On Location: The Bar of the Mad Men

Benji Newman

Last night, AMC’s Mad Men came to a close.  I am not ready to write about the finale, and I may never get to that point.  (Note: I honestly can’t tell if it was art and I didn’t get it or if Matthew Weiner simply jumped the shark, but I am hoping that I will soon be able to come to a conclusion on whether or not the show actually stuck the landing.)  That being said, it is the end of a great era in television, to paraphrase the network’s proudly proclaimed slogan for its final set of episodes.   

Mad Men’s gift was its ability to bring us into the past and fill us with both nostalgia for what was and gratitude that we did not actually have to live through it.  A large part of this was due to the show writers’ and set designers’ perfect recreation of New York City.  No show on television other than Seinfeld has been able to so thoroughly depict the city despite the fact that it was shot on a sound stage on the other side of the country.  The show brought us to restaurants and clubs, among many other places, and it always felt authentic.  It was not as outright about fan servicing as Entourage was in its depiction of L.A., but rather for a sense of purpose.  Mad Men name-dropped in ways that gave a sense of location and depth.  Weiner never overused the ability to place us in the Playboy Club or one of the many famous steakhouses, and perhaps that is what made his depiction of New York so real.  It was not about going somewhere to progress the show, but about taking us to places where the people who lived like the characters in the show would have gone.

One of the often-frequented bars of the employees of Sterling Cooper was P.J. Clarke’s.  A staple of New York, it was established in 1884, but would only gain its famous moniker in 1912 when a young Irish immigrant bartender, Mr. Patrick Joseph Clarke, finally saved up enough money to buy the bar.  While the original location still thrives on 55th and Third Avenue, the bar has expanded to seven locations, which are located throughout New York City as well as Chicago, Washington, D.C., and São Paulo, Brazil.  While the newer locations all offer the same food as the original, there is simply nothing like going to the red brick building.

Besides the atmosphere, P.J. Clarke’s is best known for its cheeseburgers.  You may be tempted to go to Shake Shack or 5 Napkin Burger, but you would be forgoing what Nat King Cole branded as the “Cadillac of Burgers.”  Sitting down at one of the famously white- and red-checkered tables with a Brooklyn Lager and a cheeseburger with your friends is a true New York experience.  From the Irish laborers who built this city to Frank Sinatra, everyone who calls him- or herself a New Yorker knows and loves this institution.

Born and raised in the melting pot that is New York City, Benji Newman has always enjoyed being immersed in different cultures. He has studied, worked, and traveled all over Europe and hopes to visit South America in the near future. Graduating from the University of Michigan this spring, he will continue his studies in the fall by attending a Master's of International Economics and Affairs program.

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