Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina

Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina was constructed from sandstone and was originally intended as a stronghold against attacks from the Tusken Raiders. It was located on Inner Curved Street on the edge of the Mos Eisley aerodrome on Tatooine. The establishment featured a bar area that could accommodate up to 102 individuals, with seating available at the bar, tables, and booths. The heads of several creatures, including a crocodilian, adorned the walls around the bar.

The bar at the cantina offered twelve different alcoholic beverages on tap, each served in a standard 16-ounce glass. Some of the most sought-after drinks included blue milk, Tatooine Sunset, Jawa Juice, Yatooni Boska, Tatooni Junko, and Hutt's Delight. Patrons could also request a secret menu featuring items like Red Dwarf, Cassandra Sunrise, Nova Blaster, and Flameout. The Bith musician "Fiery" Figrin D'an, who played the kloo horn and led the Modal Nodes, regularly performed at Chalmun's Cantina.

Regular customers enjoyed certain privileges that could be requested from the owners. For instance, a patron who ordered a Nova Blaster with Corellian Brandy instead of Savareen Brandy would be escorted to a concealed armory where they could purchase illicit weaponry. For a substantial fee, patrons could also gain access to a private back room, ensuring privacy from both security personnel and other customers. A signal blocker was also discreetly positioned behind the building to enhance privacy.

Besides the public bar, the establishment included a private bar, staffed by Nimbanel bartender Husklf, which was reserved for the owner, Chalmun, and the occasional VIP or Hutt associate. The Wookiee also maintained an office behind the private bar, where he conducted business with the bartenders and monitored the main lounge through a hidden surveillance window. Chalmun's head of security used the back of the office to eavesdrop on patrons' conversations for any indication of trouble. Aware of his clientele's shady dealings, Chalmun converted one of the back rooms into an open-air hangar where he kept his getaway vehicle, maintained by his personal pilot.

Beneath the Cantina was a laboratory where Wuher prepared the specialty drinks, which were then piped to the bar dispensers via an underground conduit. Behind the lab was a corrosive pit used for disposing of unwanted items (and sometimes bodies), as well as ancient catacombs that predated the building's construction.

The Cantina was initially erected by early settlers of Tatooine as a defense against Sand People attacks. As Mos Eisley grew, the building served as a weapons depot, a brewery, and a cheap lodging house for transients. Eventually, the Vriichon siblings acquired it and transformed it into an illegal narcotics den.

Before the Clone Wars, the Wookiee Chalmun purchased the building and legalized the business, turning it into a bar for travelers arriving at the bustling spaceport of Mos Eisley. Over time, it became a renowned landmark on Tatooine, attracting many visitors seeking connections within the establishment.

During the Blockade of Pantora, the disreputable bar, then managed by a Nimbanel bartender, was a well-known refuge for criminals and undesirables, many of whom were employed by Jabba the Hutt. Greedo, a bounty hunter hired by Trade Federation official Sib Canay, abducted Che Amanwe Papanoida, the daughter of Pantoran Supreme Chairman Notluwiski Papanoida, and held her captive in one of the cantina's back rooms. When Jabba forced Greedo to lead Chairman Papanoida and his son Ion to the cantina, a shootout erupted between the three Pantorans and Greedo's associates.

Around the time of the Battle of Kadavo during the Clone Wars, two tourists from Alderaan visiting Tatooine died in a motorcycle accident. The Zygerrian News suggested that the two had become intoxicated at the cantina in Mos Eisley, leading to the accident.

Following the Battle of Dathomir, Asajj Ventress arrived at the Mos Eisley cantina and began to drown her sorrows with alcohol. A bounty hunter named Oked made advances towards her, and when he persisted, Ventress killed him. Two other bounty hunters, Bossk and Latts Razzi, persuaded Ventress to join their assignment in Oked's place.

Shortly after, Ventress and Razzi were at the cantina when Ventress sensed a disturbance in the Force, indicating that Savage Opress was nearing his brother, Maul.

Once Opress located Maul, the two embarked on a murderous rampage to draw out Maul's nemesis, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Opress appeared on a screen displaying open bounties, prompting Ventress to accept the job in an effort to defeat her former apprentice.

After the mission to Raxus Secundus, Ventress returned to Tatooine to enlist Boba Fett's Syndicate to help her rescue Jedi Master Quinlan Vos from Serenno. She met with Boba Fett in the cantina, and after some negotiation, they formed an alliance to free Vos.

