Arclight

Contrary to the criticism leveled at the ArcLight Sherman Oaks by one of your readers ["ArcLight: Big Whoop," Letters, Dec. 27], I found the movie experience on Christmas Day to be quite comfortable and patron-friendly. While the space is not as soaring as its big brother, what other movie house offers reserved seats, a coffee bar, a "sit down" short-order cafe and 16 screens for less than $13? Jerome V. Posell Calabasas

Effortless and effervescent, "Frances Ha" is a small miracle of a movie, honest and funny with an aim that's true. It's both a timeless story of the joys and sorrows of youth and a dead-on portrait of how things are right now for one particular New York woman who, try as she might, can't quite get her life together. That would be the Frances of the title (the Ha isn't explained until the film's charming final frame), a joint creation of and career high point for both star Greta Gerwig and director Noah Baumbach, who met on the director's "Greenberg" and co-wrote the script.

Re the new ArcLight in the Sherman Oaks Galleria ["ArcLight's Little Brother Sets Up Shop in the Valley," Dec. 20]: I'd like to share my dissatisfaction with this theater. High prices for a new beautiful lobby, reserved seating and ushers. Big deal. The person in front of me asked the usher if the seats reclined a bit. I guess he felt they should for the extra bucks. Bob Steuer Van Nuys

I have swallowed--hook, line and sinker--the idea of Arclight Cinemas. I bought into the $14 tickets. I joined the membership club even before I set foot into the theater. I first went to Arclight to see "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," and I loved every minute of the experience: the sound, the seats, the lack of advertisements, the picture. Going to the movies is a redefined experience. Then comes the first blockbuster of the summer, "Spider-Man." I cannot wait to see this at Arclight, and this time I want to see it at the Dome--the refurbished Cinerama Dome.

The most archetypal American small town in Los Angeles County may be El Segundo, with its neighborly mid-century vibe. Visitors arriving on Main Street pass stately brick-and-stone El Segundo High School, a popular filming location, before encountering a large wooden directory erected by the Kiwanis Club that lists the city's 11 churches. Around the corner at Wendy's Place Cafe, there are framed jigsaw puzzles of Saturday Evening Post covers drawn by Norman Rockwell hanging on the paneled wall above the milkshake machine.

This month, ArcLight Cinemas members can enjoy two series (already in progress) at the Hollywood and Sherman Oaks locations. "Cops & Robbers" runs for five Mondays and offers those 21 and older the chance to watch such films as "Beverly Hills Cop," "Clue," "To Catch a Thief" and "The Untouchables," cocktail in hand. On Tuesdays, "Women Behaving Badly" showcases titles including "La Dolce Vita," "Mommie Dearest" and "Flashdance." What could be better than watching La Ekberg, La Dunaway and La Beals jump into fountains, lose it over wire hangers and otherwise act like maniacs, ma-ni-acs?

It's a sign of the times: Anisette's Alain Giraud will be handing out free samples from a food truck on the Third Street Promenade. "I've never worked inside a truck so I don't want to get too ambitious," he says of the French delicacies he will prepare. That's not a permanent change of venue, of course. Giraud is one of five well-known Southern California chefs who will be participating in a promotion in advance of dineLA's first fall Restaurant Week, which will begin Oct. 4. But while Giraud may not be ambitious, that's certainly not the case with dineLA, which hit on the canny idea of tapping into the food truck fad that has taken the city's popular imagination by storm.

Think of the new W Hollywood Hotel & Residences complex as equal parts Chateau Marmont, L.A. Live and Pershing Square. The 15-story, $600-million development, designed by Dallas-based architecture firm HKS, combines on a single L-shaped site the W's hotel and condominium towers with a 375-unit apartment block called 1600 Vine. The whole ensemble is draped in gigantic billboards, wrapped around a sizable public plaza leading to a Metro Red Line subway stop and squeezed in next to the landmark 1924 Taft Building at Hollywood and Vine.

Here's the choice: You can rush across town to the megaplex, wait in separate lines for $5 parking, $14 tickets and $6 popcorn, only for the pleasure of a loudmouth talking over all the best dialogue. Or, you can slide the latest DVD from Netflix into your 12-speaker, high-definition home theater system, order a pizza and become one with your La-Z-Boy and fantasies of being as funny as Vince Vaughn. Face it.

NEARLY six years ago, the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood established a coterie of devoted followers willing to pay a premium for reserved stadium seats, state-of-the-art theaters, an absence of commercials and such rules of etiquette as no late seating. Now that ethos has set up shop at the Sherman Oaks Galleria, replacing the Pacific Theaters with a modern temple to cinephilia that had its grand opening last week.