The Video Vortex at Alamo Drafthouse. (Photo by Eric Misitzis Mennel)
THE TV OVER THE bar plays Spongebob Squarepants with the sound on. I am sitting with my back to the lobby entrance, hunched over the red quartz countertop while influencers and their associates film content on their phones just outside the theater doors. My drink is a “Hero’s Journey” — a whiskey sour collab between AMC Theaters, Maker’s Mark, and Mike’s Hot Honey. Like so much else this summer, it’s to honor the release of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Everything smells like melted butter.
I text my wife, “There are too many…” Too many what? Too many movie theater bars. This is my first of three in one night, and just one of the 21 I will visit over the course of seven days. What started as a bit has now become an actual assignment, paid in American dollars, to seek out and determine the best movie theater bar in Los Angeles.
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