Hank’s documentary ready to roll, Interview with filmmaker Leon Chase

Happy New Year and welcome to 2026 my lovelies. What year 2025 was and I was so grateful to share my musings and adventures with you. The year ended with a fantastic month of music here in Brooklyn, from swing to power pop and everything in between. But like Janus, I look both to how the year ended and with great anticipation of what the new year will bring.

While enjoying the BK Muses Hip Holiday Pageant at Sunset Stoop I met up with non-other than Leon Chase, the documentarian and driving force behind the Hank’s Saloon: The Movie. Leon was there looking very festive in his “Christmas Carol” inspired robes, with a spirited cocktail in hand. Not one to let an opportunity slip though my painted fingertips, I took a chance meeting with Mr. Chase and turned it into an interview…

Leon Chase grew up in Detroit during the 70-80’s and watching the economy crumble had a huge effect on his worldview. From Leon:

“I spent five glorious, aimless years in San Francisco before coming to New York City in 2000. I was singing Hank Williams and Johnny Cash in the subway for pizza money…”. One night Leon walked into Brooklyn’s Hank’s Saloon and found a home in the alt—country scene. This led him down a new path, one that included forming his own cowpunk band, Uncle Leon and the Alibi’s. Around age 40, Leon became interested in video and, for better or for worse, taught himself how to make movies. “I was very aware that much of the “fringe” or “weird” aspects of New York that I loved were rapidly being priced out, so I decided to devote myself to documenting them as much as possible.”

By the time Leon started filming, Hank’s Saloon had been near and dear to his heart for 17 years. It was where he met some of his closest friends, where his band started, and where his lovely wife first gave him her phone number. From the outside Leon and many other Brooklyn denizens viewed Hank’s as a musty, multicultural, working-class “old man” bar. But we, me included, know that it became an oddball haven for a new crop of artists, musicians, and assorted weirdos. In 2018, Leon was finishing up a zero-budget documentary, “Suzy Hotrod: Roller Derby Star”. From Leon, “At the time I was already friends with Julie (Ipcar), the owner of Hank’s. So, when they officially announced they were closing, she reached out and asked if I would come film the place in its final months.”

It wasn’t difficult to get people willing to participate in the Hank’s documentary. Many of them already knew Leon Chase personally. Leon even went so far as to travel to Quebec, Canada to interview some of the First Nations ironworkers who used to frequent the bar decades ago, and who are such an important part of that neighborhood’s history. More from Leon, “On a more personal level, there’s a moment late in the film when Kipp, the bar’s big tough sound guy, talks about his emotional connection to the other staff, and how much he misses them.”. Leon also had the opportunity few have had, filming the upstairs apartments above Hank’s Saloon, which were abandoned in the 1940s.

Hank’s Saloon and it’s many, many local personalities have shaped a plethora of lives, in Brooklyn and beyond. For example, the first time my car was disappeared by the local PD was outside of Hank’s and I learned the painful lesson on the meaning of “No Standing”. I asked Leon about his most significant recollection of the shenanigans at Hank’s and he regaled me with this tawdry tale (no edits, his words in their entirety):

In the early 2000s, the band Sean Kershaw and the New Jack Ramblers were doing regular Sunday night honky-tonk shows, and for a while it was the place to be. Great music, free food, lots of dancing, and debauchery of every sort. One night, a crew of very drunk, very out-of-place frat-boy types wandered in and made the mistake of insulting the bartender and messing with the band. Long story short, they got their asses beat by the entire bar. It was the closest I’ve ever seen to a full-on Hollywood-style brawl. Just people and fists flying in every direction. It’s also a testament to that time and place that no photos or videos exist of that moment, and no police were ever called. It was old-school Brooklyn at its finest.

If you want to hear and see more stories like this one from Leon Chase, then I hope you got your ticket to see Hank’s Saloon: The Movie, premiering at the Nitehawk Prospect Park Cinema on January 26 2026 at 7 pm. The one screening sold out, there’s talk of another. I’ll share my movie musings with you all in February.

With that, I take my leave and wish you all a fond adieu. Know that I hold my readers close to my heart, and I hope that these loving musings help to keep you warm on these cold snowy nights. Before too long we will see each other again, whether between the pages or the sheets, but until then, I remain your ever-lovin’ Muse, Medea Hoar.

Sunset Stoop, 4114 5th Ave., Sunset Park/Brooklyn
Nitehawk Cinema, 188 Prospect Park West, Prospect Park/Brooklyn
Hanks Saloon, Corner of 3rd and Atlantic, Brooklyn (gone but not forgotten)