Arthur Brisbane once said, “The fence around a cemetery is foolish, for those inside can’t get out and those outside don’t want to get in.”
Well if Mr. Brisbane was alive today he might have to take that back, for Saturday and Sunday nights at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery people are dying (excuse the pun) to get in.
For several years now Cinespia has turned Hollywood Forever Cemetery into a spooky film lovers paradise by screening classic films and cult favorites under and over the stars.
The Cemetery resting place of classic films stars the like of Jayne Mansfield and Rudolf Valentino starts the party off at 7:30 pm when the gates to the cemetery open, people start pouring in, and the DJ’s start spinning. The film doesn’t begin till 9:00 pm so come prepared.
Cemetery Survival Guide:
1. On a Saturday night people begin lining up to get in at around 5:00/5:30pm. To avoid the line you have two options a) Show up 10 mins before the movie starts and slide right in, the bad part of this is you can’t really find a great spot to perch, you might not get in, and you will have a devil of a time finding parking, b) the great folks at Cinespia have come up with one of the best ways to avoid the Saturday night crush… Sunday nights. This year Cinespia is also screening on Sundays.
2. Take a cab. Parking is near impossible to find, (except on Sundays the auto repair shop next door was wide open, but parking was $10). If you plan on parking in the cemetery be prepared to wait in a long line of car getting in and even worse you have to wait till everyone is cleared out to leave. There is a $5 parking charge.
3. Bring a picnic. Alcohol is permitted, so go ahead grab three of your closest friends and 10 bottles of wine, after all you’re not driving. Gelsons, Whole Food, Bristol Farms, and Trader Joe’s are the places to go prior to arrival. Don’t forget the bottle opener! Do everyone a favor and pick up you trash on the way out. No BBQing.
4. LOW chairs, blankets, bean bags. All are acceptable, but unless you plan on using your boyfriend/girlfriend as a back rest do yourself a favor and get the chair. While I was happy as a clam eating dinner on the picnic blanket around hour 3 of sitting on it I was wondering if I could book an appointment with my chiropractor by text message. Also, it gets chilly even on the hottest days once the sun goes down bring a second blanket for snuggling under. No TALL chairs.
5. No dogs. Boo, but okay, it does get really crowded and adding 500 dogs to a crowd of a thousand people is never a good idea.
6. Don’t text during the movie.
7. If you are a non-smoker, sit on the edges, if it’s not the cloud of pot that smokes you out the cigs will.
8. Do not walk on or even too close to the graves. The Zombie police will bark at you. I stopped to check out an interesting gravestone and one of the more aggressive Zombies almost chewed out my eyes.
9. There is a $10 “donation” that is not optional. I really have to look up the word donation again as I thought it meant something entirely different than “cover charge”.
10. Be ready to have fun.
In New York they have Shakespeare in the Park, in LA it’s Capra in the Cemetery.
