Got 'em! -- 1st local 'Star Wars' tickets

By Art Campos
Bee Staff Writer
(Published May 13, 1999)

Many of them weren't even born when the first "Star Wars" movie was released in 1977.

But they stormed into the parking lot of the United Artists theater at Olympus Pointe in Roseville, ready to perform an hours-long vigil just to be first in line to buy tickets Wednesday for "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace," the fourth installment of George Lucas' blockbuster series.

Dave Berlin, 19, of Antelope gets a hug from pal Jesse Shields, 19, of Roseville after they got their "Star Wars" tickets Wednesday for the film's May 19 premiere at the United Artists theater at Olympus Pointe in Roseville. Bee/Chris Crewell

Although the customers had been told not to line up at the box office until 6 a.m., the crowd milling around the parking lot rushed the ticket window at 4 a.m. to secure places in line. The Roseville theater was one of five throughout the Sacramento area that began selling advance tickets to the movie, which premieres next week.

Babak Shahlaie, 18, of Fair Oaks got there first.

"I want to tell my kids someday that I was the first person to get a ticket to 'Star Wars: Episode I' at this theater," said Shahlaie, a student at Bella Vista High School. "I didn't want people telling me about the movie. I wanted to see it first."

"I love the 'Star Wars' movies," said Roseville's Valkyrie Hanson, 18, who was also among the first in line. "These movies have been alive throughout my whole generation. It's a cultural icon."

Hanson said her 20-year-old sister, a student at UCLA, had been standing in line at a theater in Los Angeles for a week to get tickets.

For "Star Wars" fans, it isn't enough to have tickets guaranteeing entry to the initial showing next Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. Shahlaie and Hanson said they'll be back at 3 p.m. Tuesday to line up again -- so they can be first to run into the theater to get the best seats.

Although tickets weren't due to go on sale until noon Wednesday, the theater at Eureka Road and North Sunrise Avenue decided to open its windows 45 minutes early to start moving customers out. A line of about 500 people snaked around the building by then.

The first fans showed up 21 hours before the box office was scheduled to open. Many of them were teenagers who were mere toddlers when the last "Star Wars" movie, "Return of the Jedi," was first released in 1983.

One of the oldest fans Wednesday was Paul Dunham, 56, a landscaping contractor from Loomis who dropped by at 1 a.m. to wait in line. Dunham recalls pulling all-night waits in Los Angeles when the first "Star Wars" movie came out 22 years ago.

" 'Star Wars' has remained popular because it's the believable future," he said. "In our hearts, we are all dreamers. And a lot of these people want to grab onto a phenomenon."

The scores of fans who gathered in the parking lot Tuesday night spent the time talking, singing, listening to music or reading books. Some played board games. Nearly everyone brought folding chairs.

Police and the theater managers tried to chase them out several times before giving up.

Hanson said she was pleased to be part of this year's "Star Wars" phenomenon.

"I missed it the first time around, so I'm here now," she said. "And when they re-release it in 20 years, I'll be back here again."

"It's pretty much a historical event," said 17-year-old Martin Martinelli. "Our parents told us about it. Now it's our turn."