If you follow this site, you know that every year I do a survival guide for attending the Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival (TCMFF). Over the years as I've refined and added info, the guide has grown to three parts covering different aspects of attending TCMFF. I normally publish this guide in the months/weeks leading into the Festival.
TCMFF is normally held in the spring, mid-April-ish, meaning that the Survival Guides post somewhere between late-January and mid- to late-March. As a result, there are a couple of parts of attending the Festival that I have purposefully ignored and those are when do you come and where do you stay. I've always figured that if I'm posting my guide in the two or three months before the Festival, by that time, most people have already locked in their arrangements, so why bother talking about it. Now, it's early enough that it makes sense to cover it.
When Do You Come
TCMFF is held over a four-day period starting mid-day Thursday and running until late Sunday, so does that mean you arrive early Thursday and leave late Sunday? You could, but I wouldn't recommend it. Adding a day or two to the beginning and/or end of the trip makes a lot of sense. If you're a first timer and have never been to Hollywood, you're going to want to explore a little, but I should warn you that the bloom on the Hollywood rose was gone a long time ago. In addition, though the official events start about mid-day Thursday, there are a number of unofficial and semi-official events that you might be interested in.
The big event is the TCMFF Going to TCM Classic Film Festival! Facebook group TCMFF Pre-Fest Party (the Wednesday night before TCMFF). This is something I would not miss even though it seems to always be scheduled opposite the TCM Media mixer, which I often get to attend. I always end up going to the start of the party, leaving in the middle for the Media Mixer, and making my way back for the end of the party. On the Tuesday night before TCMFF for the last several years, I've organized an Unofficial Opening Party at a bar within walking distance of the Festival area (shameless plug). In addition, last year, TCM did a live recording of their Talking Pictures podcast with Ben Mankiewicz and Mario Cantone on Wednesday night at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. If you had already booked a flight that arrived in LAX at 6 pm on Wednesday, it's very unlikely you could make it to Hollywood in time to attend. This event was announced less that a week before it happened. I'm guessing that the late announcement was a way of limiting attendance, as the room where this happened and also serves as Club TCM during the Festival only holds so many people.
Will TCM be doing something similar next year. No promises, but it wouldn't surprise me. There are quite a few other unofficial events. I cover these in my TCMFF Survival Guide Part 2 – Making the Most of Your Experience post. I will update that for 2025 in the coming months. By that time, I should have details on at least some of them. The 2024 version of this post is located here.
In addition, you probably wouldn't mind doing one of the studio tours or a visit to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. You might think that you can squeeze this in on a morning or afternoon during TCMFF. Yes, you could but you might have to sacrifice seeing one of your all-time favorite films on the big screen at the TCL Chinese Theater, which is the whole point of coming to TCMFF in the first place. When you attend TCMFF, you are bound to make new friends. A day or two on the beginning or end of the trip gives you a chance to hang out with them. Finally, Hollywood and Los Angeles is also the home to a lot of good movie theaters, some of which screen classic films, and if you're in town before or after, you might be able to catch something cool.
A little confession, I've lived my whole life in San Diego, and San Diegans, we like to look down our noses at our neighbor to the north. The traffic and the smog are terrible. It's too crowded and too expensive. While this may be true, with the exception of Comic-Con and possibly craft brewing, everything we have in San Diego, they have bigger and better up in LA. Don't get me wrong, I love San Diego, but down here, we tend to let this provincial snottiness blind us to a lot of great stuff happening just a two hour drive away, okay, three hours with traffic. LA is a great town. There's amazing restaurants and entertainment and tons of cool areas to explore. Where am I going with all of this? Well, if you haven't figured out by now, you really need to add a day or two to your itinerary. For me, a trip to LA is not a big deal, but if you're coming from somewhere else, you may as take advantage of it while you're here.
I have been coming to TCMFF since 2014, and every year, I've left on the Monday after the Festival. I know me. Even before I attended my first TCMFF in 2014, I knew I would be exhausted by the time Sunday rolled around. That's why I've always opted for adding days to the beginning of the trip and not to the end. Your mileage may vary. In the years I've attended, I've arrived on Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday, and one year when Noir City Hollywood was the weekend before TCMFF, I arrived on the Saturday before and stayed through the week.
