outdoor movies in los altos

Lisette and I were in downtown Los Altos last night for outdoor movie night. I hadn’t seen Pirates of the Caribbean before and we were both curious about the Friday night event. We weren’t quite prepared for the scene that greeted us and didn’t end up staying, but my Peninsula friends with kids may want to consider attending next week. September 1st is the final movie of the year: Finding Nemo.

Summer Friday evenings, the Los Altos Village Association shuts down all traffic on Main Street between Second and Third. They inflate jumpy houses and slides for the little kids and begin setting up a digital projector, 15-foot screen and surround sound for when it gets dark. This transforms the normally quiet and sleepy downtown into a giant playground.

Not surprisingly, the playground attracts kids. Teens and pre-teens were everywhere; there must have been a few hundred along with another two hundred families. The older kids don’t seem so interested in the movie but the younger kids are excited by their presence.

The adults use this as an opportunity to catch up with friends and to do a little tailgating. Bring a bottle of wine and consider your options for foraging for food. Besides those I have mentioned in my blog (Chris’s Fish and Chips and Satura Cakes) there is Applewood Pizza and Draeger’s.

For the best view, get there early (6:30 should be a good time) to set up your chairs. Everyone seems to have these (on sale at REI), and since the street is the theater, blankets aren’t really an option. The movie will start a little after 8p.