Astro Theater to see Disney movies. My parents would sometimes go away for a weekend on a church event, and they would leave my sister and me with my Grandma Hennig, who lived in the Park Avenue Towers, which were new at that time. She would take us downtown on the bus (she couldn’t drive; neither of my grandmothers drove, and neither did my mom, for that matter), take us shopping at Brandeis Department Store, and take us to the movies at the Astro or the Orpheum, which at that time were both fancy downtown movie theaters. She would mxi M & Ms and popcorn together, and we would much away while watching Hayley Mills, the Ideal 60s Girl, in The Parent Trap.

This walk was rather anticlimactic compared to that. I wanted to take pictures inside, but the guy working the box office said I had to have an appointment because there were children in the building and liability and so forth. So I didn’t get to walk around inside, but I did get a couple of pictures of the box office area while I was waiting in line to talk to the box office guy.

The outside of the building is quite beautiful, what with the marble and the towers and all.

The Walk: I had to walk over three blocks and back to find a place to buy a drink to go with my lunch. It turned out to be the same little bodega I went to when I was doing the Aquila Court walk, or at least the closest Omaha comes to having a bodega (sorry, folks, I’m a “Law & Order” fan).

On the way back, I stumbled across a really cool old restaurant sign.

Also, there were vintage pictures of downtown Omaha in the 20s, back when the Astro was the Riviera, in glass cases on one of the buildings. I got a surreal shot, combining the old picture with refections of today, by taking one close to the glass.

The Lunch: I ate lunch on cute set of benches I found near the City/County Building.

The banana muffins were better when they were freshly baked and still warm, though the muffin in my lunch was pretty good. The best part of the lunch by far was the sesame green beans, which tasted like the green beans you can get at a Chinese buffet. The chicken salad was OK, the apple slices were kind of mushy, and the banana with peanut butter was pretty yummy. All in all, this lunch went down very well, and made me feel like I had eaten something healthy.

Lunch Ingredient Deals

Apple: Gala Apples were 78¢ lb. at Fareway. One apple was 35¢.

Avocado: Avocados were on sale for 88¢ each at Aldi. Subtract a 30¢ Allrecipes rebate and a 15¢ MobiSave rebate and one was 43¢.

Baking Soda: You can get a box of Hearth Club Baking Soda at Family Dollar for 50¢. Subtract a 25¢ Allrecipes rebate and it’s a quarter.

Bananas: Bananas were on sale at Family Fare for 47¢ lb. Four bananas were 86¢.

Canned Chicken: Got a can of Bumble Bee when it was on sale at CVS for 88¢.

Cherry Tomatoes: Got a package of San Maria Tomatoes at Fresh Thyme for the sale price of 99¢.

Cinnamon: You can get a great big bottle of cinnamon at Dollar Tree for a buck. Subtract a 25¢ Allrecipes rebate and it’s 75¢.

Eggs: There was a coupon in the Food Express section of Wednesday’s paper that got me a dozen eggs at Hy-Vee for 39¢.

Greek Yogurt: Kroger Greek Yogurt Cups were on sale for 80¢ each at Baker’s. Combine that price with a 45¢ off 3 store coupon I got in the mail and they were 3 for $1.95, or 65¢ each).

Green Beans: On sale for 99¢ lb. at Fareway. I got ‘em for 69¢.

Nutmeg: You can get Tone’s Nutmeg at Fareway for 99¢. Subtract a 25¢ Allrecipes rebate and it’s 74¢.

Rice Vinegar: You can get a bottle of Kikkoman Rice Vinegar at Target for $1.19. Use a 55¢ off coupon from Kikkoman’s website and subtract a 10¢ MobiSave rebate and it’s 44¢.

Salt: I'm still using the Morton Salt I got for free with a Saving Star rebate, back when they used to do Friday Freebies.

Sesame Seeds: You can get Tone's Sesame Seeds for 99¢ at Fareway.

Vanilla Extract: If you get lucky, you can get Spice Time Vanilla Extract for $1 at Dollar Tree.

Artwork: Embellished Frame

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