Saturday, October 17, 2009

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.

Image via.

17 comments:

Jeremiah Moss said...

jesus. not sure what to do with this. i'm speechless. is this really the world we live in?

EV Grieve said...

Well, I'm more curious about this story than I should be. I'm curious whose idea it was to go to the Mars Bar. Who brought it up?The writer, Dave Itzkoff? The actor's publicist?

I didn't include this passage:

"With an evening to kill, Mr. Badgley wandered downtown in search of trouble — the kind that might let him indulge the darker side that he exhibits in a remake of the thriller “The Stepfather,” which opened on Friday — but would not result in any damage to his preternaturally pretty mug."

pinhead said...

Awesome! I can still see real live punks at Mars Bar? I'm going to go point and stare today!

ak said...

i had assumed that it was at least semi-related to the drew barrymore photoshoot for nylon magazine that happened last month.

(1 picture in this months nylon.... still trying to decide if i believe that the background was photoshopped out of the others)

Laura Goggin Photography said...

Ugh, jam a knife through my heart...

I was there for the Barrymore shoot and the weird thing is they used white backdrops for the photos. If they wanted to block out all the graffiti, why go in there in the first place? (they also made sure to block out all the regulars)

Jeremiah Moss said...

the Gossip Boy story also ends with this quote from him, "I’ve found that people are cool if you don’t treat them like jerks."

so i guess we can assume he usually treats people like jerks and he's having a revelation about that?

Jeremiah Moss said...

here's the barrymore outtakes:

http://www.miss-barrymore.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=381

was Mars Bar always a favorite of Hollywood tourists or is it because it's now surrounded by glass condos?

Media glut said...

The Stepfather will always be Terry O'Quinn for me. (I know this kid doesn't play the father in the new one.)
BTW re: changes: Someone brought some terrific footage of skidrow Bowery to Home Movie Day at Anthology Film Archives today. Some of it was shot in front of the Arcade Restaurant which someone else there said was the future home of CBGB.

Eden Bee said...

This just in! Beer pong now feared to spread the Swine Flu!
Is Superdive doomed?

EV Grieve said...

Are you sure about your facts, Eden? CNN is reporting that swine flu causes beer pong to spread.

Bowery Boogie said...

The article will bring some new people to Mars Bar, but those same people will probably be scared away anyway.

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Jill said...

You know, thanks to you I can't read or visit Mars Bar without thinking of men who look like a dish of sherbet.

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ak said...

it's been this way at mars bar (with the celebtourists) since, at least, 2001 or so. every couple years some celebrity mentions it in an interview. and truth to it all, there are some that show up frequently enough that i don't find it particularly odd when they walk through the door. everyone needs a drinking spot.

Anonymous said...

I hate to say it. I really, really do. But he is kinda hot.

Anonymous said...

I've seen him & Blake around the LES hanging out enough to know he knows where he is. The article makes him sound like a tourist.