Experience Historic Downtown - Last Remaining Seats and "Nights on the Town"

Last night my friend Adam and I continued our tradition of LA Conservancy's Last Remaining Seats - classic movies in beautiful historic theatres (here's my post from my experience last year). And while sometimes traditions lose a bit of its flare as time goes by, this could never be the case with this LA Conservancy series.

It was the first time I had been at an Opening Night event for the series, and I dashed over to the Orpheum after most people had entered. But having gone to a couple events, I knew what I missed - a line wrapped around the block and then some of people hoping to get a good seat. By the time I got there, most of the seats were filled, but luckily for friends (and nice strangers who hold seats while there's no phone reception), I was able to have a seat saved!

The series kicked off last night with "The Sting" featuring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Prior to the show, we got a couple of treats - Bob Mitchell on the Orpheum's original 1928 "Mighty Wurlitzer" organ, a hilarious cartoon called "Confidence" from 1933 which featured how to conquer the depression with a dose of confidence (courtesy of President FDR), and host Charles Phoenix who interviewed special guests (who won Academy Awards for "The Sting") screenwriter David S. Ward and Producer Tony Bill who told us stories about Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Robert Shaw.

Prior to the event, I had never seen "The Sting" which is a great movie of twists and turns and keeps you guessing until the end. There was a little survey taken of the audience and a number of people there hadn't seen it either (so I didn't feel too much like the odd one out). Given the laughter and the clapping throughout the movie, I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one giving it five-stars.

While most of the series is sold out, at the time of this post, there are still tickets available for one event: Macunaíma. Get them while they last!

And whether you've got tickets or just want to explore Historic Core a little bit, one of the best parts about the Last Remaining Seats series is "Nights on the Town", restaurant specials before and after the event so that you can experience Historic Core Downtown LA and its delectable food offerings.

-Charity Tran, ExperienceLA Web Manager/Editor