Only a true Los Angeles native would know about the seasonal Hollywood Forever Cemetery movie screenings. Kicking off May 11th with Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, the viewing party better known as Cinespia, is Los Angeles’ hottest summer event. Tickets tend to sell out quickly as the movies viewed at these weekly screenings usually have a cult following. Future movies on their 2019 catalog are The Matrix, Jaws, Legally Blonde, and Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke. Being held every Sunday until the end of summer, this popular early evening viewing party allows alcoholic beverages, blankets, and lots of snacks.
The “Angelenos line up” features “DJ sets, dance parties, sleepovers and more magical mischief” which tend to be “forbidden behind the cemetery gates.” The annual event is seen as “an L.A. rite of passage, a quintessential summer experience and one of the best film venues in the city.” Tips for accessing good seats and most importantly an entry ticket are that attendees must make “sure to get [their] ticket early” and “arrive early (doors open at 6:45pm).”
Founded officially in 2002, “Cinespia is an organization that hosts on-site screenings of classic films in and around Los Angeles, California.” Specifically films made within the 20th century, the organization was inspired by John Wyatt who was a “set designer” that arranged an earlier screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train in July. The turnout was a huge success at the time with “eighty people” then multiplied to “a thousand” people after the initial screening. This is what created the legacy of Cinespia and explains why these spooky screenings are cherished as one of Los Angeles’ many eventful gems.