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LOCAL Friday 4 OctOber 2024

Aruba to me

ORANJESTAD — You are Please do note: By submit- reader every day again.
back and we would like to ting photos, text or any oth- For today we received a
portrait you! By inviting you er materials, you give per- lovely message from Cha-
to send us your favorite va- mission to The Aruba Today da Ippolito and my boy-
cation picture while enjoy- Newspaper, Caribbean friend is Juergen Schmidt
ing our Happy Island. Speed Printers and any of from Robbinsville, NJ, USA.
its affiliated companies to
Complete the sentence: use said materials, as well They wrote to us saying:
Aruba to me is ……. Send as names, likeness, etc. for “Aruba to us is our home
your picture with that text promotional purposes with- away from home and our
(including your name and out compensation. paradise. We just enjoyed
where you are from) to: Last but not least: check two wonderful weeks in
news@arubatoday.com out our website, Instagram Aruba from Sept 1-15. We
and we will publish your and Facebook page! come every year and con-
vacation memory. Isn’t Thank you for supporting sidering part time retire- what Aruba means to you
that a special way to keep our free newspaper, we ment in Aruba. We've been Thank you for sending us this with us and our readers!q
your best moments alive? strive to make you a happy together for 8 years.” wonderful message sharing

Forgotten gems
Open air movie theaters

worked in the refinery and that these migrant were not
lived in the Lago Colony missing out on entertainment
in Sero Colorado also had from their home land.
their piece of the pie with
their Open air Theatre, In the 1950’s and 60’s, Sava-
which formed part of the neta saw their own open air
Esso Club, also known as the theater, located in front of
Pan-Am Club. It was at this the Marinier’s Kazerne (Ma-
theater that “Talkies” were rine Barracks). This theater
first streamed, movies with was mostly visited by the
(Oranjestad)—During the chairs to enjoy the popular sound. This theater mostly neighboring marines, who
span of over 100 years, Aruba silent movies of the time. streamed American block- didn’t have much entertain-
only saw five open air movie busters for the American ex- ment other than movies at 2012, but was re-opened dur-
theatres. Now practically ob- American migrants who pats, this way making sure that time. ing the pandemic in July 2020,
solete on the island, these where movies were streamed
theaters were once frequently The last and most recent on a gigantic screen set up
visited by locals and migrants open air theater was con- in front of stacked contain-
in the 20th century. structed in the form of a ers. However, this nostalgic
drive-in theater. A popular form of entertainment did not
The first open air theater was American concept, the Drive last very long as it was closed
constructed in 1920 and was Inn located in Balashi was a again only a year or two later.
commissioned by Shon Edu- hot spot for teenagers, who Nowadays you can still see
ard (Eddy) de Veer. This the- had the habit of cramming the stacked containers when
ater was located at the Ho- all their friends in one car to you drive near the bridge in
tel Colombia in Oranjestad, go see the movies. For this Balashi. q
which is now where the Aru- phenomenon there was a
ban census office is located. separate price that you had Source: “De kolibrie op
The theater was simple; it only to pay called the “car crash”. de rots en meer over de
consisted of a screen, and geschiedenis van Aruba” by
Evert Bongers.
visitors had to bring their own This theater closed around