Lifestyle
Two Bit Circus is back as a Santa Monica pop-up — with a 'space elevator' from the future
Before me stands a glistening silver box — sleek, elegant and with boldly defined protruding vertical lines, giving it an ever-so-slight vintage Art Deco look. A golden vent rests at its top, the figures on its grille appearing like alien hieroglyphics. This, I am asked to pretend, is an elevator, which will take me from Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade and into Earth’s orbit.
I step inside and stand on an assigned number. Four windows surround me, and one sits below me. They are, in actuality, OLED TVs, sitting inside oval, astronaut-white frames. Soon, I am awash in ambient, serene music. An air conditioner pumps in a cold breeze — partly there to offset the heat from the television sets, partly there to mitigate any effects of motion sickness — and then the simulation begins. Southern California disappears below me, and in moments I am gliding above Earth, enveloped in stars and the twilight-blue hues of our planet’s horizon.
Game tech Quantrel Farris plays games at Two Bit Circus at Third Street Promenade.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Typically, the experience of simulating a trip to space is the stuff of theme parks or NASA training facilities. This space elevator, however, resides inside a pop-up arcade from Two Bit Circus, which earlier this year shuttered its 40,000-plus square foot play space in downtown’s Arts District. In the precarious world of location-based entertainment — recent years have seen buzzy, game-centered, virtual reality-focused startups such as the Void and Dreamscape Immersive come and go — it was safe to assume the worst when Two Bit closed.
Had its mix of coin-op arcade cabinets, future technologies and immersive theater-inspired games joined the likes of DisneyQuest, Star Trek: The Experience and a host of other promising-yet-failed experiments? No, insists Two Bit founder Brent Bushnell, who is confident Two Bit will rise again with a permanent space. First up, however, is multi-week pop-up experience on Third Street Promenade, opening Saturday and currently slated to run through Jan. 5, although Bushnell believes an extension is likely — “we’re going to be a month-to-month kind of decision,” he says.
Space elevator at Two Bit Circus. (Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)
Two Bit, says Bushnell, was never able to recover from the pandemic, for which its downtown business dug too deep of a financial hole to rebound from. “We brought a quarter-million people down there in 2019,” Bushnell says of attendance at the initial location, which opened in 2018. “It was literally millions of dollars. In 2020, we were doing 20% better than we did in 2019. I wonder sometimes the world we would be living in. I was closing $30 million of investments to open five more of them.”
All those plans evaporated relatively quickly. A Two Bit location in Dallas, for instance, opened in 2023 but closed in just a few months. Downtown’s Two Bit locale followed relatively suddenly in April, but Bushnell says it was clear in January that the company was going to have to regroup.
“We didn’t have the deep pockets of a ginormous corporation to ride that out,” Bushnell says of Two Bit’s COVID-19-induced closures, for which the backlog of bills eventually became too much to bear. “This is a real opportunity to be clear of that, and to start fresh.”
And more modestly. Two Bit’s Santa Monica spot, situated among Third Street Promenade’s cacophony of casual eateries and an oversized chess board, is 4,000 square feet, a fraction of the downtown location’s size. That means some Two Bit originals — digital carnival games such as a balloon-pop challenge that used screens and projections, or a train-racing game built less on speed but on synchronized corporation with friends or strangers — remain in storage. As do its so-called “story rooms,” including one that was inspired by the old tabletop game Operation, only here we performed makeshift surgery on a giant puppet, the game less about precision than silly communication.
Yet it’s clear the Two Bit mission persists.
Two Bit Circus founder Brent Bushnell.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
A center bar, for instance, will sell a drink it calls the “cocktail shooter.” It’s essentially a shot, but participants will then be handed a Meta Quest 3 and asked to play a 90-second game utilizing the headset’s pass-through technology, which allows for digital creations to be overlaid into our real-world surroundings. Essentially, we’ll be firing away at giant, cowboy-hat wearing eyeballs floating around the Two Bit bar area. Similar games will unfold outside Two Bit’s doors on the Promenade, including a fantasy-inspired game in which our Quest controllers will turn into virtual wands and we’ll be wizards flinging fireballs at each other amid the Santa Monica district.
There is space, too, for group games, including a heavily participatory game show-inspired experience. Here, guests will gather around cocktail tables, each player given their own boxy video game controller with large plastic arcade buttons. They’ll compete against other guests in short, silly mini-games, some asking us to frantically press as many buttons as possible, others more quiz-like. A version of this was staged in Two Bits’ Arts District spot.
Then, finally, there is Two Bit’s assortment of stand-up games, with the emphasis, Bushnell says, on multiplayer titles — “Frogger,” “Rampage,” “Joust,” “Zoo Keeper,” “Marble Madness” among the many offerings. The pop-up will charge a $25 admission at the door, and that will include all games for the day.
