Cincinnati’s sold-out Pan Am Layover Lounge pop-up is taking flight to Columbus, offering another immersive experience this winter.
After their inaugural event at Tokyo Kitty downtown in October, the Gorilla Cinema Presents team (the minds behind Tokyo Kitty, Overlook Lodge, The Video Archive and Lonely Pine Steakhouse) are making a few changes in order to give their attendees an even better experience. The Columbus Pan Am Layover Lounge will feature more dedicated space, offering room for 12 passengers per trip — tripling in size from their first run — and adding two exciting new flight options that are historically important to the Pan Am brand.
“We’ve added flights to Havana and the North Pole, which are homages to that history. Havana was Pan Am’s first passenger flight way back in 1928 and changed how we experience our world forever. The North Pole flight celebrates Pan Am’s Flight 50 which took passengers over both poles to commemorate 50 years of service,” says Greg Newman, director of resources at Gorilla Cinema Presents.
Other flight options include Hawaii, London and even the moon (yes, Pan Am pre-sold flights to the moon). The unique event invites guests on an immersive and nostalgic Pan Am experience while waiting for a “flight” to their destination, all evoking the now-defunct airline’s golden-age-of-flight service and iconic branding. Ticket holders will be greeted by Pan Am stewardesses upon arrival and will be brought back to a Layover Lounge, where they will enjoy a 45-minute themed experience, with cocktails inspired by their destination.
With a larger, more intentional space compared to the first pop-up at Tokyo Kitty, Gorilla Cinema Presents will be able to create their sets from scratch, which will give them more control over the design. The North Pole flight also happens to fall in line with the holidays, which will give the team the opportunity to push the experience even further.
By increasing the number of passengers, they are also hoping to enhance the visitor experience.
“The guests on these flights are ex-Pan Am pilots, frequent flyers or even people who never got to fly Pan Am but want to experience their famous World Class service. That’s really the magic of all of it,” Newman says. “Once people get going on sharing their flight they took to Havana, or London, or anywhere, getting a seat next to a celebrity, interacting with the stewardess who’s traveled the world, walking up the staircase to the First Class section, it really — pardon the pun, but not sorry — ‘takes off.'”
The pop-up will take place at River & Rich at 401 W. Rich St. in Columbus and will run from Dec. 12-23.
Tickets cost $65 and include two cocktails and a small commemorative gift. Passengers can upgrade to a first-class ticket for an additional $35 which comes with priority boarding, a champagne toast to begin your adventure, a Pan Am first class designation lapel pin and a first class luggage tag.
A portion of the proceeds from the event will benefit local charities, including the Homeless Families Foundation, ROYGBIV and Five Strong Foundation.
Pan Am Pop-Up Lounge, Dec. 12-23, 401 W. Rich St., Columbus.
This article appears in Nov 13-26, 2019.