Courtesy of Cinespia

I realize I'm a little late to the party, but after 20-something years, I watched a movie in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for the first time.
It was one of those things I'd heard about, and intended to do, yet somehow never got around to. But thanks to our friends James and Emily, I finally found myself sitting in a graveyard at sunset cheering with several hundred other people when a large screen hung on the side of a mausoleum came alive with "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
If that sounds like a quintessentially-LA experience, it is. What could be more LA than watching classic movies where some of Hollywood's biggest names are buried?
And that's why we were with James and Emily. I refer to Emily as our LA Sensei. She says the city makes her feel energized and alive. So, she's always exploring LA, finding iconic and/or novel experiences, and then organizing group activities to get her SCV friends out of their suburban cocoons.
I was glad to have a tour guide for this one. The summer weekend cemetery screenings by Cinespia started in 2002 and they are now very popular. So, like anything that draws a crowd in the city, attending requires getting there early, hunting for parking and lining up to get in.
That meant leaving Santa Clarita by 5:15, which gave us enough time to snag a choice parking spot across Santa Monica Boulevard and make the short walk to join the growing queue waiting for the gates to open at 7:15pm.
The whole scene resembles what I imagine a camp operated by Whole Foods would look like. It's an upscale crowd, toting bags of gourmet take-out, Tommy Bahama chairs and other picnic essentials like wine, craft beer and wooden crates stuffed with comforters and pillows.
Once the gates open, you speed walk through the cemetery to the screening area to stake out your spot on the grass. We had to save room for our group of 12, which was more stressful than finding a spot on the sand in Santa Monica during a summer Saturday.
The movie starts at 9pm. That leaves enough time to picnic, find your way to the porta-potties before dark and visit the themed photo booth. Plenty of people posed, with many sporting Red Wings jerseys, or dresses like the German-American heritage parade float dancers wore, for the occasion.
Like any movie, it opens with trailers. Ours included Steven King's "It," part of Cinespia's "Summerween" series. Funny enough, not everyone in the crowd seemed excited about watching a horror movie in a graveyard.
In the darkness, one viewer flatly declared "Nope." Another politely said, "No thank you."
Then it was on to the main attraction. Cheers erupted as the opening title sequence began with Ferris's worried parents diagnosing his condition.
It wasn't long before I found myself heeding Ferris's oft-quoted advice about slowing down. After all the driving, parking and waiting, it was nice to simply settle in and enjoy a movie with friends outdoors on a pleasant summer evening. Even the location became an after-thought.
Maybe it was nostalgia, but the movie was more charming and poignant than I remembered, especially when the sweetness and laughter were shared with several hundred other people.
Unfortunately, as is also common in LA, people started packing up early, interrupting the end credits and their fun surprise.
Wait, you're still here? Since you read this far, I'll answer the one remaining question I have not addressed. No, you don't sit atop the graves while watching the movie.
Eric Harnish lives in Castaic, and with his bad knee, he shouldn't be throwing anyone either.

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