Crucially, their logo is a hanging above a mountain range. If you glance at it on a sign or a menu, your brain might easily supply the word āPaperā in front of āMoon.ā 3. The Filmās Aesthetic = The Barās Vibe Paper Moon (1973) stars a young Tatum OāNeal and Ryan OāNeal as a con man and a orphan girl selling Bibles door-to-door in 1930s Kansas. The film is shot in shimmering black-and-white. Itās a story of makeshift families, beautiful lies, and finding poetry in poverty.
The Jasper captures that exact feeling. The bartenders wear vests. The cocktails have names like āThe Confidence Manā and āThe Orphanās Benefit.ā The music is often old blues or jazz. You half expect a dusty Ford Model A to be parked outside. For anyone who has seen the film, walking into The Jasper feels like walking into the movieās speakeasy. Richmond is a city that loves its stories. Once a few people mistakenly called The Jasper āthat Paper Moon placeā on social media or in conversation, the name took on a life of its own. Food bloggers would get comments asking, āWhereās Paper Moon?ā Newcomers would ask for it by name. paper moon scott's addition
There is a famous "Paper Moon" restaurant in Milan, Italy, and another in Singapore. There was a short-lived "Paper Moon" pop-up dinner series in Brooklyn in 2014. But in Scottās Addition? It lives only in the collective imaginationāwhich, as the film itself teaches us, is often the best place for beautiful things. Crucially, their logo is a hanging above a mountain range
People said you could go there to hide out, to make a deal, to fall in love, or to break one off. It wasnāt on any map. You just had to know someone who knew the password. And then one day, like a ghost, it was gone. The space became a regular cocktail bar called The Jasper. Nice place. But itās not the same.ā Thatās the fiction. The truth is tamer: a clever bar with a moon logo, a classic film, and a neighborhood full of romantic ruin. But the fiction is why people still ask about the āPaper Moonā today. Go to The Jasper (3117 W. Leigh St., Richmond, VA 23230). Order an Old Fashioned. Sit in the back booth. Watch the black-and-white movie playing silently on the little TV above the bar. And when someone asks where you are, smile and say, āPaper Moon.ā The film is shot in shimmering black-and-white
They called it Paper Moon, after the old movie. Inside, it was all shadows and bourbon. The bartenderāa guy they called āMosesāāwouldnāt give you a menu. Heād just ask, āWhatās your trouble?ā and then make you a drink to fix it.
Developers and artists loved the noir quality: the wide streets, the old neon signs, the sense of a place that had been used hard and left behind. It felt like a movie set for a Depression-era road trip. And whatās the most famous Depression-era road trip movie? . 2. The Jasper: The Real Bar In 2017, The Jasper opened at 3117 W. Leigh Street. It was an instant classic. The owners (also behind The Roosevelt and Laura Leeās) designed it as a "twilight bar" ā dark, intimate, with amber lighting, tufted leather booths, and a long marble bar. The cocktail menu is full of pre-Prohibition classics.