New Rasputin Music/Movies Store Finally Open In Stockton!

Berkeley, CA based "Rasputin Music And Movies" has finally opened its doors in Stockton, CA in the former "Tower Records" building at 6623 Pacific Avenue. As most everyone knows, Tower Records went bankrupt last year and closed its Stockton location on December 19, 2006 at 10:PM.While I mourned the loss of Tower Records, fortunately for me (as well as the citizens of Stockton), Rasputin bidded for and won the lease for the Stockton Tower Records store as well as former Tower Locations in Fresno, Mountain View and Concord. The new "Rasputin" store opened its doors last Saturday, April 28. Today was my chance to visit the store. While this Rasputin pales in comparison to its location in Berkeley as well as the "Amoeba Music" Store in San Francisco, Stockton's Rasputin is comparable to its other locations. Yes, there is some unopened boxes around the store and the A.C. wasn't working (pretty hot day here in Stockton Today), it is still an awesome store! It sure beats the Tower Store that was here. Excellent selection of Genre DVD's both New And Used. I spent almost 2 hours in the store. If you live in the vicinity of Stockton, I highly recommend that you visit "Rasputin Music And Movies". The hours are currently 11:AM-7:PM, 7 Days A Week. They plan to expand their hours soon.

April 29, 1967 Schedule

On Saturday Night, April 29 , 1967 on KCRA Channel 3 at 11:30PM, Bob Wilkins showed "Terror In The Haunted House" (1958). "A young newlywed lady has a recurring nightmare about an ominous old house, she can't recall having seen in waking life. She later moves to Florida with her husband to live in a country house, the house in her nightmares. Then strange events begin to happen."

A Message From Sally Wilkins

Rasputin Music And Movies To Open On Saturday In Former Tower Records Store In Stockton, California!

Here in Stockton, California, We are welcoming Eclectic Music Store, "RASPUTIN MUSIC AND MOVIES" which is replacing our former "TOWER RECORDS" store. Rasputin is based in Berkeley. They have several locations in the bay area but have recently acquired the leases of 2 Central Valley former Tower Stores in Stockton AND Fresno. The Stockton Rasputin is scheduled to open this Saturday, April 28. Stockton is so lucky on getting a Rasputin as Towers replacement. It could have easily been a dollar store or a clothing store. Above are photos of before and after.

April 22, 1967 Schedule

On Saturday Night, April 22 at 11:45PM on KCRA Channel 3, Bob Wilkins showed only one movie: "The Atomic Man" (1956) AKA "Time Slip" starring Gene Nelson and Faith Domergue. "An Atomic Scientist is found floating in a river with a bullet in his back and a radioactive halo around his body.The radioactivity has put him seven and a half seconds ahead of us in time. He teams with a reporter to stop his evil double from destroying his experiments in artificial tungsteng." I couldn't find any posters, artwork or video covers to illustrate.

Happy 49TH Birthday To Perry Martin!

Today, I'd like to wish my friend, Perry Martin on his 49TH Birthday! Just One More Year To The Big 5-0! Perry is a big Bob Wilkins Fan also, even appearing on Bob's KTXL TV 40 show in the 1972. Lucky Perry! Today, Perry is a successful DVD Producer for Anchor Bay Entertainment producing Featurettes and audio commentaries for such DVD's as "Dawn Of The Dead Box Set" and the more recent "The Reanimator". I have posted pictures of Perry with Bob. One of him on the KTXL TV Set in 1972 and a more recent picture with Bob at his tribute show in Sacramento on March 25 of this year. Enjoy Your Birthday Perry!!!