And the in-demand centerpiece will no doubt be the space elevator, developed by local firm One World Immersive. The company, founded by Chris Clavio, who previously worked for Santa Fe, N.M.-based immersive art collective Meow Wolf, views the device that will rest at Two Bit as a prototype — it is, for instance, fragile, built out of the aforementioned TVs and wood cabinetry. The images in the experience are largely from NASA’s public domain collection, says Clavio, as the ultimate goal for the space elevator is to pitch it to museums and schools.
Chris Clavio, Founder and CEO of One World Immersive, shows his space elevator experience ride at Two Bit Circus arcade at Third Street Promenade.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
While the floor vibrates, there is no actual lift. Such a detail, says Clavio, will hopefully be found in a future edition, but movement on the screen is slow enough to not be physically jarring and to allow for a momentary sense of disbelief. When I’m inside the space, I feel a sense of calm, basking in the wonder of thousands of twinkling stars and the peacefulness of our planet when viewed from above. The journey lasts but four minutes, yet it’s welcoming, borderline meditative and momentarily restorative.
“The whole point of this originally was to show people the majesty of the planet and how incredible the Earth was and not have it be a cheesy thrill ride,” Clavio says. “We want it to be an opportunity for reflection.”
Two Bit Circus Santa Monica pop-up
It also taps into the original conceit of Two Bit, that is merging familiar and unexpected games with immersive experiments heavy on social interaction — the Two Bit calendar, for instance, includes singles nights and gift exchanges. Bushnell, too, is excited to get guests in augmented reality glassware from Snap, as he notes Two Bit has programmed images of dinosaurs roaming the Third Street Promenade.
Ultimately, the space will be viewed as something of a test. Perhaps for a future Santa Monica location and to also see if Two Bit can draw a different audience mix than it did downtown.
Game tech Quantrel Farris works at Two Bit Circus at Third Street Promenade.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
“When we were in downtown L.A., we could get adults and we could get corporate [events], but families and tourists were a little bit of a challenge,” Bushnell says. “I think the thing that’s special about Santa Monica is you could really hit all of it. So this is an exploration for us to test the waters.”
And, of course, to simulate the experience of viewing those waters from outer space.
Neve Campbell in Scream 7.
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The OG Scream Queen Neve Campbell returns. Scream 7 re-centers the franchise back on Sidney Prescott. She has a new life, a family, and lots of baggage. You know the drill: Someone dressing up as the masked slasher Ghostface comes for her, her family and friends. There’s lots of stabbing and murder and so many red herrings it’s practically a smorgasbord.
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Abriana Vicioso is the host of the Flower Hour, which takes place monthly.
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
Each flower carries a personal history. For Abriana Vicioso, the calla lily was her parents’ wedding flower — a symbol of her mother’s beauty. “She had this big, beautiful white calla lily in her hair,” Vicioso says. “I love my parents. They’re the reason I’m here. I’ll never forget where I came from.”
The Flower Hour begins with Vicioso announcing, with a warm smile: “Today is about touching grass.” The florist-by-trade gestures behind her to hundreds of flowers contained in buckets — blue thistles, ivory anemones and calla lilies painted silver — all twisted and unfurling into the air. “Tonight is going to be so sweet and intimate,” Vicioso says, eyeing the beautiful chaos at her feet. A grin buds across her face.
Moments before the workshop, participants sit at candlelit tables exchanging horoscopes and comparing their favorite flowers. A mention of the illustrious bird-of-paradise flower elicits coos and awe from the women. Izamar Vazquez, who is from Jalisco, Mexico, reveals her fondness for roses, which make her feel connected to her Mexican roots.
Vicioso hosts her flower-themed wellness workshop near the iconic Original Los Angeles Flower Market in downtown L.A. In January, the first Flower Hour event sold out, prompting her to make it a monthly series. Vicioso describes the event as a “three-part journey” where participants are invited to drink herbal tea, smoke rose-petal-rolled cannabis joints and create a floral arrangement. “The guide is to connect with the medicine of flowers,” Vicioso says.
Rose petal joints, tea and flower arranging are all part of The Flower Hour event’s offerings.
The event is hosted at the Art Club, a membership-based co-working space. “The Flower Hour is really beautiful. Everyone gets to explore their creativity while meeting new people,” says Lindsay Williams, the co-owner of the Art Club.
The idea for Flower Hour came to Vicioso during a conversation with her mother. “We joke all the time that flowers were destined to make their way into my life,” she says. She works as a florist and models on the side, even appearing in the pages of Vogue. Vicioso grew up in a Caribbean household, where flowers and offerings were part of daily life. “In my culture and religion, a lot of my family practices — an Afro-Caribbean religion — we build altars.”
