Arnie Wishnick Night and ‘Back to the Future’
It is supposed to be 100 degrees in the Valley this Saturday and even hotter in the desert. What does that mean for Pacific Palisades residents?
The temperature will be a balmy 70+ degrees for the first night of Movies in the Park at the Palisades Recreation Center, 851 Alma Real.
It will be the perfect opportunity to get out of the house with your lawn chairs and watch a free movie, “Back to the Future,” starting at dusk.
Bring a picnic and the kids (or grandkids) and enjoy the chance to visit with great people in the community before the movie. (Remember no pets—sorry—and no smoking, no alcohol or stick-leg chairs.)
Per tradition, the hot dogs will be free, thanks to sponsorship by Mike Skinner, and there will be free give-a-ways from other sponsors.
“Back to the Future” (1985) was directed by Robert Zemeckis, in which Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent thirty years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd).
This is the 16th year of free movies that are shown every Saturday night in August. The first film this year was selected by residents and is being shown in honor of long-time Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Arnie Wishnick, who passed away in April.
Wishnick, in addition to participating in all community events and basically knowing everyone in town, used to write movie reviews for the local paper, giving different movies up to five palm trees if he liked them.
Movies in the Park is a nonprofit founded in 2004 by David Williams and John Wirth and joined by Andy Frew and Brad Lusk. The men have led fundraising efforts, selected movies, created the on-screen and audio ads and announced.
This year’s movies are being sponsored by: Thesman Family, The Pacific Palisades Woman’s Club, Gelson’s, Kehillat Israel, Marc Michael Eyewear Studio, Palisades Pitstop, Pali Presbyterian Preschool, Palisades Village Rodeo Realty, David Tishbi, the Optimist Club, Dan Urbach-Realtor (Compass), Pacific Palisades Dentistry, Palisades Funding and the Pacific Palisades Baseball Association.
Every year, the cost of renting the movies keeps going up: most movies are now $595 and “Incredibles 2,” which is scheduled for August 24, will be $675.
Williams wrote Circling the News: “We are now looking for Community Sponsorship/Contributions to help keep MITP alive. Any amount is welcomed. We ask they contact us at moviesintheparkpacpal@gmail.com for address to send contributions and tax information for the nonprofit tax deduction.”
The lineup for 2019 is:
August 10, “The Wizard of Oz” (1939)
August 17, “Finding Nemo.”
August 24, “Incredibles 2.”
August 31, “Black Panther.”