What to Know
- Santa Monica Airport
- You can choose to "drive-up" to a lawn box, complete with seating, or go the traditional drive-in route, and watch a film from your car
- $29-$65 per lawn box (depending on number of guests); $25-$35 drive-in (depending on number of guests); prices can vary
Boxes? We're familiar with the concept, from the cardboard containers that appear on our doorsteps, to the places where we store things we might need later, to the playthings favored by kids, cats, and creative adults, too.
But if you look to the sort of boxes we sit in while out, the well-defined seating areas seen at baseball games and the opera, you might wonder why you don't see such spots more often.
Like, say, at a drive-in theater, where space rules and elbow room is plentiful.
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Rooftop Cinema Club is running with this boxy notion straight toward a fresh way to present films. It's called The Drive-Up, it's happening at Santa Monica Airport, and, yes, "boxes" are involved.
They're open-air lawn boxes, cordoned-off areas that give a couple, family, or group of friends their own designated patch. These snug squares boast relax-back lawn chairs, headphones, and a "living room seating" vibe, and, of course, a view of the outdoor screen.
It's a screen that can also be seen by anyone arriving by car and opting for the traditional drive-in choice, meaning they'll watch the movie from inside their vehicle.
So will you go for The Drive-Up, and opt for a sit-outside lawn box, or The Drive-In, and hang out in your automobile?
Either way, there will be food trucks nearby, should you want to nosh while you laugh/cry/sigh. And pups are invited, too, as long as they stay on leash.
What's just ahead? Plenty of sweet, summer-ending cinema gems, with "Clueless," "Love Jones," and "Hocus Pocus" on the August-isn't-over-yet schedule.
