There's pretty much nothing better than relaxing with a cocktail on balmy summer evening. Combine that with a screening of one of your favourite cult movie classics and you've hit the jackpot. Look no further than the
Rooftop Cinema, Melbourne's 21st century answer to the drive-in.
Located on the rooftop of Curtin House (also home to Cookie Bar and Restaurant, The Toff in Town and The Metropolis bookstore) you will find the aptly named venue. It's a simple concept: a bar and an open-air cinema on a city rooftop. But it works.
In city saturated with trendy hidden laneway bars that come and go faster than you can change outfits, the Rooftop Cinema is now in its fourth season and is hugely popular with the inner-city hipster crowd.
Although surrounded on all sides by
skyscrapers, (which look amazing in the evening when their lights are on), the Rooftop Cinema is a safe haven from the suits and corporate grind of the big smoke. The bar is also open during the day through until 1am. The rooftop may draw a somewhat cool crowd, but it has a very relaxed and unpretentious vibe and is an easy place to spend an afternoon or evening (or both!).
Movie screenings begin after
sunset. The screen is a comfortable size, and not a dizzying neck-breaking monstrosity as seems to be the current cinematic trend! There are 185 brightly-striped canvas deck chairs arranged in rows on the fake lawn, making for quite an intimate affair. You can purchase drinks at the bar, there's a variety of delicious fruit cocktails on offer plus all the latest in liquor fashion. If you're hungry, indulge in a scrumptious crepe available from the stall on site. If you get chilly, you can even hire a blanket from the box office.
It's not a big place; the bar fills up quickly during the warmer months and it's a good idea to
reserve well ahead for the cinema as it's become quite the place to be seen.
The program is a mixture of new-ish releases such as 'The Hangover' and 'Let the Right One In', cult classics including 'Heathers' and 'A Clockwork Orange', and all-time favourites such as 'Point Break' and 'Zoolander'. A full listing of the program can be found
here. They also do
gift vouchers valid for the entire season. With Christmas coming up, a couple of tickets make for a great gift.
Enough talk, grab a drink and kick back – the sun is setting and the opening credits are rolling.
