Drinking in a movie

Easygoing booze-and-film nights bring couch potatoes out-of-doors

Bill Picture

If you’re partied out from the weekend but aren’t down with a quiet night of clicking away on the universal remote, the Independent’s Cinema Drafthouse might be just the right compromise. On some Monday nights, the owners transform the cavernous music venue into a cozy, living-room-style space. The latest of the genre in the Bay Area, the Independent’s event draws about 200 weekend-worn film buffs, who enjoy new DVD releases, cult classics, and the occasional double feature—the more so with a cocktail or two under their belts. “We must have sold around 300 White Russians the night we showed The Big Lebowski,” jokes one of the bartenders, referencing the main character’s cocktail of choice. And the Independent pours a mean one.
“When we started doing movie night, it was mostly a neighborhood thing,” explains house manager Tim Lanterman. “But people are starting to come from other parts of the city. I see cabs pulling up, so the word must be out.”

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Cinema Drafthouse
10:23 p.m.
THE SCENE
The cabaret-style seating arrangement is perfect for movie- and people-watching.
THE SCREEN
Titles run the gamut of scenester tastes: independent, comedy, and concert films. On this night they’ve turned out for Thank You for Smoking.
EAVESDROPPING
“Dude, I can’t watch this...seriously. Do you want something from the bar?” says a young man during Jackass Number Two.
THE SPREAD
The fresh popcorn is free, the pours are generous, and patrons can bring takeout from nearby restaurants.
Cinema Drafthouse, Monday nights at the Independent, 628 Divisadero St., S.F., www.independentsf.com.

Elsewhere
Dapper, cologne-soaked gay boys postpone their cosmo hangovers until Monday with tall drinks and new episodes of The Simpsons and Desperate Housewives Sunday nights at the Midnight Sun. 4067 18th St., S.F., 415-861-4186.

Every Sunday, the Dark Room Theater’s Bad Movie Night blows the cobwebs off cinematic stinkers. There, moviegoers knock a few back, and snarky comments from the peanut—or rather, popcorn—gallery are welcome. 2263 Mission St., S.F., www
.darkroomsf.com.

At Oakland’s Parkway Speakeasy Theater, likely the Bay Area’s first movie pub, patrons plunk themselves down on cushy love seats with pitchers of beer and hot pizza slices. 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland, 510-814-2400.