Friday, June 17, 2011



Today's newspapers might carry a 1x2 inch "ad" showing what movies are plaving at each of our local movie theaters. But there was a time when just about every movie that was showing would have it's very own full size ad appear in the daily newspapers throughout the country.  Locally, I think that started to fade out around the 1980s more or less. 

I remember that when we just had the Plaza, Tivoli, the Bordertown drive inn and the short-lived cinemas I and II, you could open up the Lared Times (especially the Sunday version) and find the kind of ads that are now only found in theater lobbies under "coming attractions".  With the internet and trailers being so readily available, there's no longer any need to advertise in newspapers beyond simply announcing the start times. Que Lastima, some of those ads were pretty entertaining in and of themselves.

7 comments:

  1. I wish I could have known Laredo when downtown was the place to be :(. Of course, that means no paved streets but I still wish I would have known it.

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  2. Not only unpaved streets, but horse poop on the streets, too, by the way.

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  3. I met a gentleman who is working diligently to attarct more people downtown. He is working to open the Plaza Theater again, as well as make that square as much of an entertainment zone as possible.

    His hold ups, the downtown merchants who do not want to invest their own money in improvements.

    How sad for Laredo. Again, some Laredoans, inclduing city hall, show their lack of vision.

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  4. Yes, Tom Wade that's why city hall has no windows, no need for them due to the lack of vision that infests the place. Call in the Asah man- hey there's a job created right there! It'd be nice to see the Old Plaza theater being used again.

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  5. Great point on the lack of windows at city hall. I was just downtown this morning taking some street photos, and I am always shocked at the amount of trash on the ground. Now, that is not the city's fault, but the fault of Laredoans, and visitors from Mexico. What has to be done to stop the trash? The lack of respect residents have for this city is all to evident. And guess what CoC and others, if you just keep a place clean, a town does not need emerald towers to bring people get people to visit or come back.

    This town has a real problem with it's overall direction. The sad thing is that there is no one I see who is a leader and can change the direction we are headed in. Everyone (politicians, businesses, and the public) is still in the "What's in it for me" mode. Until there is a binding sense of community, this town is screwed.

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  6. Sorry for the poor typing, still on first glass of iced tea.

    Correction to the above post: "And guess what CoC and others, if you just keep a place clean, a town does not need emerald towers to bring people to town or keep them coming back.

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  7. Wait, I have to agree with you on this Tom Wade. It's a shame the way politicians become isolated from the people who put them there and listen to a very few select group of people who are not visionaries but only looking out for number 1. That's why we aint Number one. Too many other number ones running the place.

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