At 90, Broadway legend Chita Rivera recalls a life working with Fosse, Sondheim, Bernstein

• June 28, 2023

Chita Rivera originated three of the most iconic roles in Broadway history: Anita in “West Side Story,” Velma in “Chicago,” and the title role in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

She’s been nominated for 10 Tony Awards, winning for “Spider Woman” and “The Rink,” while picking up a lifetime achievement Tony in 2018, too. She was the first Latina to receive a Kennedy Center Honor and she’s got a Presidential Medal of Freedom to wear, too.

Rivera’s co-stars and collaborators have included names such as lyricist Stephen Sondheim and composer Leonard Bernstein, choreographer Bob Fosse and actor-dancer Gwen Verdon, Dick Van Dyke and Liza Minnelli, the songwriting team of John Kander and Fred Ebb.

As a teenager, she earned a scholarship to study at the School of American Ballet after auditioning for its founder, the dance legend George Balanchine himself.

So why, you might wonder, did Rivera wait until she was 90 this year to publish a memoir of this incredible life she’s led?

“I was so busy living my life that I never did,” Rivera says, laughing, during a recent phone call from her home in a small town about 25 miles north of Times Square. “Besides, I’m a very private person, and I really didn’t think of anybody being interested.”

But then the pandemic hit, and Rivera, who’s never stopped working, had time on her hands.

“Now was the time,” she says. “Now is the time. And it sort of is a memoir to remind myself of the wonderful things that have happened to me.”

As she talked about her life with co-author Patrick Pacheco, Rivera came to see “Chita” not just as the story of her life, but also as a story that might inspire or inform younger artists embarking on careers in song and dance and theater.

“You want to give information to younger students if they wanted to go down this road,” Rivera says. “And the experiences I had, I tell them that they can have if they stick with it and are passionate about it.

“It’s just a lesson in living, really.”

Q: What was it like to revisit the earliest years of your life, when you were a girl growing up on Flagler Place in Washington D.C. in the ’30s and ’40s?

A: It was really remembering what fun it was to be a kid. What fun it was to have brothers and sisters. What fun it was to ride around on your bicycle. Go and climb the pear tree. It’s wonderful to remember what fun you had as a kid.

Q: You’re a kid, jumping on the furniture, and you break your mother’s table. But instead of yelling at you, she signs you up for ballet classes to teach you discipline, and you find your future in that dance school.

A: She was a teacher herself. She was the best mother. And I think, had she not had five kids, she would have wanted to have been a dancer. I just had that feeling. I mean, she was built that way. She had a beautiful figure and gorgeous legs. But she was a mother first.

And she decided to do something constructive with her child. There I was standing in the middle of that coffee table, never knowing that I was off to a career.

Q: A lot of kids are signed up for dance classes and they lose interest eventually. You embraced it.

A: Well, it was just what I needed, and just when I didn’t know what I needed. I wanted to be able to be told to straighten my life out. Well, not straighten my life out, because I was happy. I was having a good time. But I really needed and wanted that kind of authority. And I wanted to learn.

That’s what I want the kids to get from this book. That they want to learn. And you can learn so much from all of these fabulous, gifted people that I was fortunate enough to work with.

Q: Let’s jump ahead to 1957 and “West Side Story.” That’s where you start the book, your first one-on-one meeting with Leonard Bernstein. Take me back to what it was like to be in that show.

A: It was about telling a story. We recognized the talent that Jerome Robbins had, and Stephen Sondheim, because he was Stephen Sondheim, and Leonard Bernstein. I had a thirst for learning, and I had the best teachers in the world. We all had, those of us lucky enough to have been chosen to dance and learn from the mouths and experience of those amazing people.

Q: What did it feel like to perform ‘West Side Story’ for the first time for an audience?

A: We had our first taste of how different and how stupendous this show was going to be when we had the first run-throughs of the show in front of people who are in the business. That brought us up to, ‘Oh my God, this is really something.’

It moved this group of people and they’re responding; so we’ve got a good story – of course, it was the story of Romeo and Juliet. But to go into the theater during rehearsals, and see Jerry (Robbins) put up a news clipping, saying, “This is your life” – and it was a group of kids down the block that had just been killed.

