A towering, scorched Stay Puft Marshmallow Man now looms over the bar at Dr. Funk, the downtown San Jose tiki spot that has swapped its usual island escapism for a full Ghostbusters haunt. The transformation, running through October 31, brings Slimer floating overhead, a Mini-Puft tucked beneath a ghost trap, and a colander-wearing Keymaster into a space better known for rum and thatched booths.
Dr. Funk sits at 29 N. San Pedro Street in the pedestrian-only stretch of downtown's San Pedro Square entertainment district, according to The Bold Italic. The bar opened in December 2021 under David Mulvehill's Nouveau Hospitality Group, which also runs the neighboring cocktail bar Five Points, giving the two downtown venues a shared operational pedigree. As Ghostbusters News reports, Dr. Funk has introduced a Ghostbusters-themed menu for Halloween.
A Menu Built Around the Franchise
The bar's usual rum-focused cocktails, fresh juices, and house-made syrups remain available alongside a five-drink, one-dessert lineup built around the film series, per the same report. Slimer's Jell-O Shot blends Probitas white rum with condensed milk and citrus, while the Torso Apparition mixes reposado tequila, mezcal, dalandan Filipino sour orange, banana oleo, pimento dram, coconut cream, and pineapple.
The Stay Puft cocktail leans on Hamilton Jamaican gold rum and Dr. Funk's own single-barrel Myers's rum with lime and a house-made roasted marshmallow syrup, according to the tip and photos that writer Nick Rounds provided to Ghostbusters News. Ecto Cooler pairs Suncliffe gin with pandan, house-made orgeat, and lime, and I Ain't Afraid of No Rum stacks Barbancourt 4 Year, Smith & Cross, and Lemon Hart 1804 rums with pineapple, orange, and lime, finished with a sour apple slime float spiked with Wray & Nephew. For dessert, Gozer's Aftermath pairs ectoplasm cake and marshmallow buttercream with strawberry ice cream.
A Space Built by a Tiki Design Veteran
The bar's bones make the seasonal reinvention possible. San Jose-based designer Ignacio “Notch” Gonzalez built out Dr. Funk's interior with thatched booths and blowfish lighting, drawing on experience designing other notable tiki bars including Smuggler's Cove in San Francisco, according to mytiki.life. Gonzalez also hand-carved a six-foot tiki in the style of carver Milan Guanko specifically for the space, the outlet notes. The venue occupies the former home of Peggy Sue's, a 1950s-style diner, and takes its name and medical theme from Dr. Bernhard Funk, a German physician and mixologist living in Samoa who formulated a rum-and-absinthe elixir in the late 1800s meant to combat tropical heat exhaustion, a history Hoodline covered in its original look at the bar's opening.
That original beverage program came from mixologist Ken Wongdejanan, who also led cocktail development at sister bar Five Points and built Dr. Funk's launch menu around 11 tiki classics, nine original creations, and a rum collection spanning roughly 60 varieties.
Trivia Night and the Downtown Halloween Scene
Dr. Funk is folding the Ghostbusters theme into its regular programming too. The bar hosted a Ghostbusters-themed trivia night on October 19 from 7:30 to 9 p.m., offering $8 house Mai Tais alongside its standard happy hour specials. Monday trivia nights at the bar, run by local production team RiskyQuizness, regularly include costume contests and rotating weekly themes.
The takeover places Dr. Funk alongside a handful of other downtown San Jose venues leaning into Halloween spectacle this year. Nearby arcade bar MINIBOSS runs its own annual “A Nightmare on 2nd Street” pop-up with 1980s horror movie decor and themed cocktails in novelty glassware, according to Visit San Jose.
The bar directs visitors to its official website for reservations and further details on the current Ghostbusters menu, which remains available through October 31.
