home base in Queens, around the same
time that The Astorian first opened.
The bar’s general manager, Vito Oliva,
explained that Walters’ idea fit in perfectly
with their vision of providing a place for
people to meet and have a great time
together.
“We always looked at the bar as a community
space,” Oliva said, “so we always want
there to be fun stuff to do here and it keeps
the place interesting. When Brian posed the
idea to us, we thought it was great and it’s
been really successful.”
The movies are usually played toward
the back of the bar where there are two
flat-screen TVs against the wall with seating
for a large group of people. Moviegoers
settled in and ordered food and drinks,
and Walters introduced the movie. He also
explained the rules for the drinking games
and told us about Eye-Spys to look out for
in order to win a free beer.
As the lights went down and the movie began,
it was truly an engaging and fun experience
whether it was your first or 15th time
watching the film. For this reason, Sauced
Cinemas has acquired many regulars, like
Isabelle Carren-Le Sauter, who usually comes
with her husband, Matthew Thomsen.
“We’ve been coming for almost a year
and a half,” Carren-Le Sauter said. “It’s a nice
community thing to do and we’ve met a lot
of people. There are other regulars that we
know and like to hang out with and who we
have become close with.”
Walters has seen many instances where
guests become regulars and create friendships,
and a few couples have even met at
his Sauced Cinema event, which he said
really warms his heart.
“The philosophy behind Sauced Cinemas
is to bring people together to enjoy cinema,”
Walters said. “It’s getting difficult with
technology. When you’re at home, you’re
on your phone while you’re on Netflix. Having
everybody in the same space, movies
become funnier, so the magic of movies
is what I love and I think everybody has
some love for movies, so bringing all those
people together to enjoy movies is what we
had in mind.”
Sunnyside movie nights are held at
Sanger Hall. For more information, visit
facebook.com/SaucedCinemas and
check out Sauced Cinema’s Instagram
@saucedcinemas.
Photos by Vito Oliva
MARCH 2020 I BOROMAG.COM 17
/SaucedCinemas
/BOROMAG.COM