That was when we realized that we were doing real-life stories and we had something to say.

Q; I laughed when you wrote about how possessive you felt about Anita’s dress in ‘West Side Story’ when you saw Rita Moreno as Anita in it in the film adaptation. Do you know where your dress is today?

A: I think it’s in a museum. Yeah, I think a while ago it was put in. And my one earring, too.

Q: Your first movie was the adaptation of the musical ‘Sweet Charity’ with Shirley MacLaine in 1969. How was that different from all the Broadway you’d been doing?

A: Well, you do the end of the movie before you do the beginning. But the thing that you do have is the companionship of another dancer. That is always the same. And that’s why I say, Dancers need to study. They need the basic training and that way you can make anything work. You can make dancing work in films, you just have to know their rules.

Q; You write that you’ve always considered yourself a dancer at heart, regardless of your singing and acting in musicals and dramas.

A: I think you’re grateful for the first thing that you learn. And that first was being a dancer. Not saying a word, just telling the story with your body. Then, if you’re fortunate enough, which I was, you open your mouth. You get a show and you open your mouth and you find out you can sing or you can speak.

It’s all a part of growing and learning from those people that have been there before.

Q: Let me jump now to Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon and ‘Chicago,’ another highlight of the book and your career. You’re Velma Kelly, Gwen is Roxie Hart, and before it can open Fosse has a major heart attack that delays it all.

A: I remember clearly being much younger and watching Gwen on television in movies, and watching Fosse in movies. And then, all of a sudden, years later, I’m standing next to her and we’re being choreographed by Bob Fosse. He’s choreographing two dancing as one. This is mind-boggling to me. It just feels meant to be.

Q: ‘Chicago,’ thanks to Fosse’s heart attack, also gave you a second career as a cabaret performer, when Kander and Ebb helped you create your first solo act while waiting for him to recover.

A: Fred Ebb and John Kander are really responsible for my career. The show being postponed, they said, ‘Why don’t we do a club act?’ And I said, ‘Well, I can’t talk. I can do a part that’s written for me, but I can’t, like, just be friends with an audience.’ So that’s when Freddie and John wrote this act for me. And everything I said was put in my mouth. But then I learned how to be friends and learned how to trust an audience.

Q: It’s a much more intimate kind of performance, isn’t it?

A: Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, you don’t have an orchestra pit in front of you. You can see the faces, and boy, am I grateful, because you find out what you’re about, also. You find out more about you and the audience. So it was a trip. It was a fabulous, fabulous experience.

Q: Then you brought that first cabaret act to West Hollywood and people like Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Dick Van Dyke and Debbie Reynolds came out to see it.

A: That came from meeting Liza Minnelli and her husband Jack Haley (who decided to bring the show west). You just keep your mind open and want to experience all of that. So many experiences will come from that.

Q: You write about the living history that theater is, how one generation learns from those that came before, and it flows on. Talk a little bit more about how that is reflected in your work and your life.

A: I think I feel, because I’m not finished yet, that everything touches everything else. I can’t express it. Everything in show business touches your life. And what you learn in the theater is what you learn in life. It affects everything that you do. It’s all connected.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Frumpy Mom: Fun at the doctor’s office

• June 28, 2023

You may be shocked to hear this, but I really hate going to the doctor.

Yes, yes, I could write an entire encyclopedia on this subject, and so could you, but I’ll try to limit it to the tiny space that my cruel, uncaring editors give me each week.

The first test of your patience, of course, is sitting in the waiting room. Nowadays, there’s usually someone sniffling or coughing near you without wearing a mask. When you offer them a mask, they look at you like you’d just proffered a live grenade.

“What am I supposed to do with that?”

Then there’s the person sitting across from you, underneath the sign that says, “Please take your cellphone conversation outside.” And of course, she’s talking on her cellphone. Loudly. If you’re lucky, she’s not using her speaker, but you never know.

I really, really do not want to hear about your third cousin Vera’s gynecological problems. I don’t even want to hear about my own gynecological problems.

When people force me to listen to their conversations in a waiting room or a jacuzzi or anywhere else, I always feel free to join in.

I lean in close and say, “Did Cousin Vera try the new lubricant cream? I heard that works very well.”

