CINCINNATI — Jacob Trevino and his team at Gorilla Cinema Presents have spent the past decade transforming unremarkable spaces into “magical and imaginative” themed bars, restaurants and experiences across greater Cincinnati.
One of his most ambitious projects is the permanent pop-up bar housed behind his comic store, Cosmic Gorilla, across from Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine. Thursday marks the official debut of his latest endeavor, Galactic Cantina. Trevino referred to the saloon as a watering hole for bounty hunters from across the galaxy.
What You Need To Know
- The new themed bar is opening in an established pop-up site near Findlay Market
- Plans call for the cocktail bar to run through at least the summer
- Jacob Trevino, owner of Gorilla Cinema, views the pop-up format as a way to be creative and to give guests something new
Galactic Cantina will be open for at least four months through the end of the summer, Trevino said. But he didn’t close the door on a potentially longer run depending on customer demand.
“Even 10 years and several concepts in, we still have that pop-up mentality,” said Trevino, the hospitality company’s founder and CEO. “There’s something to be said for the audience constantly wanting new things, and we want to create amazing, immersive experiences to give them what they want.”
The bar — which is across the street from Trevino’s La Ofrenda tequila joint — initially opened with a comic book theme in late 2021. But Trevino wanted to take advantage of the 600 square feet of mostly blank canvas on Race Street to let his and his team’s imaginations run wild, he said.
Most recently, the spot had housed a wizard-themed bar, Pennifold’s Pub, for more than a year. The tavern featured butter beer, a fan-favorite, and an assortment of beverages that bubbled and smoked like a witch’s cauldron.
Galactic Cantina has a pun-filled menu of its own, such as the rum-based Rowdy Rancor. Guests can expect to see bartenders in costumes from time to time. The overall look and feel of the emulates what a space traveler might encounter at a bar in a galaxy far, far away, Trevino said.
Gorilla Cinema is unveiling the finished space to the public on Thursday afternoon.
“We want our guests to have a truly immersive experience,” Trevino said.
Finding an audience that shares your vision
Gorilla Cinema operates five other bars and restaurants across Cincinnati, including a “Lost in Translation”-themed karaoke bar in downtown called Tokyo Kitty.
Trevino derives a lot of his ideas from his most beloved films. One of his original spots was Video Achieve, a speakeasy where patrons enter through a secret door in a makeshift movie store in Walnut Hills. He transformed it into a tiki bar and cinema show, Tiki Tiki Bang Bang, a couple of years ago.
“We pride ourselves on having the courage to dream big and to not only think differently but also do things differently,” said Trevino, who’s also Gorilla Cinema’s creative director.
Trevino’s first permanent location was The Overlook Lodge in Pleasant Ridge. The inspiration for the look, menu and the bar’s name came from the movie “The Shining.”
The Gorilla Cinema team did a lot of legwork before settling on the Montgomery Road site more than eight years ago. They constructed movie screens in parking lots and built outdoor kitchens in dozens of spots over the course of two years, Trevino said. He picked Pleasant Ridge because “that’s where tickets sold out the fastest and people bought the most stuff.”
“We had an insanely successful pop up and we saw our audience reflected in ourselves, and we said, ‘This is the place.’ We found it,” Trevino said.
“There’s this misperception that your bar or restaurant needs to be for everyone. It doesn’t,” he added. “You just have to find your audience and find the people who get what you’re trying to do.”
Trevino, a service industry veteran, said pop-ups allow “dreamers” a chance to showcase their creativity, refine their concepts and “bring their ideas to life” with only limited long-term consequences.
A popular recent trend is allowing would-be food and beverage entrepreneurs to take up short-term residency in existing restaurants or bars. That’s what the future OTR eatery Wildweed is doing three days a week at the former Mighty Good space on Elm Street.
“The great thing about doing a pop-up is you get to change things up if they’re not working or you want to try something new,” Trevino said. “You don’t always have that creativity when you go into the brick-and-mortar because people want the thing that they have last week.”
It’s not all fun, games and colorful costumes, though. Each venture requires extensive design work and the development of a new menu that features items connected to the updated theme.
If they were working in a temporary space, that also means hauling equipment all over town, familiarizing themselves with someone else’s space and dealing with myriad “operational nightmares,” Trevino said.
In those early years, the Gorilla Cinema team had to “bootstrap” to make ends meet and to make the lodge happen, Trevino said. He worked two bartending gigs when not hustling to run his events.
He praised two of his former bosses — celebrity mixologist Molly Wellman and James Beard-nominated chef Jose Salazar — for giving him the freedom and time to pursue his passion projects.
“Most pop-ups exist because they’re built out of a person’s frustration with not seeing their story being told,” Trevino added. “That’s what it was for me. I had this story I had to tell, and I needed to get it out of my head.”
Trevino admitted that 10 years ago, trying to create a buzz about his events wasn’t easy. Gorilla Cinema was a relative unknown in the hospitality game, and traditional advertising was expensive. Social media marketing operated a bit differently back then as well.
But his colleagues’ commitment to creating unique guest experiences led to enough word-of-mouth awareness to make people wanting to get out and try something new, Trevino said. He credits their work in the past with helping to make Galactic Cantina possible today.
Sticking to their pop-up roots
Despite having a collection of permanent spots with established menus under his belt, Trevino still gets a kick out of creative overhauls from time to time.
The team hosts regular special events at his venues. Every year, for example, Gorilla Cinema put on “Miracle at the Overlook Lodge.” Trevino described it as “all things Christmas pop-culture being thrown up” all over his Pleasant Ridge bar.
After a trip to Mezcal country in Mexico last year, the Gorilla Cinema team hosted a one-night-only, five course dinner at La Ofrenda. The chef from Trevino’s Lonely Pine Steakhouse showcased whole lamb butchery. Each dish got paired with a complimentary mezcal.
“Obviously, we want our guests to have an exceptional meal and delicious drinks, but… we want them to go home and tell their friends about it,” he said.
Plans for the Race Street bar are to use it is as a sort of revolving door of pop-ups, Trevino said. He didn’t count out one-off events or week-long runs, but he envisions it as a space for longer-term projects of up to a year.
The future for the bar post-Galactic Cantina isn’t yet clear, Trevino said, but he and the Gorilla Cinema team have already started brainstorming.
“This has become a place for us to explore all of our misfit and wild ideas,” he added. “We’re excited to share them with you.”
