Multiplex Schmultiplex: A Visit to L.A.'s Classic Movie Palaces

June 04, 2007

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When asked what their favorite thing about living L.A. is, most locals talk about the weather and say they like being close to the ocean and the mountains. Now, I’m sure I would love both those places if I ever visited them but I rarely do.

But I do go to the movies. And sometimes I go to the movies in really cool venues with really interesting people. This, I think, is my favorite thing about living in L.A.: special, one-of-a-kind movie screenings. Perhaps the venue is unique, like the Cinespia Summer Film Series that happens in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery where a few years back I saw The Shining and canoodled with a friend of a friend who said he would call me and never did. Or maybe there are special guests on hand, like the screening of The Pirate Movie I saw a few years back where the delectable Christopher Atkins showed up in the flesh and helped us try to make sense of what we just watched.

Back in 2000, I got to meet my teenage obsession Olivia Newton John at the Outfest premier of Sordid Lives. I was with two friends, Richard and Leslie, who were also huge ONJ fans. We went up to chat with her after the screening -- each hoping to trump the other by having the most notable Olivia interaction. I don’t even remember what I said. It was something benign like, “Thank you for being here. I loved the movie.” Yawn, snooze, lame. But at least I didn’t make her feel old like my friend Leslie who gushed, “My sister and I used to listen to your 8-tracks in our basement.”

It was my friend Richard who really knocked it out of the park. He got a little misty and told her how much he appreciated the fact that her song “Trust Yourself”, a track off her little known CD Gaia, was played over the closing credits of Sordid because, “that was the song that inspired me when I was coming out and it got me through some really tough times,” and blah blah blah. Olivia was visibly moved by his story. Afterwards, I complimented Richard for winning the Olivia derby with his coming out story and he said, “Oh, I made that all up. I actually came out earlier but I do like that song.”

“What?” I shrieked. I didn’t know you could make stuff up. I felt burned but I digress.

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