Whenever I do this, the blabbermouth on the phone always looks at me, shocked, and sometimes says, “How rude!”  As if I’m the one who’s being obnoxious. This is my favorite moment. My attitude is: If you are forcing me to listen to your private phone call, I feel I have the right to chime in. I just give them a great big Cheshire Cat smile.

I’m not kidding. I actually do this. And if everyone did it, maybe rude people would go outside more often. I mean, seriously. Why do you have to talk on the phone in the doctor’s office? Or the line at Target? Or my kid’s school concert? It can’t wait a few minutes?

But I digress. Once the medical professionals have finally called your name and admitted you to the Inner Sanctum, the sadomasochistic rituals start. For starters, they put you on the scale and weigh you.

This is nearly always depressing, because you know you can’t cheat that fancy schmancy industrial strength device, and you don’t want to strip naked in front of the entire office staff to push the numbers down.

Well, it’s depressing for me, because the scale nearly always says that I’m fatter. Maybe if it said, “Marla! What the bleep! Stop eating all that ice cream!” that I’d be humiliated and motivated to change.

Nowadays, they don’t show your weight in pounds, but in kilos. This momentarily gives you the impression that you just dropped half your body weight, but it’s a vicious lie because a kilo is equivalent to 2.2 pounds. I don’t really know why my doctors felt the need to use these kilo measurements.

I mean, hello. We are in the U.S. of A. Not in one of those misguided countries where they use the metric system. I can’t figure out Centigrade and I can’t figure out kilos and I don’t want to learn. I really don’t want to get on the stupid scale at all, but if you are going to make me, I want to get depressed seeing my weight in good old American measurements.

After the scale torture, then of course the nurse makes you sit down to take your blood pressure. I’m one of those people whose pressure soars in the doctor’s office, so they always end up making me stand and raise my arm and then do an Irish jig to make it go down.

I always feel vaguely guilty like I’ve been caught doing something naughty when the reading is too high, even though I know it’s temporary.

Recently, though, things have changed. I’ve been doing guided meditations for health every day for the last four years and, as a result, I can make my blood pressure go down at will. Seriously. I can.

I just sit there and say to myself, “Blood pressure, go down. Blood pressure, go down.” And it actually does. This makes me feel like an Indian yogi who can also levitate and stand on his head (except I can’t). I don’t know why it happens, but I’m glad.

Then, of course, you have to go into the cold little room full of potential torture devices and put on the backless paper gown. I’d like to see a beauty contest where they make all the contestants design a party dress out of one of these paper gowns.

So you sit there awkwardly on the adjustable table thing with butcher paper on it, while you wait for the doctor.

This was always the hardest part when I took my kids to see their pediatrician because they are squirmy and have no patience whatsoever. I always prayed the doctor would come quickly, before the kids made forts out of the tongue depressors and ripped one of the many machines out of the wall. I’d hiss, “Sit down! Be quiet! Put that down!” none of which did a lick of good.

Their blood pressure was fine, but mine was off the charts.

Luckily, these days the kids are old enough to go to the doctor on their own, so I only have to worry about myself.

Eventually, the doctor will come in and ask you what the problem is, even though 2.5 nurses have already asked you that question.

Whatever it is, she will invariably hand you a prescription at the end and tell you to get it filled on your way out. Because pills are the way our medical system works today.

So much fun. Let’s celebrate with a tongue depressor.

Related links

Frumpy Middle-aged Mom: Unexpected phone calls rarely deliver good news
Frumpy Middle-aged Mom: I may have cancer, but you’re not getting rid of me
I can’t have a brain tumor. I’ve got dinner on the stove
Frumpy Middle-aged Mom: Things I’ve learned from my cancer, part one
Frumpy Middle-aged Mom: Cancer isn’t as much fun as you might think it would be

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Google eliminates jobs at Waze after merging ad services

• June 28, 2023

By Julia Love | Bloomberg

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has cut jobs at mapping service Waze, the tech giant’s latest move to trim its operations amid a drive for efficiency in Silicon Valley.

Some positions focused on advertising at Waze were eliminated after the unit began transitioning to using Google’s advertising technology, a Google spokesperson said Tuesday.

