First Look: New Immersive-Art Lounge Mockingbird Opens in RiNo

At 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 24, a crowd had already begun to gather at Mockingbird for its soft opening; within the next thirty minutes, the place was full. The new immersive-art club and lounge at 2737 Larimer Street is the latest brainchild from the co-owners of Beacon, which is just a couple of blocks away.

"Beacon is our immersive-art dance bar, and Mockingbird we call our immersive-art lounge," explains Robert Champion, who is joined in ownership by Mario Nocifera. "It holds a lot of the same principles as Beacon, but what we wanted to do is more of a luxurious approach to artistry, to create something a little bit more adult, sexier."
And Mockingbird definitely leans into the sexy, from the "Chambers of Connection," a series of three feminine lounge rooms drawn by warm amber drapes, to the vibrating chair in the intimate cocktail bar room, whose red walls are covered in books. Speaking of books, there is also a coffee-table book of "big penises" to peruse in the large green room housing the dance floor, which is next to the larger, forest-themed bar that patrons will enter through on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. On Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the entrance will be at the cocktail bar.

"The space is designed to scale down and act as a cocktail bar suitable for date nights, happy hours, private parties by changing our main entrance to the smaller of two bars," Champion says. "When it’s time for weekend nightlife, we open up the larger bar and dance floor."
As with Beacon, each room was created with detailed intention by local artists to bring people together and create a sense of community and intimacy. Prop Dungeon designed the nature-themed bar, which includes greenery and arches on the walls that seem like windows to a misty mountain. That space opens up to the dance floor, otherwise known as the Ballroom of Eternal Reflections, whose details include mirrors, a flickering faux fireplace mantel at the DJ booth, and custom chandeliers programmed with LED lights. Designed by Champion and his partner, Dawson Love, the space evokes mid-century and Roaring Twenties grandeur with a psychedelic, room-of-mirrors twist. Behind the DJ booth is a neon sign that declares "We Are Alive."

That sign came "from a conversation between Mario and I after he spent an emotional afternoon at a graveyard," Champion explains. "He came to me and said, 'We need to live. We need to keep living.' My response was that I agreed — we do. And I said, 'We are alive. We are so alive.'"
Mockingbird is definitely brimming with lively creativity. Love, who designed the Chambers of Connection, says she modeled each of the three rooms after Egypt, Japan and India, represented by flowers and animals from those countries. The Japan lounge has cherry blossoms hanging from its ceiling, Egypt pays homage to cats and lotuses with royal-purple wall hangings, and India is brightly saturated with color and lotus flowers. Separated by golden curtains and filled with comfortable furniture to match, these spaces encourage interaction, much like Nocifera's own design of a birdcage right around the corner, between the chambers and the cocktail bar. Rising to the ceiling, the giant cage is lined with a circular bench around a table in the center, making for a communal area where up to sixteen people can cozy up and meet others.
On Saturday, a contortionist showed off her bendy moves on top of that table, with her intimate audience gaping in awe. Meanwhile, over on the dance floor, an aerialist swung from silks for a top-tier flow-arts performance. These are the types of performers Mockingbird will continue to employ, taking the entertainment beyond the music. While Champion says there are still more details to be added to some spaces, he and Nocifera decided to pull the trigger and open after receiving their liquor license last week. When it comes to music, Champion says that Mockingbird will showcase more lo-fi and swingy beats than what you ordinarily hear at the bass-heavy Beacon. And, he's sure to add, the majority of DJs will be from the local scene. That aligns with his and Nocifera's goal of fostering local artists in RiNo, a neighborhood they're grateful to call home.

It's been a long sixteen months of putting the lounge together, and Champion is now off to Burning Man for a well-deserved reset time. "It's where I find my inspiration," he says.

That's very apparent at Mockingbird, a place for the inspired to be inspired.