The Parkway Speakeasy Theater - Oakland - Nightlife & Entertainment Reviews

The Parkway is not a typical movie theater. It has couches, armchairs and tables, and best of all they serve pizza, beer and wine there. It makes for a relaxed and comfortable environment. They have a decent selection of beverages and pizza was surprisingly good. Someone near me ordered nachos which looked good. They had salsa, beans and real cheese... none of that mystery cheese you usually find a regular movie theaters. The theater is old and the one downside is that if you are short and sitting in the back, it is all one level which can make it hard to see subtitles if you are sitting behind a tall person!

I went to the Parkway for the "Sunday Salon" which is on the first Sunday of every month from 2-4pm. Local organizations can present a documentary about a certain issue and follow it up with a discussion about the subject of the film. Admission is free for the Sunday Salon. They were showing Favela Rising (http://favelarising.com) for February's event- a movie about guys in a slum in Rio who used music and education to fight violence in a slum in Rio. So of course this was right up my alley. Driving up I saw a group of kids congregating in from of the theater with drums. I was not expecting this so it was exciting. Just before the movie started, they started playing in the lobby, made their way down the aisle and on to the stage of the theater. They were a fairly young group of kids and I was impressed. They are called Loco Bloco (http://locobloco.org/).

They have a limited selection of movies, some are recent and some are old. They show Rocky Horror picture show almost every Saturday. It is 21+ because of the alcohol but on Sundays and Saturday matinees it is all ages. Wednesday nights are two for one. They have a bunch of other events that you can check out on their website. Parking is decent in the area. On a Sunday afternoon it was easy because I didn't have to worry about the meter. Check it out, it's an interesting place!