The Vortex Room Brings Back Cinema

While cruisin' the boulevard in my smelly kicks I sometimes indulge in that surging impulse to peer through the ubiquitous store windows that candy coat the streets, showcasing all their little treats categorically prepared just for tempting my wallet to shovel out its guts. Store after store pass, the same endless routine of clothing, furniture, liquor and food, the four basic elements of modern urban existence all fused together by the common driving force of entertainment.

My eyes jet elsewhere, flipping to the florescent signs, shifting higher towards the rooftop cornices and spiraling back down the iron fire escape that winds gently between box cut windows offering, behind drawn curtains, a scant glimpse into a lived world -- dirty dishes piled in the sink, a humming television, floating bodies moving in and out -- all in hopes of locking my eyes upon any object not for sale, concrete enough to stabilize my thoughts.

I sometimes imagine streets filled with a different kind of business, a more intimate and hospitable kind of market where purchases fade into the background of things and connections with people rise to the forefront. Alas, my dreams of purposeful capitalism driven by a little more soul aren't so ridiculous, because I assure you my readers, that I have glimpsed such possibilities!

A hidden speakeasy in the heart of the SOMA sector speaks directly to my cravings. A plain warehouse facade, once perhaps the exterior of a humble print shop, disguises the portal into a supergalactic experience within! Upon entry, the human being walks through a tiny corridor and emerges into a spiraling realm of film reel vertigo and brooding light fixtures cyphering on the walls.

Welcome to the Vortex Room, a classic speakeasy lined with black leather couches, a bar stocked with fine whiskeys, and a projector shooting the most obscure mm prints onto a screen just big enough to envelop your entire visual landscape.


The Vortex Room is managed by Cosmic Hex, an internet based preservation resource of discarded or neglected film gems, organized for member download at quite the reasonable price. These folks are the crate digging archivists of the film world, with a knack for seeking out acid trip psychedelic soundtracks, the most twisted horror plots, and the untimely cult films (C-Films) that we could baptize as a-classic.

The otherworldly atmosphere of the Vortex Room serves as a catalyst for the viewer to imaginatively fall into a full cinematic experience that glides into another dimension of sound and color.

The cinema used to be a focal point in communities from an era not so long ago, serving as a social hub for entertainment, news and education, or even spiritual restoration and elevation. The French would convert palaces into extravagant cinemas while Italians viewed them as more important than the Church (I point to Cinema Paradiso).

The Vortex Room harks back to just this sort of era where the cinematic experience inflicted a resounding sense of awe into people. Once again we journey on spaceships throughout the universe of human emotion and thought, landing on Earth again once the lights turn back on, feeling replenished and joyous with life.

Many might accuse me of absurd nostalgia or idiotic romanticism for a cinematic milieu of simpler days, but the Vortex Room agrees that a futuristic intimacy with film and people is still possible while staring wondrously at the glowing moving image.

Two films, or a series of shorts, stream every Thursday night around 9pm at 1082 Howard in between 7th and 6th. Entry for $5! Here's the calendar.