Where Do You Stay
Bear in mind that I am not necessarily an authority on lodging in the area around TCMFF, but maybe some of what I picked up will be of help.
The host hotel for TCMFF is the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. That's where Club TCM and the poolside screenings are. It's pretty much across the street from the TCL Chinese and the mall where the TCL Chinese Multiplex are. Okay, it's actually across the street and down a little bit. The Roosevelt is an expensive hotel. My guess is that the rates go up considerably for the week of TCMFF, but to be honest, I can't say that for sure. I do know that anything that is considered a low-priced room at the Roosevelt is going to sell out almost immediately once the dates are announced.
I stayed there in 2015 and 2016. In 2015, I booked a room at about 4 pm (Pacific time) on the day they announced the dates, and by the time I booked, the cheapest room available was a minisuite at $700 a night (and that is in 2015 dollars). It turns that I ended up taking my daughter that year, and the minisuite worked out really well for us. My advice is if you want to stay at the Roosevelt, book as early as possible the day TCM announces the dates. And when is that, well, pre-COVID that was sometime in mid-summer. Since COVID, the dates have been announced in October, so I assume that's when it will be for TCMFF 2025. Keep an eye on your email. The dates should be announced in the next month or so.
Another thing to bear in mind is that the Hollywood Roosevelt is an old hotel, built almost a hundred years ago in 1926. The history of the place is very cool. The elevators, not so much. The elevators are tiny and least by modern standards, and at least when I stayed there in 2015 and 2016, they were very slow. That was my only real complaint about the hotel. They may have upgraded them since, so they my run faster, but I'm pretty sure they haven't made them any bigger. Still, one time we got on the elevator, and a very hot older woman got on with a distinguished gentleman, who turned out to be Dick Cavett (one of the guests that year). We got to talk to him the whole way down, one of the few times, the slow elevator worked in our favor.
I have heard rumors that some people book every weekend in April and then cancel the ones they don't need, but I've never spoken to anyone who has actually done that. When I look at Google Maps recently, the Hollywood Roosevelt shows up for $232 a night. A few weeks ago, I checked a random weekend Wednesday-Monday stay in November, I could get a room for $240 a night (close to what Google was listing). Then I tried the same thing (Wednesday-Monday stay) for every week in April of 2025 and prices started at a low of $317 to a high of $425 a night. A while back, someone posted something on Facebook showing that one week in April on the Roosevelt booking calendar was blacked out. That may or may not have had anything to do with TCMFF. It didn't look like that when I checked it few weeks ago and just now when I was doing the final edit on this post.
Another good option is the Loews Hotel Hollywood, which connects to the mall where the TCL Multiplex is. This may be the next best bet if you have to be a nice hotel that is very close. There are plenty of other hotels in the area, but I've only stayed at a few of them. The last couple of years I've stayed at least part of the time at the Motel 6 on Whitley. It's cheap and clean, though it can be kind of noisy, depending on the neighbors and about a 5 minute walk from the Egyptian Theatre (the furthest venue from the rest of TCMFF this year). I've also stayed at the Holiday Inn Express on Highland, which was a bit more pricey, but did include breakfast and worked well if TCMFF was using the Legion Theater, which has been used in years past, but was not in 2024.
To be honest, of the other hotels/motels in the area, I've heard both good and bad things. Another option that you might not think about is the Orange Drive Hostel. Yes, it is a hostel, but not a youth hostel, open to all ages, and it is very close to the Festival area. Apparently, you can get a private room at a reasonable price if you act early. I spoken to a few people who stayed there and loved it.
For a few years, I stayed at AirBnBs, but since COVID, there doesn't seem to be as much available. I really liked AirBnB. Before COVID, there were tons of rooms everywhere, but since then their inventory seems low and fewer with reviews of people who have stayed in the place they're advertising. It may be that more becomes available as you get closer to the TCMFF dates, but if it's two months out and I don't know where I'm going to be, I get panicky and book something else.
Now, you may be thinking that booking a hotel is something of a feeding frenzy, and that's probably at least partly true if you want to be at the Roosevelt, but not really if you're staying elsewhere. You are probably better off booking a room fairly early. Hotels have a way of raising their prices as more rooms sell. Me, I usually wait until the beginning of the year to book and possibly that's a bad mistake. I may try to get it together earlier for next year, but we'll see what happens. I hope that this has been at least somewhat helpful. If anyone has any tips, and leave them in the comments, I'd really love to hear from you. Please leave a comment.
