The Times goes to the Mars Bar with one of those guys who's in "Gossip Girl"

The Times does its "A Night Out With" feature this week with Penn Badgley, one of the "Gossip Girl" cast members. Other Music starts the night. Then!

He stopped first at the John Varvatos store on the Bowery that replaced CBGB. After poring over dress shirts and vintage stereo equipment that cost about the same, Mr. Badgley declared, "At least they didn’t turn it into a bank."

A few blocks east, he arrived at Mars Bar, the grimy dive where tourists go in search of authentic punks and authentic punks go to start drinking at midday. He seemed unsure of his choice of bars ("I think it's closed," he said), but then he threw open its front door and entered.

A Sid Vicious cover of "Something Else" was blaring on the jukebox, and the narrow bar was crowded with colorful patrons. "I think we're wearing the same sneakers," Mr. Badgley said, pointing to a barfly in a patchwork of tattered winter gear and brown Nikes. (The woman with him was similarly attired, wearing a hula hoop as an accessory.)

As Mr. Badgley reached across to grab a watery Bud Light, he accidentally nudged someone with a tattoo of a revolver on his neck and quickly apologized. "That's all right, brother," the man said. "You’re beautiful-looking."

His girlfriend, tall and thin with her hair in long bangs, clearly recognized Mr. Badgley but acted as if she didn’t care. "I think it's completely ridiculous," she said of "Gossip Girl." "I don’t really watch it 'cause it's not my scene."

And the piece ends on this note:

As Mr. Badgley left the bar, Black Sabbath’s "Fairies Wear Boots" was playing. "I've found that people are cool if you don't treat them like jerks," he said.

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