Where are the unexpected hangouts in your neck of the woods? In our latest, boutaynaaa discovers the spot known as M Bar, a watering hole in a downtown grocery store that is a refuge for its regulars. | ✍️ boutaynaaa
On a soggy, spring afternoon, Lakeshore East Park was quiet, except for the consistent caws from the crows who inhabit the quarter too. Inside Mariano’s, the energy felt similar. Wet footprints stained the streaky brown floors. The employees appeared to outnumber the few shoppers. Muffled chatter echoed from one side of the store, by the wine and liquor department.
It’s often said that bartenders are like free therapists. But Kris leans on his customers for his own emotional well-being. He’ll go off on what he calls his “batshit rants,” about American cinema, sports, and his compulsive gambling, among other things. He’s a great listener, though, if you can manage to get a word in.
A few moments later, a damp Kris returned with zero bets. “It’s raining too hard,” he said. “I don’t know if this thing is waterproof.” He smacked his Motorola. “I dropped it in the toilet recently and it still works, so I guess it is.” Bruce teased Kris, saying he must have been drunk. “I’m the most sober person in this room,” Kris replied in self-defense. “I only drink in New Orleans.”
In 2020, when the bar closed for six months, Kris was out of work and spent that time at home, working on his screenplays: a mobster comedy and a vampire parody. He’s hoping to sell one of them to the same producer who bought his last screenplay. During the lockdown, Kris could’ve worked at Mariano’s as a cashier, but he insisted that he’s “strictly a bartender.”
On a Thursday evening, Anne walked into the bar holding a stalk of celery she had just bought. “I almost got hit by a motorized scooter,” she announced to anyone who was listening, in the midst of several, separate tipsy conversations. No one responded, but Anne didn’t seem to mind. After two glasses of wine and a tequila splash, it was just past eight o’clock. “I’m usually asleep by nine o’clock,” Anne said to the crowd. Then, she whispered to me, “Do you really see me here“Well, that’s depressing,” Anne said.On a random Tuesday afternoon, Sarah, a 28-year-old enterprise consultant, walked into the bar and sat at the corner next to Anne and a couple, who were chatting with Kris.
“I felt starved during the pandemic,” Sarah said, referring to the lack of human interaction. She said she finds the bar refreshing. “It’s a weird, little microcosm,” she said. “I’ve had some fun, random conversations . . . I’ve met a lot of strange people here.” I asked her to elaborate.
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