If you follow this site, you know that every year I do a survival guide for attending the Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival (TCMFF). Over the years as I've refined and added info, the guide has grown to three parts covering different aspects of attending TCMFF. I normally publish this guide in the months/weeks leading into the Festival.
TCMFF is normally held in the spring, mid-April-ish, meaning that the Survival Guides post somewhere between late-January and mid- to late-March. As a result, there are a couple of parts of attending the Festival that I have purposefully ignored and those when do you come and where do you stay. I've always figured that if I'm posting my guide in the two or three months before the Festival, by that time, most people have already locked in their arrangements, so why bother talking about it. Now, it's early enough that it makes sense covering it.
When Do You Come
TCMFF is held over a four-day period starting mid-day Thursday and running until late Sunday, so does that mean you arrive early Thursday and leave late Sunday? You could, but I wouldn't recommend it. Adding a day or two to the beginning and/or end of the trip makes a lot of sense. If you're a first timer and have never been to Hollywood, you're going to want to explore a little, but I should warn you that the bloom on the Hollywood rose was gone a long time ago. In addition, though the official events start about mid-day Thursday, there are a number of unofficial and semi-official events that you might be interested in.
The big event is the TCMFF Going to TCM Classic Film Festival! Facebook group TCMFF Pre-Fest Party (the Wednesday night before TCMFF). This is something I would not miss even though it seems to always be scheduled opposite the TCM Media mixer, which I often get to attend. I always end up going to the start of the party, leaving in the middle for the Media Mixer, and making my way back for the end of the party. On the Tuesday night before TCMFF for the last several years, I've organized an Unofficial Opening Party at a bar within walking distance of the Festival area (shameless plug). In addition, last year, TCM did a live recording of their Talking Pictures podcast with Ben Mankiewicz and Mario Cantone on Wednesday night at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. If you had already booked a flight that arrived in LAX at 6 pm on Wednesday, it's very unlikely you could make it to Hollywood in time to attend. This event was announced less that a week before it happened. I'm guessing that the late announcement was a way of limiting attendance, as the room where this happened and also serves as Club TCM during the Festival only holds so many people.
Will TCM be doing something similar next year. No promises, but it wouldn't surprise me. I usually cover unofficial events in my TCMFF Survival Guide Part 2 – Making the Most of Your Experience post 2024 version here.
I'm guessing that if you're still reading this, you like movies, and you probably wouldn't mind doing one of the studio tours or a visit to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. You might think that you can squeeze this in on a morning or afternoon during TCMFF. Yes, you could but you might have to sacrifice seeing one of your all-time favorite films on the big screen at the TCM Chinese Theater, which is the whole point of coming to TCMFF in the first place. Hollywood and Los Angeles is also the home to a lot of good movie theaters, some of which screen classic films, and if you're in town before or after, you might be able to catch something cool.
Me, I've lived my whole life in San Diego, and San Diegans, we like to look down our noses at our neighbor to the north. The traffic and the smog are terrible. It's too crowded and too expensive. While this may be true, with the exception of Comic-Con and possibly craft brewing, everything we have in San Diego, they have bigger and better up in LA. Don't get me wrong, I love San Diego, but down here, we tend to let this provincial snottiness blind us to a lot of great stuff happening just a two hour drive away, okay three with traffic. LA is a great town. There's amazing restaurants and entertainment and tons of cool areas to explore. Where am I going with all of this? Well, if you haven't figured out by now, I'm suggesting you add a day or two to your itinerary. For me, a trip to LA is not a big deal, but if you're coming from somewhere else, you may as take advantage of it while you're here.
I have been coming to TCMFF since 2014, and every year, I've left on the Monday after the Festival. I know me. Even before I attended my first TCMFF in 2014, I knew I would be exhausted by the time Sunday rolled around. That's why I've always opted for adding days to the beginning of the trip and not to the end. Your mileage may vary. In the years I've attended, I've arrived on Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday, and one year when Noir City Hollywood was the weekend before TCMFF, I arrived on the Saturday before and stayed through the week.
