Watering hole doubles as museum of technology
Opening the door at 609 Queen Street West is to step into the future we were promised. Robots mill around the bar, computers vigilantly watch over human patrons, and dusty souvenirs of space travel line the walls like your grandmother’s set of collectable plates. The whole scene is bathed in a green glow generated by backlit circuit boards embedded in the bar.
“The circuit boards are from a defunct computer graveyard place that we found when we first opened,” says James Applegath, one of the owners of NASA Dance Pub. “They had piles and piles garbage lying around. We just sorted through it and came up with those.”
The distinctive bar is just the beginning of NASA’s unique ambiance. The walls are rife with items honouring its namesake space agency including mission patches, photos, and one small piece of fabric that has actually made it into orbit.
“This little NATO flag was flown in outer space, on Columbia’s 3rd mission,” says Applegath “It was donated by one of the customers here. Her father worked for the Canadian Space Agency. He gave it to her and she gave it to us.”
Another one of NASA’s claims to fame is its collection of vintage video games. There are few places where you can see original Atari 2600, Sega, Intellivision, Gemini and Vectrex systems on public display.
“We actually had a guy who’s a huge Vectrex fan from Ottawa,” Applegath says. “He happened to come here one night and saw this, and he was so impressed that he actually programmed a cartridge for us. When you turned it on it said ‘NASA’ on the front, and he put five or six games on one cartridge.”
“One of our DJs, DJ Gadget, donated the Commodore Pet,” says Applegath about another piece of cast-off computer hardware. “He’s a huge technology buff. He can pretty much fix anything, so he put that together and brought it here. They used to be state of the art. Now I don’t even know what you’d use it for.”
NASA also makes a home for an impressive collection of science fiction memorabilia. The list of items is extensive, and it includes a cornucopia of action figures, comic books, toy UFOs, and movie posters for such classics as Tron and Battlestar Galactica.
“We got a lot of stuff on eBay before we opened,” says Applegath. “A lot of little toys and robots are from Goodwill. You just go to Buy The Pound and rummage through. A lot of the stuff was just donated by customers.”
It’s not just electronics and collectibles that are finding new life as NASA’s decor. Applegath and his partner, Ben Ferguson, have even sought out secondhand fixtures and furniture to create the bar’s ambiance. Sitting in the front window is a distinctive floor lamp that Applegath says was purchased from a set sale after the movie X-Men completed production in Toronto. Flanking the lamp, two rows of airplane seats provide a comfortable vantage point for watching the action on Queen Street.
“The airplane seats came from a guy that was doing independent theatre on Jarvis just before we opened,” says Applegath. “He cancelled his plans and we got them from him. They’ve got the ashtrays in the arms, so you know they’re old for sure.”
Hanging above the circuit-board bar is a row of silver lamps, each displaying the NASA logo. Even these pristine-looking silver orbs are part of Applegath and Ferguson’s assemblage of used items.
“We purchased the lamps from a club that closed down,” Applegath explains. “Our doorman does sandblasting, so he did the logos on the glass. It worked quite nicely.”
Applegath and Ferguson opened NASA in December of 1999. They gained their management experience working at legendary Toronto hot-spot Industry, then decided to go into business for themselves. As for the collection of toys, machines and furniture that give the bar its vibe, Applegath cites his mother as a big inspiration.
“I was going to auctions with my mom,” he says. “I saw all this cool stuff, and I thought it would make a good space-aged retro-themed place. It’s a cool way to do it because it doesn’t cost a fortune and it’s really unique.”
The low cost of keeping the atmosphere alive at NASA is a plus.
“There’s a bunch of stuff I have at home that I just don’t bring here, because it disappears,” says Applegath. “I had a C-3P0 piggy-bank. That lasted two weeks. We had a cool 8-track tape player that disappeared. It happens all the time, where things are just missing.”
NASA also had to stop its practice of making the vintage video games available for customers to play while enjoying drinks.
“You get some drunk guy playing it and the joystick breaks, and the joysticks are impossible to find,” says Applegath.
Still, for better or worse, it’s the constantly changing collection of items that keeps NASA’s look fresh. Even though the items change, the bar keeps comfortable, friend’s-basement appeal… much like the bar’s owners themselves.
“Back when I was 12 or 13, I had this buddy and we were totally into all this stuff,” Applegath explains. “Years later, he showed up here and said: ‘This is weird. Last time I saw you we were playing Atari and doing all this stuff.’ I haven’t changed at all.”
NASA is open seven days a week from 9:00pm to 3:00am. For more information, check out http://www.nasadancepub.ca