Last month Chicago’s Emporium Arcade Bar launched a Stranger Things pop-up bar known as the “Upside Down.” Here patrons could actually choose to lounge around in sets inspired by the show while they post memes about Barb, who is dead, by the way. She’s dead, seriously.
Netflix saw the bar and basically thought it was cute but not exactly legal considering they had zero input. The streaming service sent the owners a nerdy letter instructing them to shut down the pop-up when they said they would (October 1) with a lot of Stranger Things references included.
“Look, I don’t want you to think I’m a total wastoid, and I love how much you guys love the show. (Just wait until you see Season 2!),” reads the letter according to DNAInfo Chicago. “But unless I’m living in the Upside Down, I don’t think we did a deal with you for this pop-up…you’re obviously creative types, so I’m sure you can appreciate that it’s important to us to have a say in how our fans encounter the worlds we build.”
The bar was apparently pretty popular in Chicago and while the owners admit they would have loved to have kept it going there’s no hard feelings. But if any readers have a shabby living room and/or basement, hang up a few Christmas lights, pass around some drinks over Dungeons & Dragons, and you can certainly DIY this experience for free!
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Still here. Still without airbrushing. Still with teeth.
