San Diego Untion Tribune - May 1, 2008
AT THE MOVIES
VIVA, VIVA CINEMA UNDER THE STARS
Outdoor theater's annual film program adds a
king to the mix — Elvis
By Nina Garin, Staff Writer

Outdoor theater's annual film program adds a king to the mix – Elvis
There's lots of ways to watch “Casablanca” – as a midnight rerun on TV or as a Netflix rental.

But one of the better ways to catch the classic is at Tops Presents Cinema Under the Stars, an intimate outdoor theater in Mission Hills. The movie patio, located in the back of Doug Yeagley's hair salon, opens its 2008 season tonight and once again features a trademark lineup of classic and art-house films.

Audience favorites “Breakfast at Tiffany's,” “Casablanca” and “The Princess Bride” are standard fare. This year, however, Yeagley's introducing a new silver screen star to the mix: Elvis.

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www.signonsandiego.com

San Diego Untion Tribune - July 1, 2007
INTO VIEW
In His Theater, Expect A 'Total Experience'
When Douglas Yeagley bangs the gong, it's just the beginning
of a 'unique time'
By David Elliott, Movie Critic

He prefers Doug to Douglas, digs movies and really digs hitting the big Asian gong at his movie shows, as twinkle lights welcome night: “When I hit the gong, the vibe goes through people and they become an audience.”

Doug Yeagley, 52, is a hairstylist by day and cinemaholic by night. He speaks in sardonic tones that mildly echo Jack Nicholson, and loves mostly old films (plus some moderns he won't show patrons, like the violent “Kill Bill” duo). Classics look newborn at his Tops Presents Cinema Under the Stars, projected digitally onto a canopied, 20-foot screen in the lushly intimate patio theater that back-ends his Tops hair salon, 4040 Goldfinch in Mission Hills.

Yeagley arrived in San Diego in 1983, divorced, raised a son (Spencer, who just finished his third tour of army duty in Iraq). His other kids are the salon, where 15 booths are leased to stylists, and the movie venue that began with a spit curl of dream in 1991, showing 16mm. prints “we'd work on for hours to get into shape, they'd been so cannibalized. It was like, hey, you'll love the first and third reels of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' but forget the second.”  

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www.signonsandiego.com


San Diego Magazine
Calendar- July 2007
By Julia Beeson

Movies by Moonlight
Don’t care to deal with summer crowds at the local movie megaplex? We don’t blame you. Ditch the corporate-chain theater for a night out at Tops Presents Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills. It’s just what the name implies: Classics and newer releases are screened alfresco every Thur.-Sun., through July 29.

Admission is $12.50, or you can buy an annual pass for $70. Perks you won’t find at the metroplex: a film introduction and discussion, a variety of seating options——choose between an ergonomic lounge chair, café table seating, balcony barstool or chair and ottoman——a light show, special effects and a trivia contest.

The lineup: The Third Man (June 28 & 29), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (June 30 & July 1), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (July 5-8), Double Indemnity (July 12 & 13), Hitch (July 14 & 15), Entrapment (July 19 & 20), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (July 21 & 22), The Lady Vanishes (July 26 & 27) and Romancing the Stone (July 28 & 29).

Doors open at 6:30; shows start at 8. 4040 Goldfinch Street, 619-295-4221; topspresents.com.

www.sandiegomagazine.com


La Jolla Village News - June 21, 2007
Summer Movies Under The Stars
by James Colt Harrison

Cinema Under the Stars has begun its new 2007 summer season with unique screenings under the open skies. Don’t worry about the weather — shows are experienced on a radiant-heated patio in reclining seats. Screenings run every Thursday through Sunday, with a different classic each week. Showtime is 8:30 pm.

Keanu Reeves, allegedly a graduate of the Cigar Store Wooden Indian School of Acting, plays romantic in Alfonso Arau’s “A Walk In the Clouds.” As a traveling salesman, he befriends a pregnant girl and pretends to be her husband to save her humiliation. Thursday, June 21 and Friday, June 22.   click here to read the complete article.

San Diego Union Tribune
NIGHT & DAY - May 31, 2007
SEE THIS - Grade "A"
"Casablanca"

Ok, so maybe the first time a person sees "Casablanca", they're left to wonder what all the fuss is about because everyone says this as one of the best romance movies of all time. But no one really mentions how it's actually a war movie filled with espionage and betrayal and Nazis. So unless a person gets all the World War II references, the movie doesn't make any sense. After a few years of maturity and some time with a history book, however, this movie goes from blah to awesome. The dialogue is wtty, the characters are salty, and yes, it's actually pretty damn romantic.


San Diego Union Tribune
NIGHT & DAY - May 10, 2007

Tops' New Season Has A Good Vibe Going
By David Elliott, Movie Critic

Doug Yeagley, founding honcho of the nested, 60-seat operation at 4040 Goldfinch, says the main improvement is “our new HD player, so we had to come up with some new, high-definition films.” Along with the large screen, twinkle lights, bubbles, heaters, vending bar and reworked seating, the showman is proud of “our new 40-inch Chinese gong to open shows. Everybody gets a little vibration going.”|

Yeagley's vibe is old movies, aided by programmer Ralph DeLauro and presiding muses Alfred Hitchcock and Audrey Hepburn. But 21st-century films include tonight's “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” (through Saturday). Tickets are now $12.50, the door opens an hour before 8:30 p.m. shows preceded by music and extras. Some “zero gravity” lounge seats can be reserved, (619) 295-4221, and the info Web site is topspresents.com.

