Setting aside sky-high rent, bumper-to-bumper traffic and our current bout with radiation fog, Los Angeles is still the place to be if you’re a film lover. We get the limited releases and once-in-a-lifetime studio-sponsored pop-ups for generational holiday films.

Last weekend, I got to experience the best of it as the Academy Museum and Disney honored the 35th anniversary of Home Alone with a screening and Q&A featuring Macaulay Culkin and writer Chris Columbus, plus a Little Nero’s pizza pop-up at Prince Street Pizza in Studio City.

First off, if you’re local, love movies and aren’t a member of the Academy Museum yet, it’s well worth the annual fee. For under $100, you get free museum admission, deeply discounted screening tickets, free classic film screenings, 10–20% off at the gift shop and special members-only after-hours events to check out new exhibits. 

Unfortunately, I’m not getting paid for this, though I’m open to sponsorship deals if the Academy wants to partner with a creator with minimal influence and maximum passion. Just trying to put you on game.

As further proof of the benefits, tickets for this screening and Q&A were $5. For that price, I got to see one of my favorite childhood actors share behind-the-scenes trivia about a Joe Pesci tantrum, how he never actually touched the tarantula, how the lack of child labor laws really let them push him to the limits and his idea for a potential sequel where he accidentally leaves his own kid at home solo solo.

After the screening, I continued my Home Alone-themed Saturday by driving up the windy and perpetually traffic-jammed Laurel Canyon to Studio City for a pop-up based on the pizza place from the movie, Little Nero’s. 

Remember how the delivery driver gets tricked by the black-and-white gangster movie with the conveniently reusable dialogue? We got to see where he worked.

The actual car from the movie was stolen and found crushed at a salvage yard (drama!) a few years back, but Disney found a similar model and decked it out for a premium spot in front of the pizza place, which is usually Prince Street Pizza. 

The line was as long as you’d imagine for a Saturday evening in December, but this one felt worth the hour-long wait. And it was. Shout out to light-jacket weather for making this physically manageable.

The Prince Street Pizza staff were excellent, providing water and slices of pizza to make the wait manageable. I also heard from a firsthand source that they were receiving double holiday pay for the weeklong pop-up. I say they deserved that plus a generous bonus because the place was hopping.

An hour and change later, it was our time to experience the majesty of Disney’s marketing team’s efforts.

Inside the pop-up, there were old-school big-butt TVs in the corner, a bulletin board with job postings, fliers for John Candy’s polka band, Oh Kay Plumbing promotional materials, an actual poster for Angels with Filthy Souls that I covet so hard and a classic beige register with a corded landline phone. The kind with that bulky receiver that was always so satisfying to slam down.

At this point, I should probably mention the actual Home Alone-themed pizza they were selling, which always looked so unbelievable in the movie. 

It was called the Lovely Cheese Pizza, though they also sold the regular Prince Street lineup when they’re not pretending to be a Chicago pizza joint from the early ’90s. Meat lovers, vegan, vegetarian, the whole kit and caboodle.

I’m a class pepperoni gal through and through, but in honor of Kevin “the most resourceful 8-year-old in cinematic history” McAllister, I bought a couple of slices of that sweet cheese pizza that Buzz deprived him of on that fateful night before he was sent to the attic and forgotten in the morning.

I’d only had a bowl of oatmeal and a large Americano up to that point, but trust me when I say this pizza was banging. The dough was tender, the sauce was well seasoned and the cheese-to-sauce ratio was just right. I’m glad this place is 20 miles away because my willpower would not survive proximity. I’d find any excuse. I washed the dishes and folded the laundry. I deserve a slice. I replied to the email and scheduled the appointment. I’ve more than earned some of that sweet, sweet ’za. You get it.

Overall, this is the kind of cinema-themed marketing I want to see more of. The whole 13-hour Marty Supreme merch line was not for me because I’m old and missing a night of sleep would set me back a week, but food-based film pop-ups are my cuppa tea. Let’s keep this going, Disney, Netflix-Warner-HBO, A24, Dreamworks, all of you. I’d gladly stand in line for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizzeria or pay too much for a Five Guys-turned-Krusty Krab burger. 

Update: I just found out that the TMNT Pizzeria is going to be a real thing and is coming to Santa Monica in 2026, I’m already spiritually in line for this and will be eating my pizza with three fingers a la Donatello.

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!