Alex De Vore
Al LaFleur is a complete weirdo—thank goodness.
You know those fantasies you have about winning the lottery and the things you’d do with the nigh-inconceivable payout? You’ve got to hand it to author George RR Martin—whose Game of Thrones success feels akin to winning the lottery, though certainly he put in more effort than simply buying a ticket—because he’s used his good fortune to better the community in which he lives—y’know, Santa Fe.
First, he transformed the once destitute Jean Cocteau Cinema into a community-minded arts and film space and revival house. Then came Beastly Books, that most nerdly coffee shop and bookstore next door to the cinema that leans into fantasy and sci-fi. Then came Splice & Splatter, the horror movie podcast featuring Siena Sofia Bergt (full disclosure, a former SFR staffer) and Al LaFleur, the latter of whom also serves as the creative director for Martin’s Highgarden Entertainment—the company that operates his holdings at his Montezuma Avenue empire. This story is in fact about LaFleur, and how the weirdos should inherit the Earth.
With Splice and Splatter doing huge numbers on podcast and social media platforms, plus the Milk of the Poppy bar slated to open up right behind the Jean Cocteau a little later this year (then more earnestly in 2025), I somehow convinced LaFleur to take some time out of their insane schedule to chat. And believe me, they might be more excited than you are about what the future holds.
“I didn’t want to be a transplant who came in and tried to change the creative landscape,” LaFleur says of their move to Santa Fe in 2022. “I wasn’t even looking for a job, but I happened to see an ad for Highgarden Entertainment, and since I have weird specialties I got the call-back. In December, I visited—in July, I moved here.”
LaFleur grew up in Detroit but was previously in Los Angeles following college at Chicago’s Columbia College. They’d moved to LA to pursue film, but wound up working in social media and podcasts, most notably for the popular My Favorite Murder. Like many creative types, however, a chance trip to Santa Fe heralded that all too familiar story: “I was at Cowgirl on the last day of the vacation, three margaritas deep, and I started crying about how I wanted to move here,” they say with a laugh. “I feel like a lot of people feel the pull [of Santa Fe], and it was almost like I had no hand in it, like I was meant to be here with this weird skillset.”
LaFleur is much of the reason the Cocteau has embraced a more revivalist nature with its cinematic offerings. On the one hand, the theater screens cool old horror like The Blob or Nightmare on Elm Street; then we get showings of ’90s cult flicks like Rollerblading masterpiece Airborne, complete with an in-person appearance from star Shane McDermott. The Cocteau also hosts comedians like Matt Besser, appearances from megastars like Josh Gad, innumerable drag events and, not shockingly, a little bit of the old Rocky Horror action. For some, it might seem like a glorious new identity for the space. For others, LaFleur included, it’s the natural progression.
“That sort of vibe already existed,” they are quick to note, “and I was brought on to fully wrap up the branding of the entities—but I would say the Cocteau has always been that spot for the weird, the edgy, the goths, the metalheads…this place where those sub-groups can exist and feel comfortable.”
To wit, LaFleur explains, the forthcoming Milk of the Poppy bar will lean hard into a medieval apothecary aesthetic, which ought to firmly impress the D&D set. LaFleur even let me tour the bar, and while I can’t spill any secrets yet, it will feel like a godsend to a certain type of dork (like me). Thanks to Beverage Director Adam Garcia, LaFleur adds, the themed cocktails for which the Cocteau’s current little bar are known will remain intact at Milk of the Poppy. Ever wanted a drink inspired by Troll 2 or some other cult film? This is the place. Don’t know what that means? Don’t worry about it. Of course, even the jocks and tranqs and zipheads and lobos will be welcome within these spaces. Highgarden Entertainment is all about inclusion, in fact, with many staffers being openly queer—LaFleur included. Jeeze, do we ever need more of that in Santa Fe.
“We can’t force anyone to come here, and we don’t want to,” LaFleur says. “One thing I’m learning more is that a lot of people just don’t know about us still, which is wild to see because we’ve been here for decades. Our goal isn’t to be different, we really just are.”
All the same, LaFleur and Bergt’s Splice & Splatter podcast has certainly drawn a new type of crowd. In the show, the pair painstakingly breaks down the ins and outs of horror films, both well-known and not, and a cursory glance at their TikTok page shows hundreds of thousands of views for the snippets they post. It can be hard to pin down authentic numbers, LaFleur cautions of trying to quantify up-to-the-minute data for the audio downloads, but the show just hit its first anniversary and has proven more popular than they or Highgarden ever imagined.
“I know we’re not a horror cinema, but it’s really cool to be trusted as a creative in this job,” they explain. “We really just wanted to offer a cool connection point for people who can’t come into the cinema.”
Mum’s the word for some future plans, but LaFleur does say they feel like the entirety of the Highgarden Entertainment operation is on the cusp of something meaningful.
“This job allows me to do everything I want,” they say. “I get to do a podcast, I get to do graphic design, I get to do videos and I get to be part of this niche thing. I’m extremely mindful of how privileged I am to have a job that allows that, so I didn’t come in here with an attitude—[Martin] is our ultimate leader, and he’s a big nerd who likes fantasy and allowing artists to showcase their specialties.”
Dang, maybe we’re the ones who won the lottery.
