A Spooky Speakeasy–Themed Bar Is Popping Up in Philly for Halloween

It’s the year of the Halloween pop-up bar in Philly. Haunt, coming soon to Tod Wentz’s Pearl Tavern, and Nightmare, from Tradesman’s Teddy Sourias, are just about ready to debut with skeleton decor and candy corn cocktails. And now comes word of Dark Passage, a haunted house–esque experience with a bar from Fergus Carey of Center City staple Fergie’s Pub.

The first stop at Dark Passage, opening October 4 at 1004 Buttonwood Drive in Callowhill, is the Strange Spirits Lounge, which creator Pseudonym Productions is describing as a speakeasy-themed bar. The company worked with Carey to put this piece of the attraction together, and the key here is you can get a cocktail (Halloween-themed, of course) and take it with you as tour the rest of the rooms (and, presumably, try not to jump in fright and spill it. Maybe safer to just drink the whole thing first). The setup is fairly loose, meaning once you leave the bar you can circle back to it whenever you want.

There’s some themed attraction cred here: Pseudonym Productions’ Sarah Elger has worked on similar entertainments for Disney and Universal, and started her company as part of her master of architecture thesis at Penn. Co-founder Ricky Brigante runs Inside the Magic.

Tickets are $35. A $79 pass gets you unlimited visits until Dark Passage closes on November 2. It’s right near Union Transfer.

Courtesy of Haunt

Haunt, upstairs at 1123 Walnut Street inside the coming-soon Pearl Tavern (from Tod Wentz of Townsend, Oloroso, and A Mano) is scheduled to run October 3 to November 3. Pearl Tavern GM Alison Hangen, also the founder of Arts in the Industry, is planning pumpkin carving, slasher movie nights, and a masquerade ball.

Nearby at 116 S. 12th Street, Nightmare is opening in the same space Teddy Sourias (Tradesman’s, Bru, U-Bahn, Blume) has used the last couple years for glitzy Christmas pop-up Tinsel. Expect over-the-top decor and plenty of photo ops.

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