Like many cultures, flowers carry sentimental value in her religion. “I’m Caribbean, so a lot of my family practices a Yoruba religion, which comes from Africa. In the Caribbean, it’s well known as Santería.”
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After a difficult year and a breakup, Vicioso wanted to marry her love of flowers with community building. Because Vicioso uses cannabis medicinally, the workshop naturally includes a smoking component. “My family has smoked cannabis for a lot of reasons for a long time. It’s a really healing plant,” she explains.
In the workshop, even the cannabis gets the floral treatment. Vicioso presents her rose-petal-wrapped joints on a silver platter at each table. She rolled each by hand. “If you’ve never smoked a rose-petal-rolled joint, the difference with this is it’s going to have roses that have a slight tobacco effect,” she announces.
During the workshop, Vicioso stresses the importance of buying cannabis from local vendors. The cannabis provided was purchased from a Northern Californian vendor. The wellness workshop aims to reclaim the healing ritual of smoking cannabis. “This is a plant that has been commercialized,” Vicioso says. “There’s a lot of Black and Brown people who are in jail for this plant.”
The resulting workshop is what Vicioso describes as “an immersive wellness experience that is the intersection of wellness, creativity, community and an appreciation of flowers.” The workshop serves as a reminder to enjoy Earth’s innate beauty in the form of flowers — including cannabis. “It’s this gift that the universe gave us for free and that I have this deep connection with,” Vicioso says.
Conversation cards to generate discussion among participants (top, letf). The workshop serves as a “third space” for Angelenos to engage in tactile creativity and community building outside of traditional nightlife settings.
After enjoying lavender chamomile tea and smoking a joint, Vicioso introduces the flowers to the group before inviting them to pick their own. She emphasizes each flower’s personality traits, describing green dianthus as a “Dr. Seuss” plant. Then, there are calla lilies with their “main character moment.” It gets personal. “Start thinking of a flower in your life that you can discover,” she says. “If you’re feeling like you need inspiration, you can always remember that these flowers have stories.”
Vicioso infuses wisdom into her instruction on floral arrangements: There are no mistakes. Let the flowers tell you where they want to go, she urges. Intuition will be your guide — the wilder, the better.
“Hecho in Mexico” reads a sticker on a bunch of green stems. “Like me,” says Vazquez with a laugh. “They’re all doing their own thing. Like a family,” she says later, arranging stems.
The Flower Hour participants and Vicioso, center, chat as they build their own floral arrangements at the sold-out event.
Two participants — Vazquez and Rebeca Alvarado — are friends who run a floral design company together called Izza Rose. Like Vicioso, the friends have a connection to flowers through their Latin American culture. They met Vicioso in the floral industry and were overjoyed to discover her workshop.
“This is a great way to connect with other people,” says Vazquez.
Alvarado agrees, adding: “You’re getting to know people outside of going to bars. You can connect in different ways when there’s an activity.”
Vazquez uses flowers to stay connected to her Mexican heritage, adding that she prefers to support Mexican vendors. In recent months, the downtown L.A. flower market has struggled to recover from ongoing ICE raids. “Some are scared to come back,” says Vazquez.
Hand-rolled cannabis joints wrapped in rose petals are presented on a silver platter at The ArtClub (top, right). The Flower Hour aims to reclaim the healing rituals of cannabis and flowers.
Another participant, Barbara Rios, was attracted to the workshop for stress relief. “You can hang out with your friends, but it’s nice to do things with your hands,” she says. “I work a stressful job, and it’s nice to have that third space that we’re all craving.”
On this February night, the participants were predominantly women, save for one man. In the future, Vicioso hopes that more men learn to engage with flowers. “There’s a statistic about men receiving flowers for the first time at their funerals, and I think we have changed that,” she says.
To conclude the workshop, Vicioso encourages participants to build lasting friendships and incorporate flower arranging into their daily practice — even if it’s just with a small, inexpensive bouquet.
“Get some flowers together, go to the park, hang out with each other and hang out with me,” she says. Participants leave with flower arrangements in hand. In the darkness of the night air, it briefly looks as though the women carry silver calla lilies that are blooming from their palms.
An underwater view shows US’ Lilly King competing in a heat of the women’s 200m breaststroke swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on July 31, 2024. (Photo by François-Xavier MARIT / AFP) (Photo by FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARIT/AFP via Getty Images)
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This week’s show was recorded in Bloomington, Indiana with host Peter Sagal, judge and scorekeeper Bill Kurtis, Not My Job guest Lilly King and panelists Alonzo Bodden, Josh Gondelman, and Faith Salie. Click the audio link above to hear the whole show.
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