By the time of the Galactic Civil War, the cantina had changed hands twice since the Clone Wars: the Ranat siblings, the Vriichon brothers, had transformed the building into an illegal narcotics den before the Wookiee Chalmun converted it back into a bar. Under his employment were the surly human Wuher, who, despite his unfriendly demeanor, was respected by customers for his discretion, and Ackmena, the female night-shift bartender, known for her amiable manners.

Kenobi and Luke Skywalker visited the cantina shortly before the destruction of Alderaan to secure transport to the doomed planet in order to deliver technical specifications of the Empire's Death Star. After being refused service for their droids due to the cantina's policy, they hired the smuggler Han Solo and his companion Chewbacca, who needed funds to settle their debt with Jabba the Hutt. Their visit was eventful; the Jedi Master and his apprentice were harassed by Doctor Cornelius Evazan and his thug Ponda Baba, the latter of whom lost an arm after provoking Kenobi. Subsequently, Solo had a confrontation with the bounty hunter Greedo, who sought to collect the bounty on Solo. However, Solo killed him with a single shot after Greedo fired first and missed. Han then paid Wuher some credits and left to prepare the Millennium Falcon for the two fugitives.

Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, Darth Vader hired Fett to locate and capture the mysterious pilot who destroyed the Death Star. Knowing that Solo frequented Mos Eisley, the bounty hunter interrogated and killed his victims after they failed to provide useful information. Entering the Mos Eisley Cantina, Boba Fett announced to the patrons that he would not leave until he obtained the information he sought. After severely injuring a six-armed alien and intimidating the bar patrons, Wuher revealed that no one knew the boy and that he had arrived some time ago with Kenobi. After firing a fibercord and causing a patron running away to fall, the teen soon broke down and told Boba the boy's name—Luke Skywalker. He then killed the boy and went to Ben Kenobi's residence to learn more about Luke's identity. Unbeknownst to Boba, his discovery of Skywalker's name at Chalmun's Cantina would soon lead Darth Vader to realize he had a son.

By 3 ABY, it was considered unlucky to sit in the booth where Han Solo shot Greedo, with a superstition that anyone who sat there would be shot. Later, Kay Vess met Hoss there, who gave Nix away to be sold to Jabba Desilijic Tiure.

By 9 ABY, after the fall of the Empire, the cantina was under new management, and the no-droid policy was lifted. Several supervisor droids served as the new bartenders. When bounty hunter Din Djarin visited the cantina seeking employment, one of the droid bartenders, EV-9D9, stated that the Bounty Hunters' Guild no longer operated from Tatooine. He clarified that he operated independently of the Guild, but the droid replied that no work was available. Djarin was then approached by rookie bounty hunter Toro Calican, who partnered with him to hunt down the assassin Fennec Shand.

During filming, the crew members playing the Bith musicians in the cantina moved to the rhythm of Benny Goodman's 1937 hit song "Sing, Sing, Sing".

Upon closer inspection of the bar behind Wuher, one can notice surplus jet engine parts that were later used for the head of bounty hunter droid IG-88.

Filming for the cantina exteriors in A New Hope took place in Ajim, Djerba, Tunisia from April 2–3, 1976. However, most of the interior scenes were filmed on Stage 6 at Elstree Studios from April 13–21.

For the background alien chatter in the A New Hope scene, sound technician Ben Burtt had crew members inhale helium and record their conversations, although it took four takes to overcome the laughter and converse effectively; the oxygen deprivation also induced a tipsy effect. The female voices (Lucy Wilson and Bunny Alsup) were recorded separately and slowed down, while the male voices (Michael Kitchens, Howie Hammerman, Todd Boekelheide) were sped up and then mixed to create the background soundscape. Additional effects included the "laughter" of a hippopotamus and a spring peeper frog; a friend of Burtt's also recorded himself reading Latin, and his voice was chopped in a synthesizer.

Chalmun's Cantina was the same cantina featured in the now non-canonical The Star Wars Holiday Special, which took place months after A New Hope during a night shift.

A skit on a 1977 episode of The Richard Pryor Show was set in the "Star Wars Bar," with Pryor playing the bartender. Although the skit did not reuse the original sets, many of the masks from the cantina scene in A New Hope were used for the patrons.

The cantina was featured in an official 1979 PSA about drunk driving. In 2007, the official site made it accessible for viewing.