Hollywood Forever Cemetery

It isn’t summer in L.A. until the first cemetery screening brings hoards of movie-lovers to Hollywood Forever, toting folding chairs, picnic blankets, snack spreads and lots of booze. Each year, Cinespia brings classic cult favorites to the hallowed resting place of Old Hollywood greats—and a couple of off-site screenings, too. For its first batch of summer screenings this year, Cinespia will be showing Mean Girls (May 28), Back to the Future (May 29) and American Psycho (June 4), The Wizard of Oz (June 12), Aliens (June 18) and But I’m a Cheerleader (June 25) at Hollywood Forever, plus Jurassic Park (May 13), Twilight (June 3) and Selena (June 24) at L.A. State Historic Park. Then, come the Fourth of July, the series will present three fireworks-accompanied screenings over the long weekend: The Fast and the Furious (July 2), Purple Rain (July 3) and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (July 4). The rest of the month includes Almost Famous (July 9), Showgirls (July 16), Jackie Brown (July 23) and The Birds (July 30) at Hollywood Forever, plus Pretty in Pink (July 22) at LASHP.  For each evening, pack a picnic, pose in the photo booth and enjoy DJ sets, dance parties and all sorts of other magical mischief that’d otherwise be strictly forbidden behind the cemetery gates. It’s an L.A. rite of passage, a quintessential summer experience and one of the best film venues in the city. Just be sure to get your ticket early, arrive early, pee early… it’s a popular affair, to say the least.

Epic, kinda weird Americana rock act My Morning Jacket returns to L.A. for an outdoor show at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Touring in support of a self-titled album that marks the group’s first collection of brand new material since 2015, frontman Jim James turns his attention to My Morning Jacket after a string of solo albums that never quite captured the grandeur of his marquee project. Filled with sprawling arrangements, roaring organs and copious guitar solos, the band’s ninth studio album is likely to stretch out even more when performed live.

The crackling aura surrounding Father John Misty extends beyond his past life as a Fleet Foxes member under his given name, J. Tillman. As a solo artist, his 2012 Sub Pop debut, Fear Fun, featured soaring, soulful folk-rock spiked with energy and cleverness, notably uniquely L.A. single “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings.” Since then, he’s released a bunch of lauded albums, stolen a crystal from Moon Juice and produced some choice pull quotes.