I have been aware of an independent movie theater for a couple of years now called the Film Bar, but I had never visited it. I found out last week that this fantastic Chinese film called JOURNEY TO THE WEST was being shown there all this week, and decided that I had to see it. Sunday afternoon, April 6, 2014, Corencio and I headed off to check out this fabulous place. I took the camera along, and this is what I found.
The time is about 6 p.m. There is still plenty of daylight. The wires visible above the building suggested something to the downtown painter and this wall has been turned into this rather bizarre scene. i got this picture because I wound up parked across the street from it, and it is too strange to ignore.
I am parked in front of this building. Mr. Piano Teeth is also watching the poles.
My desintation is across the street. I think I’ll walk around and check out the neighborhood.
Looking towards the center of town on 2nd Street.
Hotel Westward Ho, a survival from early Phoenix, is about 2 blocks away.
The area is protected by an angel. She also serves drinks.
Perhaps she is the owner of the Angels Trumpet. She adorns the south wall of it.
Front door to the Film Bar. No external box office here.
Another view.
Some people inside were singing and dancing.
The walls are full of art, and also hung with art.
The sports lounge in the bar. Buy a drink, walk around a corner, and watch soccer.
Yep! It’s a real bar.
Art for sale. Meant to appeal to a Bohemian crowd, but the painters want real money for this work. I don’t see anything here that I would pay 2 or 3 hundred dollars for, but what do I know? These originals may be worth fortunes some day.
More art. The naked blonde is somebody’s muse. She appears in more than one picture on the walls.
Bathroom doors. I love it when artists get creative around the bathroom.
The Grinch plays chess! Who knew? See the blonde. She doesn’t seem like a happy muse.
Entrance to the theater. I bought our tickets at the bar, got admitted here. They only staff it when a movie is about to start.
Blue screen and theater seats. Cameras aren’t allowed, but I’m not trying to photo their movie.
There is a back way out. We didn’t use it. The movie was very enjoyable, and I find the Film Bar a pretty cool place, but at $9 a ticket, I won’t be going there often. However the film opened my eyes to a whole world of Chinese fantasy I only vaguely knew about before, and thanks to youtube, I will be watching a lot of it in the future.
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If you’ve ever gone to an independent or art theater, or if you’ve seen Journey to the West, or would like to, why not leave a comment?
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Atroll's Entertainment 
Portland, OR is chock full of indie theaters! Some are old neighborhood theaters updated for the new century; others are custom built. The closest thing to the Theater Bar is the Living Room Theaters, which has six little theateers with comfy seats. There’s a bar / bistro outside. I think they deliver to seats. I’ve seen maybe a half a dozen interesting films there through the years.
The niftiest theater in the area is the Bagdahd, which shows “second run” movies. They sell beer and pizza; every other row of seats has been replaced with narrow tables to put your mugs and slices on.
That Bagdahd sounds like my kind of place. Is that spelling correct. It’s usually Baghdad for the well-known Iraqi city.
That’s funny, spellcheck didn’t catch the misspelling!
I tried again and it caught the error.
OK, this is funny: The theater calls itself “Bagdad,” with no H!
Go here and click on “Gallery.” It is a colorful place.
http://www.mcmenamins.com/219-bagdad-theater-pub-home