If you are serious about movie-going in the City of Angels, you’ll be excited and relieved to hear that Downtown LA is at long last getting an Alamo Drafthouse, a.k.a. the Austin, Texas–based movie theater chain known for its strict no-talking and no-texting policies. Audience members caught with their cell phones out at a screening are swiftly eliminated. (Kidding—they just get kicked out. With no refund.)
Other Drafthouse rules include no children under age six and no admittance after a film has begun. This means no crying babies who have inexplicably found their way into your Midsommar screening, and no more criminally tardy people who wander in with giant sodas and block the screen for long moments at a time as they stumble to find seating in the dark.
Alamo has a reputation for showing the best in genre flicks (horror, science fiction, action) on 4k projectors, plus screening select films in 35 mm. The first 35-er up will be Quentin Tarantino’s forthcoming Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, for which you can now purchase tickets. Best of all, there are no ads before your movie begins.
photo courtesy of Alamo Drafthouse
AD theaters typically have just forty to sixty seats, all of them cushioned and reclining, with a tray to hold food and drinks which can be ordered and brought directly to you by discreet waiters on tip-toe while the film plays. You can also order cocktails and 40+ beers on tap.
As if all that wasn’t enough, the LA locale has additional plans to lure patrons. The theater complex will include Video Vortex, a place to chillax before and after your showing. It boasts films you can rent without charge for up to a week, plus a bar serving craft beer, wine, and liquor (with movie themes, of course, like the “LA Confidential” promising tequila, ginger syrup, cinnamon, lime bitters, soda, and hopefully no Kevin Spacey). The VV will also host programming and gaming events.
LA’s Alamo Drafthouse opens tonight, July 19, for a two-week “sneak peek” period. It’s located at The Bloc in downtown (700 S Flower St.), and tickets cost $17-$18.
For more info, go here.
