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<\/p>\nMike Hazlett was on to something good. He knew it right away.<\/p>\n
Following a soft opening in December, Hazlett\u2019s Green Light Lounge & Kitchen officially debuted Jan. 3 with a performance by the Jazz Librarians. The place was packed.<\/p>\n
So Hazlett is creating a rich event list of music, comedy, trivia and other performances that pair well with a meal and a beverage. And hanging out a figurative \u201cuse this space for YOUR event\u201d sign.<\/p>\n
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Jan. 3 inside the new evgent space. Photos provided.<\/p>\n
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Green Light Lounge & Kitchen, 225 2nd Avenue N., \u00a0is next door to Green Light Cinema, the 80-seat big-screen theater for small and independent films Hazlett and his wife Sue opened in 2021.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not a coincidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would get calls and requests all the time for people who wanted to do a premiere, and then have a party,\u201d Hazlett said. \u201cThe Grand Prix called me last year; they wanted to put in the Netflix series F1, then do a big party\/reception thing. And I\u2019m like \u2018I don\u2019t have the space.\u2019 I get a ton of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the 3,500 square-foot former location of Hops and Props opened up, he pounced. And had some serious remodeling done.<\/p>\n
Although the lounge and kitchen operates as a separate entity (Green Light Cinema is a nonprofit), Hazlett\u2019s ideal is that they will \u201cfeed off\u201d one another.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe real question is, Will this help sell movie tickets? We\u2019ll see. I\u2019m trying to catch before and after. Dinner and a movie? Movie night or whatever? It\u2019s one-stop shopping now. You come in and have a drink, go see the movie, come in after for a meal \u2026 we\u2019re hoping to find that symbiosis between the two.\u201d<\/p>\n
By counter-programming against the corporate multiplex theater chains, indie houses like Green Light attract audiences interested in smaller films, the critical favorites that frequently slip under the radar of the masses (i.e. they\u2019re not big-budget superhero movies).<\/p>\n
Even that hard-and-fast rule is being tested these days, as streaming takes a bite out of the medium-to-small film market).<\/p>\n
All of which means Hazlett needs to pay close attention to trends in the movie distribution industry, and book aggressively to stay in the black.<\/p>\n
Adding a lounge and kitchen, he said, \u201cgives us a bigger canvas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green Light Cinema is one of the few small, independent Florida movie houses to survive recent trends in the business. \u201cI just got to the point,\u201d said Hazlett, \u201cwhere \u2018I can make this viable. I can make it break even. But I\u2019m not making any money.\u2019 We\u2019re kind of an outlier; we do better than most theaters, percentage-wise, but I just couldn\u2019t get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enter Green Light Lounge & Kitchen. \u201cIt\u2019s a simple menu. The chef is actually the mom of one of our acting-class instructors; she\u2019s from Argentina, so we have an Argentinian flair to it. I\u2019m not looking to get a Michelin star here. We\u2019re just trying for good food, for folks to hang out.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s got big plans for his new venture. \u201cI really think we\u2019re doing it wrong in the movie business. What we really should be saying is, it\u2019s so much cheaper to go to the movies than it is to do anything else. Go see a concert. Go to a professional sports game. Then you\u2019re talking serious money.\u201d<\/p>\n
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