Where Do You Stay
Bear in mind that I am not necessarily an authority on lodging in the area around TCMFF, but maybe some of what I picked up will be of help.
The host hotel for TCMFF is the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. That's where Club TCM and the poolside screenings are. It's pretty much across the street from the TCL Chinese and the mall where the TCL Chinese Multiplex are. Okay, it's actually across the street and down a little bit. The Roosevelt is an expensive hotel. My guess is that the rates go up considerably for the week of TCMFF, but to be honest, I can't say that for sure. I do know that anything that is considered a low-priced room at the Roosevelt is going to sell out almost immediately.
I stayed there in 2015 and 2016. In 2015, I booked a room at about 4 pm (Pacific time) on the day they announced the dates, and by the time I booked, the cheapest room available was a minisuite at $700 a night (and that is in 2015 dollars). It turns that I ended up taking my daughter that year, and the minisuite worked out really well for us. My advice is if you want to stay at the Roosevelt, book as early as possible the day TCM announces the dates. And when is that, well, pre-COVID that was sometime in mid-summer. Since COVID, the dates have been announced in October, so I assume that's when it will be for TCMFF 2025. Another thing to bear in mind is that the Hollywood Roosevelt is an old hotel, built almost a hundred years ago in 1926. The history of the place is very cool. The elevators, not so much. The elevators are tiny and least by modern standards, and at least when I stayed there in 2015 and 2016, they were very slow. That was my only real complaint about the hotel. They may have upgraded them since, so they my run faster, but I'm pretty sure they haven't made them any bigger. Still, one time we got on the elevator and a very hot older woman got on with a distinguished gentleman, who turned out to be Dick Cavett (one of the guests that year). We got to talk to him the whole way down, one of the few times, the slow elevator worked in our favor.
I have heard rumors that some people book every weekend in April and then cancel the ones they don't need, but I've never spoken to anyone who has actually done that. When I look at Google Maps recently, the Hollywood Roosevelt shows up for $232 a night. A couple weeks ago, I checked a random weekend Wednesday-Monday stay in November, I could get a room for $240 a night (close to what Google was listing). Then I tried the same thing (Wednesday-Monday stay) for every week in April of 2025 and prices started at a low of $317 to a high of $425 a night. A while back, someone posted something on Facebook showing that one week in April on the Roosevelt booking calendar was blacked out. That may or may not have had anything to do with TCMFF. It didn't look like that when I checked it.
The Loews Hotel Hollywood connects to the mall so that may be the next best bet if you have to be a nice hotel that is very close. There are plenty of other hotels in the area, but I've only stayed at a few of them. The last couple of years I've stayed at least part of the time at the Motel 6 on Whitley. It's cheap and clean, though it can be kind of noisy, depending on the neighbors and about a 5 minute walk from the Egyptian Theatre (the furthest venue from the rest of TCMFF this year). I've also stayed at the Holiday Inn Express on Highland, which was a bit more pricey, but did include breakfast and worked well if TCMFF was using the Legion Theater, which has been used in years past but not in 2024.
To be honest, of the other hotels/motels in the area, I've heard both good and bad things. Another that you might not think about is the Orange Drive Hostel. It's very close to the Festival area, and apparently you can get a private room at a reasonable price if you act early. For a few years, I stayed at AirBnBs, but since COVID, there doesn't seem to be as much available. I really liked AirBnB. Before COVID, there were tons of rooms everywhere, but since then their inventory seems low and fewer with reviews of people who have stayed in the place they're advertizing. It may be that more becomes available as you get closer to the TCMFF dates, but if it's two months out and I don't know where I'm going to be, I get panicky and book something else.
Now, you may be thinking that booking a hotel for TCMFF is something of a feeding frenzy, and that's probably at least partly true if you want to be at the Roosevelt, but not really if you're staying elsewhere. You are probably better off booking a room fairly early. Hotels have a way of raising their prices as more rooms sell. Me, I usually wait until the beginning of the year to book and possibly that's a bad mistake. I may try to get it together earlier for next year, but we'll see what happens. I hope that this has been at least somewhat helpful. If anyone has any other tips, and please leave them in the comments, I'd really love to hear from you.