I Miss Independent TV Stations Of Yesteryears

The days of an Independent TV Station is pretty much gone. Yes, there are still technically Independent TV Station still around but they aren't the same as the ones that were around during the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's.Today's Independent TV Stations are pretty much,Infomercials 24/7 or some type of Foreign Language. In the good old days, Independent TV Stations showed a variety of movies, kidvid programming and old classic tv reruns. In New York, there was WOR -9, WPIX-11. In Chicago, there was WGN-9 and WFLD-32. In Los Angeles, you had KTLA-5, KHJ-9, KTTV-11 and KCOP-13. In San Francisco Bay Area, both KTVU-2 and KBHK-44 ruled while there were other lesser UHF's. In Sacramento/Stockton, KTXL TV 40 pretty much ruled the roost in the late 1960's to early 1980's. Yes, KMUV Channel 31 went on the air in 1974 with an "All Movie" format which was cool, but they switched to Spanish in 1976. KMUV-31 switched from Spanish to "General Entertainment Independent" in 1981 and battled KTXL TV 40 in the 1980's until TV 40's switch to a Fox affiliation in 1986. Also in 1986, KSCH Channel 58 signed on to join the Indie Battle. By 1995, both Channel's 31 and 58 picked up the new networks of UPN and WB. Today, there are no more True Independents in Sacramento. In San Francisco, there are still 2 of them, but they aren't the same as the old true blue independents of the bygone days.

Thanks To All For Sending Bob Wilkins Birthday Cards!!

Thanks to all who sent Bob a Birthday Card. He received nearly 100 cards total. It'll take Bob at least 2 weeks to go through it. Thanks to Scott Moon for the info!

The CBS Late Movie

When growing up, in addition to Bob Wilkins and those hostless Saturday Afternoon Horror Shows, I also remember, "The CBS Late Movie". On the air weekdays from Mondays to Fridays at 11:30PM, it was the Friday Night Edition of The CBS Late Show that interested me. From 1973 until 1976, CBS showed many Horror/SciFi Movies on Friday Nights. They showed AIP Classics like "The House Of Usher", "Cry Of The Banshee", "Frogs", "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" and "The Thing With Two Heads", Hammer Film Classics like "The Curse Of Frankenstein", "Dracula Prince Of Darkness", "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed", and "Dr. Jeckyll And Sister Hyde" as well as other Horror and SciFi Classics like "The Valley Of Gwangi", "The House That Dripped Blood", "Trog", "Beware The Blob" and "The Fearless Vampire Killers". It was literally a whos who of genre flicks. Now in Northern California, in San Francisco, CBS affiliate KPIX Channel showed its own local late movie and delayed the Friday Edition of "The CBS Late Movie" to Sunday Nights. In the Sacramento-Stockton, We were a bit more fortunate. While KXTV Channel 10 decided not to carry the Friday Edition at all in favor of their own local late movie, Sacramento Independent TV Station, KTXL TV 40, aired it instead, from 1974-75. In 1975, KXTV Channel 10 decided to carry the Friday Edition of The CBS Late Movie, but like KPIX Channel 5, Channel 10 aired it on Sunday Nights which sucked because I had to be in school early the next day. By 1977, CBS started airing TV Show reruns like "Kojak" instead of the movies. I will forever remember "The CBS Late Movie: Friday Edition".

Happy 45TH Birthday To Me!!!!

Wow, today is MY Birthday! I am 45 years old. I was born 30 years after Bob Wilkins (He was born April 11, 1932). Here is a picture of me with actor "Sid Haig" (Spider Baby, House Of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects, Kill Bill ) taken at the Fangoria Weekend Of Horrors Convention in San Jose, California on January 6 of this year. As for me, I will be spending my birthday today researching more on Bob Wilkins for my blog!

Those Wonderful Hostless Horror Shows On Saturday Afternoons!

