TIP-OFF : Bring Your Own Popcorn

TIRED OF hosting charity bashes at hotels? Looking for a venue in which to have your upcoming high school reunion? Feel like throwing someone special the birthday party of a lifetime? Why not make like a movie mogul and hold a private screening at your neighborhood theater or drive-in?

Pacific Theatres rents out its various Southern California venues for special events and parties, based on availability and what’s playing. (It would be difficult, for example, to take over the Cinerama Dome during the first-week run of the latest Steven Spielberg mega-movie, but even the Dome can be booked with enough planning.) In addition to working around scheduling restrictions, the renter must pay a fee (varies with the theater) that ranges from $1,000 to $5,000 a day and furnish a $2 million insurance umbrella policy to cover personal liability. Pacific can supply the film (at extra cost), or you can bring your own, which is what the L.A. Conservancy did for a ‘5Os party it held at the Studio Drive-In in Culver City (in keeping with the theme, it was “The Girl Can’t Help It,” starring Jayne Mansfield.) Depending on the site, provisions can be made for guests to provide their own refreshments, or, if desired, the concession counter can be opened to sell the classics: popcorn, soda and candy.

For more information on theater rental, telephone the Special Events Department of Pacific Theatres, (213) 657-8420.