Enjoy a Drink and Film on The Rooftop

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by Jonathan Turner

On a downtown Davenport street with lots of cool places to eat, drink and play, The Last Picture House is just about the coolest.

I recently got to sample the indie movie house’s rooftop bar (finally!), meeting two friends for a drink at the best spot on the roof, the spacious couch surrounding the fire pit before a Tuesday night showing of the ‘80s horror-comedy “The Lost Boys.”

The stylish Rooftop at Last Picture House (325 E. 2nd St., Davenport), overlooking the Government Bridge, is one of the only combined outdoor cinema and lounges in the nation. Best of all, it includes a fully stocked bar and a signature cocktail made for each film. The Rooftop (which debuted in May) is typically open in the warmer months, seven days a week, from 3 p.m. on, weather permitting.

For film screenings, seating capacity is 90 and is general admission. The focus during spooky season is horror movies, natch, and the upcoming flicks are:

Oct. 15 – “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”
Oct. 18 & 19—“Young Frankenstein”
Oct. 22 – “Donnie Darko”
Oct. 25 & 26 – “Poltergeist”
Oct. 29 – “Rocky Horror Picture Show”
Oct. 30 & 31 – “Halloween and Halloween II” (double feature)
Nov. 1 & 3 – “Nightmare Before Christmas”

Unlike the chain multiplexes, Last Picture House showcases all kinds of films on its two indoor screens: first-run, foreign, independent, classics, and cult.

The swanky, sophisticated venue (including a cocktail lounge, opened first in November 2023) was founded by filmmakers and Bettendorf natives Scott Beck & Bryan Woods. Their Hollywood films include “A Quiet Place,” “65,” “The Boogeyman” and the new horror flick, A24’s “Heretic.”

Their penchant for the big screen – in addition to visiting cinemas all around the world – led them to curate a moviegoing experience that would encourage audiences to treat a night out at the movies as more than sitting in a darkened room. The Last Picture House offers a cultural and artistic space to encourage people to engage with friends, family, and community, all while celebrating a passion for film.

“And we thought, why can’t this exist in the Quad Cities?” Beck & Woods told me two years ago, preparing for the $3.7-million renovation of a former vacant building at 2nd & Iowa streets. “Why not bring a first-rate cinema to the area that isn’t just a place where you buy popcorn, see a movie, then leave, but instead you’re there to spend an entire night seeing a movie with the best sound and visual presentation possible, then listen to a celebrity guest do a Q&A, and follow that up by getting a cocktail in the social lounge or on the rooftop, and see a gallery of Hollywood movie props and artwork first-hand, all within the walls of a one-of-a-kind venue that you’d expect to see in a major city.”

In addition to popcorn, Lopiez pizza, chicken wings, hot dogs, nachos and candy, Last Picture House boasts a very creative drink menu (alcoholic and non), with movie-inspired cocktails – such as MEN IN BLACK MANHATTAN (whiskey, averna, orange and aromatic bitters), CURTAIN CALL (gin, prosecco, orange liquor, raspberry jam, lemon),LEBOWSKI (Frangelico, MRDC Iowish), BLOCKBUSTER (buttered popcorn rum blend, Coke, lime), and CLOKWORK ORANGE (vanilla cream, OJ, vodka, lemon lime bubbles).

New horror films at Last Picture House now showing are “Terrifier 3,” “Smile 2,” “The Substance,” and “Joker: Folie a Deux,” and I hope to see the new “Heretic” (starring a creepy Hugh Grant), opening Nov. 8.

For more info and showtimes, visit www.lastpicturehouse.com.

Jonathan Turner is a veteran journalist and piano player, who has made the QC home since 1995 and loves writing about arts and culture. He is the author of the books “A Brief History of Bucktown: Davenport's Infamous District Transformed,” and “100 Things To Do in the Quad Cities Before You Die”.