While Bob Wilkins rule on Saturday Nights (and on Friday Nights too on KTVU), let's not forget those Horror/SciFi Movies that were shown on Saturday Late Morning/Afternoon without a horror host. With Cable TV in Stockton, I was able to view such shows not only from Sacramento but also from the Bay Area. These shows were geared for most children who wanted their monster fix but couldn't stay up late. There was "Fantastic Cinema" on KTXL TV 40 initially at 11:AM on Saturdays. (but would later change to 10:30AM, 2:PM and 2:30PM) There was also "Monsterous Movie" on KBHK Channel 44. It started out as a single feature later went double feature and back to single. It was on both Noon as well as 1:30PM. Most of the movies shown on KBHK were AIP Classics. "Monsterous Movie" proved so popular in the Bay Area that KTVU Channel 2 (Home Of "Creature Features"), started their own Saturday Afternoon Hostless Horror Show at 1:PM called "Chiller Diller". Most of those movies were the Universal Classics. There were some other hostless shows in the early evening like KTXL's "Black Museum" as well as KGSC Channel 36 on Sunday Nights at 10:PM (not sure the name of the show?) , but I will write about that show later. I will also list the movies shown on those wonderful hostless horror shows from the past. I will also write about certain movie shows that would occasionly would show horror/scifi movies like KCRA Channel 3's "Valley Playhouse",KGO Channel 7's "3:30 Movie" and "The CBS Late Night Movies". (The latter which had many excellent horror movies on Friday Nights.)

Even More Photos Of Stockton Royal! "Behind The Scenes"

I forgot to include in my last post, photos of the projection room. This is Screen 2's Projection Room aswell as Screen #2.

History And Pictures Of the "Stockton Royal Theatres"

Here are even more photos of my favorite grindhouse here in Stockton, California, the "Stockton Royal Theatres" that is now known as the "Stockton Empire Theatre", a mostly live venue house. Owned by the "Westland Theatres Chain" and opened on February 16, 1945 as "Stockton Theatre" as a second run house, it expanded from one screen to 4 screens to compete with "Festival Cinemas 4" in North Stockton on April 16, 1976 then went first run. It was during this time that the Stockton Royal dedicated 1 to 2 of its screens to grindhouse double features. On June 3, 1983, Westland Theates sold the Stockton Royal to Concord based "CinemaCal Enterprises and though the Stockton Royal continued to show Horror Films, just not in the grindhouse traditional ways. With the opening of the new then state of the art "Holiday Cinema 8" by Signature Theatres on October 13, 1995, the Stockton Royal converted into a second run bargain cinemas where "All Seats Were Only $1.75 All Times For Double Features!" It was an alright success but most people in Stockton would either want to watch movies brand new or wait until it hits video. On March 17, 2000, the Stockton Royal would close its doors, CinemaCal went bankrupt. By this time, San Ramon based Signature Theatres had grown, just acquiring most of the Northern California cinemas of "Mann Theatres" (including both Festival and Regency Cinemas in Stockton).On July 21, 2000, Signature would also add the Stockton Royal to its roster. As condition to acquiring the lease from the buildings owner, "Cort Companies", Signature made the Stockton Royal into an "Art/Foreign Film House" but it was not a success and Signature closed the Stockton Royal on December 28, 2000. After sitting vacant for almost a year, Cort found another theater chain to lease the Stockton Royal". It was Nevada based "Northshore Theatres". And the Stockton Royal went back to First Run to compete with the Signature Theatres on November 9, 2001. Now due to its distance from the other cinemas, the Stockton Royal was able to pick up certain movies that were also playing at the Signature Theatres. Before this, all movies played exclusively at one cinema and no more. Northshore's "Stockton Royal" was a big success until a brand new muliplex opened up nearby in Downtown called the "City Centre Stadium Cinemas 16" on December 19, 2003. Signature had the last laugh as they were the new operators of this new state of the art, All Dolby Digital, All Stadium Seating, Multiplex which was even better than Signature's other relatively new cineplex, the "Holiday Cinema 8", though the Holiday did have All THX Auditoriums, they were sloped seating rather than stadium seating. Now with the lack of quality movies, the Stockton Royal struggled and closed for good on April 20, 2004. Though a church had considered buying the Stockton Royal, in the end, Cort sold the Stockton Royal building to Christopher "Kit" Bennitt in 2005. Kit Bennitt then converted the main auditorium into a live venue auditorium, eliminating some of the seats. He then converted the lobby into a coffee house "Java Aroma".As for the remaining 3 auditoriums, they went bye, bye! Kit Bennitt is in the midst of converting that part of the building into assorted restaurants. An End Of An Era! Enjoy the pictures!!!