“As part of this update, we’ve reduced those roles focused on Waze Ads monetization and are providing employees with mobility resources and severance options in accordance with local requirements,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Related Articles

Google said in December that it would fold Waze into its Geo organization, which includes popular products such as Google Maps and Google Earth. Google declined to provide a number for the jobs lost at Waze.

Google has been moving to reduce costs amid slowing demand last year for digital advertising, which fuels the company’s revenue. In January, Alphabet said it would cut about 12,000 jobs, more than 6% of its global workforce. The company in April reported first-quarter sales that were higher than estimates on stronger-than-expected advertising sales for search and the YouTube video site.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.

​ Orange County Register 

Irvine’s plan to take the Great Park Walkable Timeline beyond the 80s

• June 28, 2023

Some key moments in history after 1990 include the Y2K bug, the first iPhone sale, the 9/11 attacks, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the COVID-19 pandemic and the creation of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and the social media phenomenon.

The Walkable Historic Timeline in Irvine’s Great Park ends in 1990, leaving those technological advancements and cultural shifts, and more, unaddressed. And the Great Park board, made up of Irvine’s councilmembers and mayor, unanimously wants to change that.

The 2,604-foot walkway starts in 13,000 B.C., chronicling 162 historical milestones along the way, and was last updated in 2013.

Councilmember Larry Agran, spearheading the move to modernize it, said during Tuesday’s Great Park Board meeting that it was time to update the timeline with events from 1990 to the present day.

“There’s been a lot of rich global and regional history in that period,” said Agran.

Located by the Visitor Center, near the Great Park Sports Complex, the timeline is painted on concrete. In addition to adding historical events post-1990, Agran also wants to utilize technological advancements “to bring the timeline to life in new ways, beyond just paint on concrete,” he said in a city memo.

“Interactive technology, linkages to additional online content through use of QR codes, and other possible interactive features can allow for a world of new possibilities with regard to enhancing the Walkable Historic Timeline,” Agran said.

Adding these features, Agran said at Tuesday’s meeting, can make the timeline “serve as a growing educational feature” in the Great Park.

Visitors can borrow a handbook from the Great Park Visitor Center to read about the 162 historical events on the timeline as well as learn why the historical milestones on the timeline were selected. Agran also wants to update that handbook, including the “integration of digital features that might be appropriate,” he said.

City staffers are working on a proposal for the improvement of the Walkable Historical Timeline, including incorporating electronic features as well as updating the handbook. It will be treated as a capital project, where resident tax dollars will go into the project. The plan staffers put together will include costs as well as a proposed timeline.

In 2013, two UC Irvine history professors, Keith L. Nelson and Spencer C. Olin, researched and chose the 162 historical events listed on the timeline, once the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro’s taxiway. Nelson has since died, Agran said.

“Happy to report, however, that Spencer Olin kept working away and he (has) actually prepared draft historic entries that he has indicated that he’s happy to pass on to professional historians that we might hire to take the project forward,” Agran said.

Agran said the presumption is that staff, in formulating a plan of action, will look at “bringing professional historians on to at least review (Olin’s) work and maybe carry it forward a little bit as well.”

Irvine has embarked on a $1 billion development within the Great Park. The 300 acres of amenities set to be developed include the Veteran’s Memorial Park and Gardens, botanical gardens and a 14,000-seat amphitheater in partnership with Live Nation.

Great Park is already home to a 194-acre sports complex that is twice the size of Disneyland with ball fields, a soccer stadium and sand volleyball courts; trails; an arts pavilion; and, most recently, Wild Rivers.

​ Orange County Register 

Gavin Newsom’s 28th Amendment stunt is dead on arrival

• June 28, 2023

The United States Constitution has only been amended twice in the last half century.  The most recent amendment, the twenty-seventh, technically took more than two-hundred years to complete. It was originally approved by Congress in 1789 but not ratified by the states until 1992 following a public campaign led by a college student.  Another way the Constitution can be amended is for two-thirds of state legislatures to call an “Article V convention,” where amendments can be proposed and deliberated.  Then, three-quarters of the states must vote to ratify, formally amending the Constitution. Needless to say, it’s a complex process.