With a pungently neighboring barbecue outfit having moved elsewhere, cinema continues fresh as May with the modern musical whopper “Chicago” (May 17-19) and Cameron Diaz being cutely raffish in “There's Something About Mary” (May 24-26).

Next month has foolproof “Casablanca” (May 31-June 2), then the 1989 “Batman” smash (June 7-8), Hitchcock's voyeur gem “Rear Window” (June 9-10), Hepburn sparkling with Cary Grant in “Charade” (June 14-15), Sean Connery's Bond in “Goldfinger” (June 15-17), Tony Quinn and Keanu Reeves in “A Walk in the Clouds” (June 21-22), Hitchcock's gorgeous “To Catch a Thief” (June 23-24), Orson Welles in “The Third Man” (June 28-29) and the Jim Carrey head-twister “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (June 30, July 1).

July's parade, in order: “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “Double Indemnity,” “Hitch,” “Entrapment,” “Breakfast at Tiffany's,” “The Lady Vanishes,” “Romancing the Stone.” And in August: “Dazed and Confused,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “Funny Face,” “Out of Sight,“ “Garden State,” “North by Northwest,” “Rebecca” and “Don Juan De Marco.”

Fall brings September's “The Princess Bride,” “Bridget Jones's Diary,” “The Graduate,” “The Notebook,” “Intolerable Cruelty.” October wraps with “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “The Usual Suspects,” “Wedding Crashers” and “Sleepy Hollow.”

San Diego Insider - SHOW #195 / 6-07-06
"San Diego Lifestyle"
Cinema Under the Stars

Right behind the Tops Hair Salon in Hillcrest you’ll find something that you never expected. It’s called Cinema Under the Stars, and this informal outdoor theatre shows classics on a big screen in an enclosed patio area. We’ll show you what to expect.



www.4sd.com


KPBS
ONAIR Magazine- July 2006
A Rare Film Experience

Watching a movie under the stars used to mean piling in the station wagon to head off to the drive-in and clipping a speaker to the car window while the kids threw popcorn around in he back seat. Today, drive-ins may be all but extinct, but the special pleasure of spending a summer's evening outdoors watching a movie is still alive and well in San Diego.

Tops Presents Cinema Under the Stars is kind of a New Age version of the drive-in experience. It's founder, Doug Yeagley, says he wanted to create a "magical and enchanting film event." And he's succeeded with the intimate outdoor cinema he created in Mission Hills.  
www.kpbs.org


San Diego Magazine
BEST OF SAN DIEGO- June 2006

OUTDOOR MOVIE VENUE
Cinema Under the Stars

Recline in an ergonomically savvy zero-gravity chair and take in a cinematic classic alfresco at Cinema Under the Stars (4040 Goldfinch Street, Mission Hills, 619-295-4221). The 35-film season (which also features theater-grade THX sound system) runs from May until October, Thursday through Sunday at 8:30 p.m. Admission is $12, or pay the $60 membership fee for season-long reservation privileges.

www.sandiegomagazine.com

San Diego Union Tribune
NIGHT & DAY - May 11, 2006

In the still of the night ... go catch a movie at Tops Presents Cinema Under the Stars
By David Elliott, Movie Critic

An opening, a funeral, a quartet of weddings – it's a lot of showbiz as films return to the snugly located Tops Presents Cinema Under the Stars, in Mission Hills.

Tonight, the unique outdoor film series opens its second revived season (it was dark for a few years after a long run as the Garden Cabaret Cinema). The lamp-heated patio venue is next to the Tops salon, 4040 Goldfinch St. “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” the 1994 Brit hit that helped launch Hugh Grant, screens tonight through Saturday.

“Our screen is now a bit bigger,” remarks founding director Doug Yeagley, “and we have a new THX sound system. We're going for mainly light summer fare with more films of recent vintage, and our proven classics. And we're adding a new mural.”

Movies are up from 24 to 37, “just to have more fun.” And customers can now buy tickets at the start of a weekend run, not just the night they attend. The Cinema offers drinks, snacks and advanced DVD projection on a canopied screen facing 60 seats, 35 being recliners that can be reserved with a season membership ($60). Standard entry is $12; the door opens at 7:30; information at (619) 295-4221 or www.topspresents.com.

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CITY BEAT
May 10, 2006 Issue

Cinema Alfresco
Summer is right around the corner, and for those who don’t like being cooped up in a movie theater this time of year, yet still enjoy catching the occasional flick, there aren’t many options. The drive-in is retro-cool, but you can only cram so many people into one car before views get blocked. Outdoor movie screenings are fun, but even in San Diego, things can get a little chilly. At Cinema Under the Stars, you don’t have to worry about all that. You can kick back in your own personal “zero-gravity”—meaning super-duper comfy—lawn chair, either right under or close to one of several heating lamps and truly enjoy a film outside the theater walls. This year’s season begins with everyone’s favorite Hugh Grant romantic comedy, Four Weddings and a Funeral, showing at 8:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, May 11 through 13. Cinema Under the Stars is located at 4040 Goldfinch St. in Mission Hills. $12. (www.topspresents.com)

www.sdcitybeat.com