Friday, Nov. 28, 2008 | 11:41 a.m.
PT’s Gold on Eastern Avenue rolled out the welcome mat – a welcome area rug, actually – on Wednesday night for its “Big Lebowski” party.
Most agreed it really tied the room together.
The midweek party lured dozens of fans of the Coen brothers’ film, which was released 10 years ago and has since become a cult classic.
Lebowski fanatics came dressed as “the dude,” donned housecoats and drank white Russians while the popular movie was played on the bar’s TV sets.
Patrons also had the option of going bowling, as John Goodman’s character in the film, Walter, infamously suggests, thanks to a Nintendo Wii gaming system that was brought in for the occasion.
The pub’s director of marketing, Ross Gdovin, said the inaugural event was a success.
“It was a great turnout,” he said, despite it being both a rainy night and the night before Thanksgiving. “We’ve been really pleased.”
The area rug at the front entrance set the tone for the night. And, unlike the notorious rug used in the movie, no one stole PT’s special Lebowski rug – and no one peed on it, either. (It was, after all, just a fun Wednesday night at PT’s and, as they say in the film, that sort of aggression would not stand.)
To prepare for the night the staff members put their heads – and their Lebowski expertise – together and created three rounds of Lebowski-themed trivia. Questions included what kind of car the dude drove (a four-door 1973 Ford Torino) and which real-life person inspired the character of “the dude” (Vietnam war opponent and Seattle Seven member Jeff Dowd).
Prizes, including $100 gift cards, DVD copies of the movie and terrycloth bathrobes, were awarded to trivia winners, as well as those with the best costumes.
About 50 people braved the cold and rain and came out, dressed up, for the theme night. Meanwhile, the bar supplied viking hats for those who didn’t come prepared but wanted to get into the Lebowski spirit.
Since white Russians were “the dude’s” signature cocktail, they were put on special, for $2 apiece. The promotion proved to be popular: bartenders served up more than 200 of the cocktails to the crowd, which is usually made up of mostly beer drinkers.
Gdovin said he expects “Big Lebowski” parties will become annual events at PT’s. A Lebowski fan himself, the bathrobe-clad Gdovin said, “It’s a cult film, obviously, that relates to everyone.”
“There’s a little bit of ‘the dude’ in all of us,” he said.
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