Why the history lesson?  Because California Governor Gavin Newsom recently launched a national campaign aimed at ratifying a “28th Amendment” to the Constitution pushed through the Article V convention method, which has never been successfully used since our nation’s founding.  He announced that he will use political campaign funds to spearhead this effort to get state legislatures behind the amendment.

The objective?  To peel back protections for Americans that our Founding Fathers codified in the Second Amendment.

Governor Newsom’s proposed “28th Amendment” would implement a liberal wish list of gun control policies that have only caught on in a small number of blue states.  It includes banning “assault weapons,” which is an ambiguous term that gun control proponents can never meaningfully define, but is broadly aimed at depriving Americans of some of the popular firearms used to protect their homes and families.

First and foremost – these policies will never become law as a constitutional amendment.  Setting aside their merits for a moment, the political support isn’t there.  In fact, there are already many state legislatures that wouldn’t touch them with a ten-foot pole, let alone support them being implemented at the federal level.

It’s not just that the 28th Amendment is an unserious proposal, the specific provisions wouldn’t actually do anything to curb violent crime or reduce the number of heinous killings committed with firearms.  The first “assault weapons” ban passed in 1994 had little to no impact on crime reduction or the number of gun deaths, and rifles were only used in three percent of murders committed with a gun in 2020, according to Pew Research Center.

The other provisions are also extremely flawed.  Is the federal government supposed to tell 18-to-20-year-old adults in the military that they can’t purchase a firearm to defend themselves one day, then send them to war, rifle in hand, the next day?  What duration should a domestic abuse victim be forced to wait before she can purchase a gun to protect herself from a potentially violent partner?  And how would the government plan to enforce universal background checks on criminals purchasing firearms who, by their very definition, don’t follow the law?

Related Articles

These easily critiqued policies demonstrate the true motivation behind the “28th amendment” campaign, despite what its proponents might tell us.  It’s not to protect innocent lives or curb the epidemic of violent crime across the country, nor does it have any respect for the Second Amendment.  The only other possible motivation is to raise a certain governor’s political profile around the country.  Perhaps that’s why the campaign’s official website is light on details but heavy on platitudes and flattering images.

Politicizing this issue is wrong.  We need to have serious, sober-minded conversations about how to make our communities safer, how to empower law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families, and prevent instances of mass violence – all while ensuring we protect our most fundamental constitutional rights.  What we don’t need are pie-in-the-sky political campaigns advocating for unrealistic and ineffective policies.

Katie Pointer Baney serves as the managing director of government affairs for the U.S. Concealed Carry Association and is a senior advisor to the USCCA-For Saving Lives Super PAC.

​ Orange County Register 

John Stossel: Scaremongering over climate change is a First World hobby

• June 28, 2023

For my new video, I asked people on the street, “If you could spend $30 billion trying to solve the world’s problems, how would you spend it?”

“Build houses … address homelessness,” said a few. “Spend on health care,” “redistribution.” The most common answer was “fight climate change.”

Really? Climate change is the world’s most important problem?

“It’s not surprising if you live in the rich world,” says Bjorn Lomborg, president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center.

Lomborg has spent the last 20 years consulting with experts from the United Nations, nongovernmental organizations and 60 teams of economists, seeking consensus on how to address the world’s biggest problems.

“The point is not that climate change is not an issue,” says Lomborg, “but we just need to have a sense of proportion.”

He says that while climate change may cause problems someday, “if you live most other places on the planet, you’re worried that your kids might die from easily curable diseases tonight.”

That’s why, he says, it’s important to ask ourselves, “Where can we spend dollars and do a lot of good versus … just a little good?”

Twenty years ago, the United Nations issued development goals. Surprisingly, Lomberg says they actually helped people.

“They basically said, let’s get people out of poverty, out of hunger, get kids into school, stop moms and kids from dying.”

That effort, plus global capitalism, lifted millions out of poverty.

Unfortunately, now the UN pushes “sustainable” goals that promise everythingto everyone.

“Get rid of poverty, hunger, disease, fix war, corruption, climate change,” says an exasperated Lomborg.

But a Bank of America report estimates that fighting climate change alone would cost trillions. Even that might not affect the climate very much.

