I Love Hollywood Forever. The Cemetery.

One of the bestest things to do in LA in the Summer is to go to the screenings at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. They're run by this company Cinespia (www.cinespia.org) and they are now in their TENTH year (good job, cinemaphiles). Anyway, the graveyard is at Santa Monica and Gower, so it's not really in Silverlake, but it's kind of East-ish and chock-full of hipsters and so I feel I must include it in this blog.

These screenings are really popular now, so even though the gates open at 7 and the movie doesn't start until it gets dark, you need to get your tickets online (they do that now) and get into the queue early to avoid traffic, not getting in, and possibly being trampled to death. The awesome thing about getting to the line early though, is that it's basically a giant picnic on the lawn of the beautiful beautiful cemetery. Seriously, it's gorgeous:



I arrived at 4 (okay 3:57) with Anna, who I managed to kidnap for the weekend from the clutches of the evil Beverly Hills. I'm just kidding. Not really. We went to Trader Joe's on Hyperion beforehand and got so much good stuff that we had to high five in the store as people stared at us. I maintain they were just jealous of our cheese crunchies. Anyway, we were NOT first in line (we were only like, the 7th and 8th least cool people there). We spread out our blanket and all our goodies and then fell asleep in the sun for an hour. Then our friends started arriving and added to the perfection of the afternoon. It's a pretty mellow line, where you can save spaces and people are drinking, playing card games and generally enjoying each other's company. Also it took Anna 20 minutes to open the container of s'mores:

She's also wearing the green leggings that were part of my Halloween costume because we had a lady sleepover Friday night and she forgot to pack pants. However, no one blinked an eye at her green leggings...because that's Silverlake for you. OKAY, admittedly, to took me 20 minutes to open the exact same kind of container right after Anna. Not only that, but I cut my fingers. Anna took a picture of me, but my left boob is doing something terrible in the photo and I simply cannot publish it.

Finally at 7, the gates opened and everyone made their way to the lawn where the movie gets projected onto the wall of a building. It looks like this:



Pretty, right? Anyway, there's always a DJ before the screenings, and last night this guy who has actually scored films like Ocean's Eleven was playing these awesome trippy, hypnotic tunes. Of course Anthony knew the name of every song. It was Noelia's birthday and she wore a gorgeous floor-length dress (Noley, please do not be mad that I just said it was your birthday, thanks!). So we ate and drank more. Brett pointed out that this must be my idea of Heaven because so many of my favorite humans were there, we were about to watch a fantastic movie, the lawn was full of bearded gentlemen with tattoos, and there was cheese. Finally it grew dark and John, the sexy beardy man who runs Cinespia introduced the film, and Vertigo began.

Okay if you haven't seen Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, then stop reading my stupid blog and stream it on Netflix right this minute. It is so good and romantic but in a sick, twisted way and just so fucking pretty to look at. I mean, HERE:



OOOOOO. After the movie, everyone finishes their wine and then slowly makes their way out of the cemetery in the moonlight. It's honestly the best thing ever. Everyone is in such a good mood and it can be romantic or you can go with a huge group or go with children if you can steal some. It's one of my favorite things about this glorious city. What? It's a long weekend; I am feeling cheesy.