Ohh, you really missed the heyday of the Cinematheque at the Egyptian, then. Before they opened the Aero and moved all the good programming and guest appearances over there, the Egyptian was THE place to go for revival cinema. I moved to LA in late 2000 and joined as a member almost immediately. I had been once before I moved to LA. I was visiting a friend over the summer in 2000 and I noticed they were showing a film called Toomorrow, which was ONJ's first film and something of a lost movie. I told him- I have no idea if it's gonna be good or suck, but we have to go. (We're both huge ONJ fans.) They were just showing the movie on a Saturday afternoon, no guests or anything. House was maybe 1/3 full.

We both actually really enjoyed it. It was silly, but lots of fun. At the end of the movie, the programmer came out to talk about the film and said that he had a special guest. He looks over at me and points, and introduces Olivia. She had been sitting right behind me through the whole movie. I turned around and we locked eyes, and I swear, I queened out like I never have before or since. She did a great Q&A and said she had read about the film showing in the paper and hadn't seen it in 30 years and just decided to come down with no warning.

Anyway, the first 6-7 years I lived in LA, the Cinematheque at the Egyptian was something truly special. I must have been there at least 5-6 times a month, and sometimes up to a dozen. I couldn't possibly list all the great movies and even better guests they had, but I'll do a few highlights.

- At a double feature of Bunny Lake is Missing and Too Late Blues, Carol Lynley and Stella Stevens did a Q&A about those films, and then offered to re-enact their scene together from The Poseidon Adventure where Linda slaps the shit out of Nonny.

- Nearly 100 yr old director Ronald Neame came to talk about his directing career and told several bawdy stories, and several tales about how crazy Shelley Winters was. He was sharp as a tack.

- Christopher Atkins and director Ken Annakin did a Q&A after a 20th anniversary screening of The Pirate Movie.

- Getting to see classics like Singin in the Rain, Black Narcissus, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, The Empire Strikes Back, and so many others on that amazing screen.

- The annual Mods and Rockers Festival which showed really great 50s and 60s films, some incredibly rare.

- The annual film noir festival, which introduced me to so many little known crime films.

- A tribute to John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands with Rowlands making multiple appearances

- And my favorite (which only lasted two summers), the Musicals of the 1970s and 80s festival, which was two full weeks of double and triple features with the most amazing special guests. Grease with Randall Kleiser and cast members, Willy Wonka with director Mel Stuart, Bugsy Malone and Phantom of the Paradise with Paul Williams, Xanadu with DP Victor Kempster and Gene Kelly's widow (who was a hoot), Hair with John Savage... and getting to see those, as well as Saturday Night Fever, Tommy, The Apple, Can't Stop the Music, The Wiz, etc. all on the big screen.

And once the Aero opened, all that stopped. The Aero is a shithole, in an inconvenient place that no one wants to drive to, it has no parking, an incompetent staff, a lousy screen, is dirty, with terrible seats, smells, and should just be torn down..

And that was the end of that. And now Netflix is taking over the Egyptian to show movies we can see in our own homes and that aren't worth going to see on a big screen, and we've lost the best revival house in LA.