“If we spend way too much money ineffectively on climate,” Lomborg points out, “not only are we not fixing climate, but we’re also wasting an enormous amount of money that could have been spent on other things.” Better things.

Lomborg’s new book, “Best Things First,” says “$35 billion could save 4.2 million lives in the poor part of the world each and every year.”

For example, screening people for tuberculosis, giving medicine to people who have it and making sure they complete their treatment would save up to a million lives a year.

“Nobody in rich world countries die from tuberculosis, but in poor countries, they still do,” says Lomborg. “Spend about $5.5 billion, you could save most of those people.”

Hundreds of thousands more die from malaria. Buying bed nets with insecticides that kill mosquitoes would save lots of lives. So would spending on basic vaccines for kids.

These ideas are common sense. They cost much less than what we spend now pretending to manage the climate.

Related Articles

“You want to help people,” I say to Lomborg, “yet people hate you.”

“Well, some people hate me,” he laughs.

One shoved a pie in his face. Others call him “the devil incarnate,” a “traitor” who “needs to be taken down.” All because he points out that the world has bigger problems than climate change.

“Climate change might kill poor people, too,” I point out.

“It certainly will. And climate change is more damaging for poor people!” Lomborg replies. “But remember, everything is worse for poor people — because they’re poor.”

“Unmitigated scaremongering leads to ineffective political action,” says Lomborg. “We need to have a conversation about where we spend money well, compared to where we just spend money to feel virtuous about ourselves.”

Every Tuesday at JohnStossel.com, Stossel posts a new video about the battle between government and freedom. He is the author of “Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media.”

​ Orange County Register 

Disneyland closing 3 popular rides during peak of summer

• June 28, 2023

Disneyland is shuttering two of the most popular Disney California Adventure attractions along with a temperamental ride at the Anaheim theme park during the peak of summer for several weeks of seasonal refurbishment.

Soarin’ Around the World and Toy Story Midway Mania at DCA and the Monorail that ferries riders between Disneyland and Disney’s hotels will temporarily close for standard refurbishments in July.

SEE ALSO: Better move quickly if you want Oogie Boogie Bash tickets — they sell out fast

Soarin’ Around the World will close July 5-14, according to the Disneyland website. The Disneyland Monorail will also close on July 5 while Toy Story Midway Mania will close July 17. Reopening dates for Midway Mania and the Monorail have not been set and both attractions will remain closed through at least Aug. 8, according to the Disneyland website.

Soarin’ and Midway Mania are among DCA’s most popular rides and part of Disney’s upcharge Genie+ line-cutting service. Both rides have clocked wait times over 3 hours — some of the longest wait times in DCA history, according to Thrill Data.

SEE ALSO: Disneyland crowds return to 90% of 2019 levels, report says

Disneyland is often forced to close the temperamental Monorail when it gets hot because the cabins have blowers but no air conditioning, according to MiceChat.

The closure of Midway Mania, Soarin’ and the Monorail in July comes on the heels of Disneyland closing three classic Fantasyland rides in June for general maintenance and upkeep.

Related Articles

Disneyland typically conducts seasonal refurbishments during the off-season between New Year’s Day and Spring Break. Weekslong refurbishments are less common between Memorial Day and Labor Day — the traditional summer vacation season.

Understanding the Disneyland calendar has become more complicated in recent years — with the off-season continually shrinking and slow periods shifting to unconventional times of year. The yearlong pandemic closure of the parks also disrupted maintenance and refurbishment schedules.

​ Orange County Register 

Where to see outdoor movies in Southern California this summer

• June 28, 2023

With the beautiful weather in Southern California, why settle for watching a movie in a traditional indoor theater setting or streaming films at home this summer?

The season presents the opportunity to take in a variety of films in locations like parks, beaches and even the rooftops of towering city buildings.

For those wanting to watch everything from a beloved, kid-friendly animated feature to an adrenaline-pumping action flick, here are 10 options for catching movies under the stars this summer.

While many of the movie series events are free, a few are ticketed affairs or require advance reservation. Check the event websites for details.

