World's Oldest Movie Garden Found in Middle of Australia's Outback (2001)

The small coastal town of Broome, in northwest Australia, is an outpost in the vast Outback.

There are no traffic jams and hardly any roads. There is only the massive Australian wilderness, where some houses are 500 miles apart and some driveways are 50 miles long.

There seem to be only two main sources of entertainment out here: the sunset at the beach and Sun Pictures.

Sun Pictures is a very different movie theater. The seats are park benches and deck chairs, but you're also welcome to sit on the grass.

It is the world's oldest outdoor movie garden. Sun Pictures was built in 1916 on the other side of the globe from Hollywood. All the big films were shipped here and the lonely Outback was dazzled.

Broome resident Pearl Hamaguchi has never traveled far from home. But in the Sun Pictures chairs, under the deep blue night sky, she has been almost everywhere.

"And we came back swooning over Gregory Peck," she recalled.

This is one of the few places left in the world where you can see two sets of stars at the same time.

"That was the only input we got from the rest of the world: Hollywood," said Hamaguchi, laughing, remembering what Sun Pictures meant during her childhood. "Of course, we all exchanged seats after the lights went off. [We were] smooching and holding hands."

Each night, dozens of people from around the world line up at the old wooden booth, with no computer in sight, and buy their tickets to the latest escape.

Sun Pictures is also a museum, exhibiting projectors that date back to the silent films, a portrait gallery of the celebrities who never knew about this place - even though they came here all the time.

Every once in a while, I'm told, you might find a non-ticket holder in your seat. That's why it's always a good idea to shake out your lawn chair to make sure there are no spiders or scorpions.

"We've only had a couple of scorpion incidents but no one's been stung yet," said Aaron Mestemaker, a tourist visiting from Michigan.

Sun Pictures is a shrine to movie history and a reminder that air conditioning and carpet are no match for grass and fresh air - even when the lizards steal the scene.

在澳大利亚西北部有一个叫做布鲁姆的沿海小镇，布鲁姆镇是澳洲广袤的内陆地区中一个人烟稀少的偏僻的村落。

这里没有交通堵塞，甚至几乎没有什么公路，有的只是澳洲大陆的空旷。两户人家之间间隔500英里是常有的事，汽车开出家门后要开上50英里才能上主路也不是什么新鲜事。

当地人的娱乐项目主要有两项，一是去海滩看日落，再则就是光顾Sun Pictures（阳光电影院）。

Sun Pictures 是一家别具一格的电影院。影院的座位是由公园里的长椅和轻便折叠式躺椅组成的。当然观众也可以坐在草坪上看电影。

这是世界上历史最悠久的花园式露天电影院。Sun Pictures于1916年建成，从地图上看正好在好莱坞的另一面（好莱坞位于西经118度，布鲁姆位于东经122度，如果将世界地图从国际日期变更线，也就是180度经线对折，好莱坞和布鲁姆所在的经线基本重合）。当年的大片运到布鲁姆，让这个寂寞的小镇第一次感到眼花缭乱。

当地居民皮尔-滨口女士从未出过远门。不过正是在Sun Pictures电影院的座椅上，在深蓝色夜空下，她几乎神游了世界各地。

皮尔-滨口回忆说："当我们从电影院回来的时候还陶醉在格雷戈里-派克的精彩表演中。"

像Sun Pictures这样可以让人在繁"星"闪烁的夜空下欣赏电影明"星"大作的地方在当今世界可谓屈指可数。

"好莱坞是我们所接受的唯一来自外部世界的事物，"滨口笑着说，并回想当年儿提时代Sun Pictures给人们带来的巨大影响。"当电影开演后，灯光都熄灭了，大家都在黑暗中悄悄地换了座位，（跟自己的心上人）牵手，接吻。

现在，每天晚上，来自世界各地的人们在Sun Pictures老式的票房前排起了长队，这里采用了古老的人工售票的方式而不是电脑售票，大家争先购买最近上映的电影的票子。

Sun Pictures同时还是一座博物馆，展出的有无声电影时期的放映机和明星们的肖像，尽管这些影界名流有些从未听说过这个小城，但是他们的作品时常会到此一游。

有人曾经告诉我，偶尔你会发现自己的座位会被未持票的"朋友"占据了，所以你在就座前最好先晃一晃自己的躺椅，确保赶走这些没有买票的蜘蛛或蝎子"朋友"们。

来自密歇根的游客阿兰-梅斯特美克说："我们碰到过几次蝎子占座位的事，不过至今没人被咬伤过。"

Sun Pictures可谓是座电影史的殿堂，它还不断提醒人们，空调和地毯根本无法与新鲜的空气和草坪相比--即使有时候一些蜥蜴会和明星们抢镜头。