Between film screenings, acting classes and live events, nearly 20,000 people flocked to St. Petersburg\u2019s Green Light Cinema last year.<\/p>\n
Theater owner Mike Hazlett wants to feed them more than just popcorn and soda.<\/p>\n
Hazlett and his wife, Sue, are opening Green Light Lounge + Kitchen this month at 225 Second Ave. N., right next to Green Light Cinema.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople want an experience, right? They want to watch a movie, and they want to get a drink before, or a bite to eat, you know, or to go somewhere after to talk about the film,\u201d Hazlett said. \u201cAnd I was just watching people walk out the door and be like, \u2018Where do we go?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
After getting final approval from the city, the lounge will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. It features an \u201celevated bar menu\u201d to feed hungry movie buffs and a small stage for live events like comedy and cabaret.<\/p>\n
Since debuting in early 2020, the 80-seat art house movie theater has attracted a steady audience with indie movies, foreign pictures, documentaries and monthly live performances of \u201cRocky Horror Picture Show\u201d from the group Hell on Heels.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can get half of those folks to come over here, we\u2019re in pretty good shape,\u201d Hazlett said. \u201cWe have a built-in audience, and this is a bigger canvas for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new space was formerly home to Hops 2.0, a beer bar and cafe. Hazlett painted the ceiling and brightened up the previously black walls with subway tile and movie posters. Natural light pours through the glass windows on the garage doors. Hanging plants and cozy mid-century modern furniture add to the lounge vibe.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of my pet peeves is when you go to restaurants and you have really uncomfortable chairs,\u201d Hazlett said, sinking into one of the new green leather seats. \u201cThese are really comfortable because you want people to stay, you know. And the vibe here is to hang out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hazlett dreams of improv nights and jazz performances. This year, Green Light has worked with about 500 students. The bigger space will allow expanded programming in 2026.<\/p>\n
Green Light Lounge + Kitchen will offer Kahwa coffee, house wines, sangria, Mother Kombucha and about 16 beers on tap from places like 3 Daughters and Green Bench Brewing Co., which collaborates with Green Light Cinema monthly to host film screenings.<\/p>\n
\u201cMovies are a struggle. The movie theater business has not recovered from COVID, period, full stop. And 30% of the audience is never coming back,\u201d Hazlett said. \u201cAll I can do is swim in the ocean and do the best I can with programming. \u2026 We do well, but it\u2019s still within the context of an industry that has not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green Light Cinema has succeeded by leaning into the community, said Hungry Bull Productions founder Joe Restaino, who produced the 2021 film \u201cPig\u201d and has partnered with the Hazletts on the lounge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a place for all the filmmakers, all the artists,\u201d he said, noting that the lounge will be near not just Green Light Cinema, but American Stage Theatre Co. and the Palladium.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we first opened, we were in the middle of COVID, and the phrase at the time was \u2018One customer at a time,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIf you walk through that door, we\u2019re gonna chat you up and learn your name. And you\u2019re going to remember us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Between film screenings, acting classes and live events, nearly 20,000 people flocked to St. Petersburg\u2019s Green Light Cinema…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[104,38100,19583,5077,596,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-63562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-green-light-cinema","10":"tag-leisure","11":"tag-movies","12":"tag-pinellas-county","13":"tag-st-pete","14":"tag-st-pete-headlines","15":"tag-st-pete-news","16":"tag-st-petersburg","17":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","18":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}