CineMalibu screens films at a park overlooking the ocean each summer. (Photo courtesy City of Malibu)

CineMalibu

Perched high above the ocean, Malibu’s Bluffs Park becomes a scenic outdoor theater every summer with the city’s CineMalibu film series. Don’t phone home, but phone your friends instead and invite them to a free screening of  Steven Spielberg’s 1982 sci-fi adventure “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” on Saturday, July 15. Come back to witness an epic battle in 1984’s “The Karate Kid” on Saturday, Aug. 19. Bring chairs, blankets and money for food trucks. Alcohol is prohibited.

When: 7 p.m. July 15; 6:30 p.m. Aug. 19

Where: Malibu Bluffs Park, 24250 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu

Cost: Free

Information: malibucity.org

Cinespia

Grab a blanket, hit the snack bar and check out some films in unique settings as Cinespia presents a variety of films all summer long at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and LA State Historic Park. Highlights include “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” on Saturday, July 1; “Fight Club” on Saturday, July 8; “Gremlins” on Saturday, July 22; “Valley Girl” on Saturday, July 29; and a double-feature with Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill Vol. 1” and “Kill Bill Vol. 2” on Saturday, Aug. 19 at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Movie fans can also catch “The Fifth Element” at LA State Historic Park on Friday, July 21. These events have also been known to feature surprise appearances by the film directors, producers and cast. Fans are encouraged to dress up to match the theme of the movies and there’s a photobooth on site for free keepsakes. Guests can bring in their own food, beer and wine at Hollywood Forever; outside alcohol is prohibited at LA State Historic Park, but will be available for purchase.

When: Various nights and hours through August

Where: Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 North Spring Street and Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles

Cost: Tickets start at $20

Information: cinespia.org

La Habra Movies in the Park

Family film night returns to La Habra thanks to the city’s free Movies in the Park series taking place in various city parks. The next screening is “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” at Portola Park, located at 301 South Euclid Street on Friday, July 21. The series ends with “Minions: The Rise of Gru” at Oeste Park, 2300 W. Lambert Road, on Friday, Sept. 8. And come hungry because each screening includes a free hot dog, chips and a soft drink. Candy and popcorn will be available for $1. Alcohol is prohibited.

When: 6 p.m. July 21, Aug. 1, Aug. 18 and Sept. 8

Where: Various city parks including: Portola Park at 301 South Euclid Street; El Centro Park at 320 East Erna Ave.; Oeste Park  at 2300 W. Lambert Road.

Cost: Free

Information: lahabraca.gov

Moonlight Movies Long Beach

Grab a chair and sit on the sand, or go inland a bit for more free flicks with this Long Beach film series. Moonlight Movies takes place at three locations in the city this summer: On the sand at Granada Beach, at Long Beach City College’s Liberal Arts Campus and Pacific Coast Campus. The next film on the sand in the series will be “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” on Tuesday, July 11 followed by “Lilo & Stitch” on Tuesday, July 25; “Top Gun: Maverick” on Tuesday, Aug. 1; “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” on Tuesday, Aug. 8; and “Back to the Future” on Aug. 15  “Grease” will be screened at the LAC Campus on Thursday, July 13 and the series wraps with “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” at the PCC Campus on Thursday, Aug. 24. Patrons can bring in their own food and snacks and local food trucks and popcorn vendors will be on-site with food for purchase. Alcohol is prohibited.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through Aug .24

Where: Granada Beach, 4120 Ocean Blvd.; Liberal Arts Campus, 4901 E. Carson Street; Pacific Coast Campus, 1305 Pacific Coast Highway.

Cost: Free

Information: moonlightmoviesonthebeach.com

Related Articles

Movies Under the Stars

One Colorado in Pasadena is a popular shopping and dining destination and this summer it’s also going to become a nice place to sit down and catch a flick and celebrate the ’90s. The series will include films like “Sister Act,” “Groundhog Day” and “Hook.” All screenings are free, but require an advance RSVP through the official website. While there will be on-site concessions, there’s VIP seating for those that show a receipt for a minimum purchase of $50 per person from the eateries and shops at One Colorado that includes the film, priority seating, popcorn, access to a candy cart and a soft drink.

