by Marcella Ortega
Daily Lobo
A few years ago, Brian Basser created a portable hookah lounge on a whim.
"I got this 18-by-18-foot tent and lots of rugs and pillows," he said. "I got some cool neon and made a sign. I got Christmas lights, some hookahs, some shisha tobacco and got on the road."
Though he didn't have much experience with hookahs, Basser drove his RV from New Jersey across the country, visiting festivals where he set up his hookah lounge tent. Basser came to New Mexico last year for a festival hosted by 3 Sided Whole, a community near Albuquerque that supports environmental preservation. On Feb. 1, Basser opened Hunab Hookah at 3400 Constitution Ave. N.E.
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"Basically, this (Hunab Hookah) is the tent - the neon, the cushions, the rugs and the tapestries and stuff," he said. "That's all just right from the tent."
Basser met Issac Barbosa this summer at Dreamtime, an annual art and music festival in Paonia, Colo. Barbosa helped Basser prepare the lounge by building some walls and a stage.
"We were originally going to partner together, but he has a wanderlust," Basser said. "He wants to travel and make music."
Barbosa said Hunab is a sacred Mayan symbol.
"We had started to talk about him setting up a permanent hookah lounge in Albuquerque," Barbosa said. "He met this guy Carlos who came up with the name Hunab Hookah Lounge named after the Hunab Ku (a Mayan god)."
The lounge offers 41 hookah flavors at $9 per bowl and refreshments such as espresso, chai and tepache, a traditional Mexican elixir. It also provides live entertainment each night with DJ performances, belly dancing, and open-mic and poetry nights. The walls, including the unisex bathrooms, are covered with artwork made by patrons.
"The hookah provides the economy that allows the space to exist," Basser said. "The space is for the people that want to do things here and have people come and do
it different."
Maria Rodriguez Pope said she has visited the lounge four times.
"I come to meet my friends," she said. "It's a very friendly atmosphere. They're here for not just when something like this (poetry night) is happening, but we have our own meetings here - our own projects that we're doing."
Basser said on the first Friday of each month, the lounge hosts a performance called Electro Chakra, where DJs Silence and Morning Star perform. The last performance had a great turnout, Basser said.
"I was at capacity for three hours," he said. "It was crazy. I got a little taste of what it's like to be that busy."
In the future, Basser plans to make premixed hookah flavors such as fuzzy navel and sex on the beach. If business picks up, he would like to create more space for people to present their artwork.
"That's why I took off and sort of explored," he said. "I wanted to see how people are living differently."
Hunab Hookah
3400 Constitution Ave. N.E.
Monday
7 p.m.-Midnight
Thursday
7 p.m.-3 a.m.
Friday and Saturday
7 p.m.-4 a.m.
Sunday
4 p.m.-Midnight
18 and over
$9 per bowl of hookah
Upcoming Events
Guitarist Ronnie Ray
Thursday
10 p.m.-Midnight
Meat the Vegans
CD release party
Saturday
9 p.m.-4 a.m.
$4
