The reason Hollywood Distillery is at 5975 Santa Monica Boulevard, and not somewhere else in the neighborhood, is partly an accident of real estate — the building that was right was on this block — and partly entirely deliberate: we are directly across the street from Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which during summer Saturdays is the strangest, most wonderful outdoor venue in Los Angeles. Cinespia projects classic films onto the wall of the Cathedral Mausoleum, the audience picnics on the great lawn, and somewhere around the third reel everyone realizes they're watching a movie surrounded by graves and the moonlight is doing very specific things to the cypress trees.
The films are programmed deliberately. Some Saturdays it's noir. Some it's John Hughes. Some it's a Hitchcock. The pairings below are our take on what to pour from a discreet flask depending on what's on the wall. We can't legally bring you cocktails into the cemetery. You'll have to handle that part yourself.
For a noir
Double Indemnity. Sunset Boulevard. The Long Goodbye. A noir wants something stirred, dark, slightly bitter. We'd pour a Boulevardier in a flask: 1 oz Zanja-Madre Bourbon, 1 oz Campari, 1 oz sweet vermouth, stirred and decanted. Drink it warm by the third act and you'll feel the noir in the back of your throat.
For a Hitchcock
Rear Window. Notorious. Vertigo. Hitchcock films were filmed during the heyday of the martini. The honest pour is a 5:1 Oasis Vodka martini, made early, drunk cold. Bring a small thermos of ice. Or, if you're showing off, bring a flask of Oasis Vodka and a small bottle of dry vermouth and stir it in the moment before the credits roll.
For a John Hughes
The Breakfast Club. Sixteen Candles. Ferris Bueller's Day Off. A 1980s Hughes film wants something younger and brighter. Try a gin and tonic with grapefruit: Nopalera Gin, Fever-Tree tonic, a slice of pink grapefruit. Build it on ice in a tall glass before you leave home, double-bag it for the walk in, drink immediately.
For a Tarantino
Pulp Fiction. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Reservoir Dogs. Tarantino is a whiskey filmmaker. Pour the rye neat. Zanja-Madre Rye in a small flask, no ice, no mixer. Sip slowly. Eat a hot dog from the vendor near the entrance. The film will take care of the rest.
For a David Lynch
Mulholland Drive. Blue Velvet. Lost Highway. Lynch films require something that reads as innocent and turns sinister. We recommend a Negroni made with our Nopalera Gin: 1 oz gin, 1 oz Campari, 1 oz sweet vermouth, equal parts in a small flask, drunk on the lawn under the cypress trees. The bitterness will hit at exactly the wrong moment in the film.
For a romance
When Harry Met Sally. Roman Holiday. Breakfast at Tiffany's. A French 75 in a thermos: 1.5 oz Nopalera Gin, 0.5 oz lemon juice, 0.5 oz simple syrup, top with a small bottle of brut sparkling at the venue. Bring two flutes — the kind from a thrift store — and pour for whoever you came with.
The honest plan
If you're coming from out of town and you don't want to figure out cocktail logistics: book the 4 PM tour at Hollywood Distillery, taste the four spirits, buy a bottle of whichever you liked best, walk it across the street to Cinespia at 7 PM, and you're set. The movie starts at sundown. The crowd is friendly. The cemetery, at twilight, is one of the most unexpectedly beautiful places in Los Angeles.
The Cinespia schedule changes annually — they post the season's films in late spring at cinespia.org. We don't run the events, we just live across the street. But we do schedule extra Saturday tours through summer to handle the foot traffic.
Book a tour for a Saturday and pair it with a Cinespia screening. Bring a blanket. Drink slowly.