When: 8:30 p.m. Saturdays July 8, 15 and 22

Where: One Colorado, 41 Hugus Alley, Pasadena

Cost: Free, but must RSVP in advance

Information: onecolorado.com

MoVal Movies

Moreno Valley is getting into the family-friendly film game with its MoVal Movie series, taking place at the City Amphitheater on Fridays. There’s no movie July 7, but the series returns on July 14 with “Lilo & Stitch” and ends on Aug. 4 with “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Patrons can bring blankets, snacks and beverages but alcohol is prohibited.

When: 7-10 p.m. Fridays through Aug. 4

Where: Civic Center Amphitheater, 14075 Frederick Street, Moreno Valley

Cost: Free

Information: moval.org

OC Parks’ Sunset Cinema Series

Various parks throughout Orange County will become outdoor movie theaters every Friday night. The films are all family-friendly, free and guests can bring in their own picnic items, low-back chairs and blankets. Plus there are food trucks and a beer and wine garden open to those 21-and-older. Next up in the series is “Top Gun: Maverick” on July 7 and “Clueless” on July 14 at Yorba Regional Park in Anaheim The series wraps up with “Uncharted” on Sept. 1 and “Mamma Mia!” on Sept. 8 at Bluff Park at Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point.

When: 6 p.m. Fridays through Sept. 8

Where: Yorba Regional Park, 7600 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim; Irvine Regional Park, 1 Irvine Park Road, Orange; Mason Regional Park, 18712 University Dr., Irvine; Laguna Niguel Regional Park, 28241 La Paz Road, Laguna Niguel; Bluff Park at Salt Creek Beach, 33333 Pacific Coast Highway, Dana Point.

Cost: Free

Information: ocparks.com

Rooftop Cinema Club screens movies on rooftops this summer. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

Rooftop Cinema Club

Join the club and hit the roof for movies in Downtown Los Angeles, the Arts District and El Segundo. The Rooftop Cinema Club is like a picnic overlooking parts of the city with films screened on top of buildings while guests listen to the films with provided wireless headphones. There are a variety of films screening and movie times running through September. Moviegoers can catch “A Nightmare on Elm Street” on Saturday, July 1; “Everything Everywhere All at Once on Monday, July 3; and “The Sandlot” on Tuesday, July 4 at the Downtown Los Angeles location. “Ratatouille” is playing July 1; “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” on Sunday, July 2; and “Moulin Rouge” on Wednesday, July 5 at the Arts District location. In El Segundo, “American Psycho” is screening on July 1; “La La Land” on July 2; and “Inception” on July 3. Candy, popcorn, soda, cocktails and more are available for purchase.

When: Various hours through September

Where: Rooftop Cinema Arts District, 777 South Alameda Street, Los Angeles; Rooftop Cinema DTLA, 888 South Olive Street; Rooftop Cinema El Segundo, 1310 East Franklin Ave.

Cost: Tickets start at $19.50.

Information: rooftopcinemaclub.com

Street Food Cinema

This long-running film series turns movies into parties as it pairs screenings with food trucks, live bands, games and other activities at various Los Angeles County locations. Check out “La La Land” on Saturday, July 1 at Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades; “Scooby-Doo” on Saturday, July 8 at The Autry Museum in Los Angeles; “Casablanca” at LA State Historic Park on Saturday, July 15; or “Aladdin” at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia on Saturday, July 29.

When: Various dates and times through September

Where: Various Los Angeles area locations

Cost: Tickets start at $22 for general admission

Information: streetfoodcinema.com

Riverside Movies in the Park

Get the kids, grab some chairs, popcorn and snacks and get ready for some family fun with Riverside’s free movie series, which takes place at several city parks on Friday nights. The series starts with “DC League of Super Pets,” which is all about furry superheroes. It screens at Hunt Park on July 14. The next film is about a pair of super brothers as the new “Super Mario Bros. Movie” screens at Villegas Park on July 21.

When: 6 p.m. Fridays July 14-Aug. 18

Where: Hunt Park, 4015 Jackson Street; Villegas Park, 3091 Esperanza Street; La Sierra Park, 5215 La Sierra Ave.; Reid Park, 701 Orange Street; Bryant Park, 7950 Philbin Ave.; Bordwell Park, 2008 Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Cost: Free

Information: riversideca.gov

​ Orange County Register