Although, you’re going to have to own a mobile quarantine box to participate. The resurgence of the drive-in theatre, amid the COVID pandemic, seems to conveniently offer us a sense of closeness without the need for contact. However, like many of the experiences that truly mean something, our minds subconsciously take us back-even if we had to skip a few generations in the process. Apart from that, regular audiences were lost to multiplex behemoths and their ever-embellishing comforts a plethora of film choices, bed-like seats and an overwhelming array of candy. Almost like museums we could occasionally visit and imagine ourselves in a scene from Grease with John Travolta belting out a song in his leathers sporting a slicked-back quiff. Up until now, drive-in theatres had felt like fossils of the entertainment world. Audiences are finding the unexpected joy of simpler times as they seek ways to enjoy the outdoors. During this phase of “social distancing”, drive-in theatres around the US are seeing a rise in popularity, according to the Times. If the very thought of sitting down in a century-old theater makes you a little misty-eyed, the Vista is for you.Roll into an open car park and tune in for the evening show as a pink Californian sunset glows in the background. ![]() And, of course, that ever-potent nostalgia. The refurbished, gold-painted Vista, combining Tarantino’s “always on film” mantra with programming centered on new movies (eventually there will be a “Coffy” cafe, named for the Pam Grier classic, and a microcinema for VHS, 16mm and other rarities), seems designed to encourage such fellowship. That night illuminated, as unmistakably as the Vista’s green-and-red marquee, why we go to the movies: not simply for what’s onscreen but also for the communal experience, the conversation and the connection to history, both of the industry and the city around us. Seeing his film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” here in 2019 alongside a buzzing capacity crowd, which then poured onto the sidewalk at Hollywood and Sunset to dissect its every brazen image and extraordinary thrill, is in my personal pantheon of filmgoing experiences. It’s fitting, at least to me, that Quentin Tarantino is behind the revival of this historic 400-seat theater. Then wander past the intimate MUBI microcinema and lose yourself in Vidiots’ flagship video store (one of L.A.’s very last), where hand-drawn placards lovingly guide you through a catalog of 60,000 DVDs, Blu-rays and rare VHS tapes. Catch up over beer and wine in the unpretentious lobby bar and grab hot dogs, ice cream sammies and actually good popcorn from concessions. Originally established in 1985 in Santa Monica by Patty Polinger and Cathy Tauber, Vidiots’ new digs were designed with care - truly, there’s not a bad seat in the house - and with community in mind. Showing films daily on 35mm and digital in its newly renovated state-of-the-art 271-seat Eagle Theatre, the recently reopened nonprofit draws filmmakers and locals with its slate of genre-spanning crowd-pleasers and repertory deep cuts (Tollywood action epic “RRR,” baseball classic “A League of Their Own” and Walter Hill’s rock opera “Streets of Fire” are a recent sampling). (Which is to say it’s big and loud, the perfect place for modern action spectacles.) It’s rare that the theater alone improves just about any movie, but with the Cinerama Dome still closed, there is simply no competition for making the experience of seeing a new film feel like a piece of Hollywood history. ![]() The venue was retrofitted to IMAX in 2013, and while some might debate aspect ratios and screen format, the Chinese has the third largest commercial movie screen in North America and, with more than 900 seats, is the largest IMAX auditorium by capacity in the world. ![]() ![]() And that’s before you even step inside, where the lavish decor makes you realize how dull most current theaters are. First opened in 1927, the theater (originally known as Grauman’s Chinese, then Mann’s) has been home to countless premieres in the years since and the famed forecourt is full of cement foot and hand impressions from generations of stars. Few movie houses capture the old and the new in quite the same way as the TCL Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.
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