OFF THE MENU
THEME KING
Jacob Treviño and his Gorilla Cinema properties find new audiences. — B R A N D O N W U S K E
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HEN I MET WITH JACOB TREVIÑO AT COSMIC GORILLA, HIS NEW comic book store/board game shop/bar near Findlay Market, I got to see a bit of the creative process in action. “We were just throwing out ideas for a Mario-themed party,” he says, pointing to his staff at the registers. “Oh, and a weird celebrity game show. Just another Saturday morning.” Gorilla Cinema, Treviño’s hospitality group, is responsible for some of the most interesting bar and restaurant concepts in the city. It’s also the home of the themed pop-up—everything from fly-by-night movie showings to a Pan Am pop-up party complete with “flight attendant” servers decked out in authentic Pan Am uniforms. The kind of spitballing I witnessed spawns most of Gorilla Cinema’s endeavors, and Cosmic Gorilla is no exception. That particular seed was planted four years ago, when Treviño and his team imagined a fresher, more interactive take on the “comic con” concept. “We love comic cons to death, but it is too much of a passive experience,” he says. “So we brought a bunch of comic book artists to the Woodward Theater to show their work, with one requirement—they had to be creating something at the show.” From then on, he knew he wanted to do a comic-themed brick-and-mortar; it was just a matter of finding the right spot. Sensing a need in the neighborhood, Treviño wanted to bring a concept to Findlay Market that was truly all ages because of the number of families the hub attracts. 8 6 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M A P R I L 2 0 2 2
FYI Gorilla Cinema has been opening experiential theme bars and restaurants around the Tristate since 2015. The hospitality group’s current properties are the Overlook Lodge (Pleasant Ridge), Tokyo Kitty (downtown), the Lonely Pine Steakhouse (Pleasant Ridge), Tiki Tiki Bang Bang (Walnut Hills), La Ofrenda (Overthe-Rhine), and Cosmic Gorilla (Over-the-Rhine). For more information, visit gorillacinemapresents. com.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDREW DOENCH
