Blockbuster-inspired Block-Bar-Ster pop-up bar opens at Nostalgia in Bethpage

Take a dip back into the 1990s/early 2000s as your favorite video store gets transformed into a neighboring watering hole. Block-Bar-Ster is a pop-up bar event presented by Nostalgia of Bethpage weekends through Oct. 18.

“We wanted to make an immersive experience based on the old Friday nights of picking out a movie at Blockbuster Video with your friends,” Shawn O’Connor, co-owner of Nostalgia, said. “This gets recreated within a bar setting. We want people to experience both worlds in one.”

The bar at Nostalgia evokes the white counter with blue and yellow trim fitting the Blockbuster Video aesthetic as the bartenders don the traditional Blockbuster employee royal blue polo shirts. Guests can choose their cocktails the way they used to pick out movies back in the video rental days by searching through the shelves of the Liquid Library.

“You go into the bar and order the drinks like the way you would pick out a video,” O’Connor said. “Each drink description is on a VHS clamshell case. Y o u hand it to the bartender and they check you out by serving you a drink.”

Some drinks include the Clamshell Coolada ($16), which comes encased in a video clamshell cover with a straw containing coconut rum, peach schnapps, limoncello, lemonade and blue luster dust.

There’s also the Blue & Yellow Buzz ($14) filled with vodka, pineapple juice, lime juice, blue curaçao, garnished with a pineapple slice and sushi leaf served in a Collins glass.

A sharable drink is the Block-Bar-Ster for Two ($30) with vodka, gin, rum, tequila, blue curaçao, lemonade, Sprite, luster dust plus lemons, cherries, cotton candy, sprinkles and Fruit by the Foot served in a fishbowl.

Nonalcoholic cocktails ($10) are offered such as the Quick Drop consisting of lemonade, lime juice, Sprite with nonalcoholic blue curaçao that gets dropped into the glass as the blue and yellow mix together or the Aisle Take This One featuring ginger beer, lime juice, raspberry powder, orange luster dust, topped with a lime and a paper umbrella.

There are also several tap beer choices ($8) such as Stella, Mango Kart, Kona Big Wave, Sand City Graveyard Smash, Strongbow Cider, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Montauk Wave Chaser and Guinness.

Food gets served in movie theater-inspired small plates including mozzarella sticks ($10), pizza ($15), chicken fingers ($12), boneless wings ($12), pretzel bites with nacho cheese or mustard ($10) and fries ($10).

Got a sweet tooth? Try the Double Feature ($12), a giant ice cream sundae topped with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, Fruit by the Foot, cotton candy and a paper umbrella; or the Frostbuster ($6), which is raspberry watermelon Italian ice with a paper umbrella. Free popcorn, giving off an aroma that creates a theatrical atmosphere, gets distributed as well.

Snap selfies for social media posting at various photo-op stations containing cardboard cutouts of "Harry Potter" and "Toy Story" characters, a giant movie projector and the Blockbuster counter complete with a quick drop box.

“There’s even a TV with a camera built in that has a Blockbuster background setting," O'Connor said. "It makes you look like you were walking through the aisles of a video rental store.”

Take on the stand-alone gaming consoles with Nintendo 64 titles like Goldeneye and Pokémon Snap, plus others for Nintendo, Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.

Three interactive games are conducted during each seating, including '90s/2000s pop-culture trivia and a VHS Building Competition, which offers a winning prize of a $25 Nostalgia gift card.

“We have hundreds of VHS cassette tapes on top of the bar,” O’Connor said. “Every group gets to try and build the coolest thing they can using the tapes in a 10-15 minute time period.”

In Finish the Quote, the host will read half a quote then call on players to answer the second half.

The all-ages event holds 20 people per 90-minute seating. All seatings take place Friday through Sunday.