By Ellen Spitaleri
The 4th Wall PDX is a cinema-themed cafe and lounge located at SE 14th Ave. and Hawthorne Blvd., but it is so much more. However, there is one distinction that co-owner Asa Fager wants to make clear. Although showing movies is part of the ambience of The 4th Wall PDX, “It’s important to emphasize that we are not a movie theater. We’re just a casual hangout spot that happens to have a big screen,” he said.
“There are certain days we’ll dedicate a theme, such as ‘Star Wars’ all day on May 4 or Slasher Saturdays, where we play horror classics just for fun,” Fager said. “But there is no set schedule around these things. You just roll up, grab a drink or a snack and see what’s on,” he added. “Everything we show is either available on major streaming platforms or rented from Movie Madness.” A detailed calendar of themed events is on the website and in the café’s newsletter.
First-time business owners Fager and co-owner Jason Thompson opened The 4th Wall PDX six months ago. The two met working at Seattle Cinerama several years ago and bonded over a shared love of movies. When the Seattle movie theater closed in 2020, Thompson moved to Portland to be close to his family and Fager decided he was ready to try something new.
Since Thompson has many years of nonprofit management experience from his history in animal welfare and Fager has nearly 15 years of experience in bars and restaurants, they figured they would combine their skillsets with their love of movies and movie culture and The 4th Wall PDX was born.
The name of the business comes from a theater reference to the fourth wall, Thompson said. That is the invisible wall between the actors onstage and the audience; when a character talks directly to the audience, that is called “breaking the fourth wall,” he said.
“We settled on that name because that is what we do here. If people want to talk back to the movie or sing along with the movie, they are breaking the fourth wall,” Thompson added.
Because The 4th Wall PDX is not a movie theater, “We aren’t able to have any proper onscreen programming. Thus, we have to find other ways to pull people in the front door,” Fager said.
“Since movie culture and geek culture in general tend to pal around in the same waters, we decided to open up our space to all kinds of events.”
These include Magic the Gathering on Mondays, pop-culture-themed trivia every Tuesday, Nintendo tournaments on Wednesdays, tabletop gaming on Thursdays and live standup comedy almost every Friday. Children are invited in on Saturday and Sunday mornings to see cartoons and eat breakfast cereal, Fager said. There’s also an art show every First Friday of the month, featuring local artists; it is curated by Anna Pearson, a friend of the owners.
The standup shows similarly are coordinated by their respective hosts. “Currently we have two regular shows, ‘Live & Local’ with Ross Passeck and ‘Everything in Between’ with Danelle Porter,” Fager said. “They’re both very hardworking comics and are very tapped into the local scene; it’s been great for everyone involved,” he added.
“We never charge admission to hangout in the space, only to attend certain events like comedy shows or game tournaments,” Fager said.
The 4th Wall PDX is a café/lounge hybrid, so it serves what Fager calls typical fare for a coffeeshop. It offers freshly prepared breakfast sandwiches, fresh pastries, cookies and vegan ice cream sandwiches from Doe. “But the real star of our menu is the slices of Scotty’s pizza,” Fager said.
“As for drinks, we’re proud to serve Sisters Coffee, drip and espresso; they’ve been so helpful and so eager to help a brand-new business get off the ground,” Fager said. “On tap we have an IPA, a rotating seasonal, a dry cider and a non-alcoholic root beer. There’s also a grab-n-go fridge with a variety of soft drinks, juice and kombucha,” Fager added.
Event rentals have become a big part of their business, Fager said, adding that the flexible space is perfect for private parties.
“The best thing about owning The 4th Wall PDX is being a part of the community. There are so many cool people in our neighborhood and getting to know them has been so much fun,” Fager said. He added, “Our goal has always been to create a welcoming, nerdy space for fellow nerds to come be nerdy together, and so far, it seems like we’re doing something right.”
The 4th Wall PDX
1445 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Co-owners Jason Thompson and Asa Fager enjoy a moment in the sun in front of The 4th Wall PDX. Photo by Dick Trtek.
