Wallingford's new Guilded Curtain hides its secret behind a seemingly normal Pepsi machine.
If you look through the window at the Gilded Curtain’s front facade as it appears from Wallingford’s Center Street — you’ll see VHS tapes from decades ago stacked on shelves. It’s eerily familiar for older movie fans.
“We really wanted to make a very 90s and even 80s nostalgic of like an old Blockbuster,” co-owner Sarah Glidden said. “So the yellow that we chose is very similar to the Blockbuster that we all grew up with, along with the blue in accent colors that we did as well to reawaken that old nostalgia of a video rental store.”
And at first glance, it looks like that’s all that’s going on here. In the back of the room, a Pepsi machine hides the Gilded Curtain’s secret. One of the buttons opens a secret door, but it’s not immediately apparent which one.
“So we actually wanted it to feel like you were stepping through like a portal, basically — with the gilded curtain, literally, that you get to walk through,” Glidden said. “And now you're back into what would be very reminiscent of a 1920s-30s speakeasy.”
Chandeliers hang from the ceiling — there are mirrors on the wall and ornate gold-accented furniture. The cocktails all have movie-themed names. And from behind the bar comes the sound of popcorn popping, the smell fills the room.
“So definitely, we love the aromatics of the popcorn,” Glidden said. “But it also reminds you of being like in a movie, you know, movie theater style, which I feel like was something that we were going for.”
A couple sits at the end of the bar—David Wolf and Amanda Adinolfi. They’ve been coming since the beginning, and they’ve seen the curious passersby.
“People started to just, like, walk in,” Wolf said. “Oh, what’s this place? What's a VHS rental store doing in the middle of Wallingford in the modern era? And they were just so curious.”
“It adds a little exclusivity and is just fun, right?” Adinolfi said. “It's a little hidden gem that you feel like, 'Oh, I have some insider knowledge, and I can be a part of the in crowd by joining in on finding how to get in.' So it's a cool little mystery to solve. You're like, yes, I found the secret entrance to get in.”
“Adults want to go to fun places too,” Jeremy Glidden said — Sarah’s husband and the Gilded Curtain’s co-owner. “I mean, look how many people go to Disneyland, Orlando studios with no kids? And it's like, yeah, because they want something unique as well. There's nothing wrong with a good sports bar, but we don't need one on every block. … That's kind of what this all is. It's just a little bit of that nostalgia, a little bit of fun.”
This is the Gliddens’ second shop in Wallingford. The other one specializes in tea; it’s called Bones and Botanicals. Even though they’re branching out, they say they don’t have any interest in opening an actual movie rental store. Sorry—these VHS tapes are for display only.
