Captured for Posterity

Jeff Krulik has modest plans for his 15-minute guerrilla documentary “Heavy Metal Parking Lot.” He wants to produce a DVD. Oh, and a feature-length movie, a Broadway musical, a TV show, a Saturday morning cartoon, a line of clothes and maybe even skateboards.

“I have no qualms about turning this into a product,” he said, nursing his jet lag with a margarita at a Mexican restaurant on Sunset Boulevard.

Krulik had just flown in from Washington, D.C., to promote the 1986 movie he created with John Heyn, which is getting theatrical release alongside the full-length documentary “Home Movie.” Both open Friday at the Nuart.

“Parking Lot” stars a group of Spandex-clad Judas Priest fans, hanging out at the Capital Center arena in Largo, Md., before a concert. It was, until now, circulated only through bootleg copies and word of mouth, becoming a cult classic, with fans including Sofia Coppola, Spike Jonze, Ed Norton and David Grohl of the Foo Fighters.

“Honestly, we didn’t have any particular vision beyond showing it to our friends,” Krulik said. “Now, years later, it has an anthropological feel. People have written term papers on it.” He added, “It’s sort of a ‘Nanook of the North,’ an ancient, entertaining culture.”

He attributes the underground success of the movie to its stars.

“They were so animated, inebriated and willing to go on camera,” Krulik said. “As soon as you took the camera out, you had your material ....We happened to hit pay dirt.”

And the two filmmakers, who conceived of the project “as a lark,” found and documented a moment in popular culture.

“If you grew up in the ‘80s, you either were at that concert or you were there through osmosis,” Krulik said. “It was a rite of passage.”

After “Heavy Metal Parking Lot,” Krulik did a “Neil Diamond Parking Lot” and a “Harry Potter Parking Lot.” Fans of the genre have sent their tributes, including “Girl Power Parking Lot.”

Krulik, who found that his offbeat sensibility made him able to anticipate the next pop culture phenomenon, paused as he pondered what we should look for next.

“Maybe Barry Manilow?”

The Standard Crowd

A mob of restless partygoers shoved past burly security guards into the event of the night, a loud, flashy affair to celebrate a video game and a hotel opening. Their glittery presence on the vacant streets of downtown Los Angeles, just a few blocks west of Skid Row, seemed incongruous. The crowd of narrow girls in blousy summer attire and famous people dressed to blend in left Flower Street and made its way into the party that was held in and around the new Standard Hotel.

Skyscrapers provided a glamorous backdrop to the outdoor portion of the event. A projected version of the PlayStation 2 logo danced on the buildings. (The video game company hosted the party and rented the hotel for the week. The Standard doesn’t open to the public until Monday.) At one end of the transformed parking lot, Jane’s Addiction performed the Rolling Stones’ tune “Sympathy for the Devil,” putting its unique spin on the song. Perry Farrell, who bore a startling resemblance to John Travolta a la “Saturday Night Fever,” held a martini in one hand and the microphone in the other.

People gravitated toward the elevated, rotating bar for complimentary cocktails. Not everyone was impressed with the mechanics. “I went a full circle before I got a drink,” one man said. In the crowd, David Arquette and Courteney Cox Arquette mingled, occasionally signing autographs. Tobey Maguire was there chatting up a woman, but there will be no photographic record of his or Drew Barrymore’s attendance. Both actors prohibited pictures.

At the hotel, guards kept a crowd at bay. Those refused entry peered in the window at the privileged guests sitting on pink couches. “They’re not letting in the Philistines,” an onlooker said. “Colored drinks” weren’t allowed inside, either. In the lobby, a waitress tried to explain this policy to Hugh Hefner and his five girlfriends. “The fabric,” she explained. “Even cranberry juice will mess it up.” Hefner guffawed and ordered a vodka tonic. A bald man wearing blue eye shadow and false eyelashes walked around the lobby carrying a riding crop. He stopped in front of the escalator, shimmied, then looked over his shoulder and shouted: “Swizzle stick on the couch!” No one flinched.

After midnight everyone wanted to go to the roof. It was the party’s VIP lounge, of course, where the mood oozed with exclusivity. People lounged on the trio of waterbeds that are part of the roof’s decor. Others warmed themselves by a brick fireplace, idled near the bar or hovered around the steamy pool. Meanwhile, downstairs, people clamored to get into the hotel with an urgency usually reserved for natural disasters, prompting one woman to comment: “I guess this is the only party in town tonight.”

Quote/Unquote

“I stayed with Camryn Manheim when I was a prospective student. She was tired of putting up prospectives, but when she was asked to do it again, she said, ‘Let me see pictures.’ She looked at head shots and pointed to me and said, ‘I’ll take him.’”

--Peter Krause in the June issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.

City of Angles runs Tuesday through Friday. E-mail: angles @latimes.com