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Today's L.A. Times has an article about a new bar in Silver Lake that's - guess what? No, go ahead and guess, you're going to be so surprised - ironic!! Isn't that awesome?? I love it!
The bar is called Stinkers, and according to the Times it's got a picture of Burt Reynolds in the ladies room, a "cornucopia of vintage bumper stickers," and "brazenly kitschy delights" like fake stuffed skunks and - wait for it - pull-tab beer cans. Oh, what a throwback!
OK, but seriously - am I the only one who is completely, 110% over this? The Times describes the bar as "post-post-irony," which, if you do the math, means that irony went away and came back. Did I miss some blissful period of time in which irony took a much-needed vacation? WTF? Why didn't anyone tell me? Well, I suspect that it's actually because that never happened. Rather, this bar is yet another commodity in a very, very long line of ironic commercialization that began with $70 t-shirts and that now bleeds unsuspecting hipsters dry of their hard-earned paychecks.
The true irony here lies in the fact that the people who will go to Stinkers and comment on how "amazing" and "awesome" it is in deadpan mock-seriousness are being completely had. From my understanding, the whole "irony" thing started with the Dave Eggers of the world, people who are so painfully, profoundly self-aware (some may say narcissistic, but that's neither here nor there) that they can't even express emotion without being self-depricating. But can one be painfully self-aware and yet still feel the overwhelming urge to drink in a bar solely because it's overdone decor affirms one's self-perception? That doesn't seem right...
Bobby Green, the owner of the bar, manages to carry the irony even further, when later in the article he fails to realize that he didn't think of Burt Reynolds as a symbol of ironic hipsterdom first. "I despise the myriad Buddha-head, martini-drinking, glossed-over bars in L.A.," he says. Really? Because this Stinkers place seems so familiar also... oh that's right, 1970's ironic throwbacks smack me in the face every time I walk down the street in Silver Lake. Yes, my wealthy, pandering, entrepreneurial friend, conformity is conformity whether your skinny jeans are J Brand or vintage.
Anyway, this irony thing is now just tripping over itself. We're becoming a generation (and yes, full disclosure: this is my generation) that's so judgmental and defensive that all we can safely do is mock, and we can't even do that originally. We can only mock a symbol that we've all silently agreed upon beforehand (tough break, Burt). What happened? When did we get so unoriginal, and so fucking annoying?
Are we pissed because the generation before us will go down in history as being way more original than us? Are we tossing off the burden of being children of 60's and 70's activists - people who stood up to stuff, whereas we've sat by and let our country go to shit - by mocking everything that reminds us of them? Or are we just being brats? Hmm....fascinating.
I'd like to think that our recent political activity, from Prop 8 rallies to Obama's entire campaign, symbolizes the end of the ironic era. Maybe as we realize that action - real, passionate, vulnerable action - is actually kind of cool, irony will finally, finally go out of style.
Someone should probably let the bar owners know.
Photo by hragvartanian via Flickr
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Did you just move here?
damn who stole your cookie at lunch time.
so bitter
I went. I drank classic "local" bear like Iron City. The bartenders are actually in really good moods and nice. A change from the "oh god I have to help you even though I work here" mentality of the east side. The place IS painful, in the post-post irony way you describe but they did play Charlie Daniels (the music is like the playlist from a trucker stop, a saving grace) but WAY too loud. I wanted to see it, but I would never wait in the line that I've seen form outside over the past two weeks.
I like bars like this because they pull in people I don't want to see when I go out. Then I can go somewhere else and not have to worry about seeing these post-irony hipsters.
Everyone hates a tourist.
Truck-stop theme bar? This could mean the return of trucker hats, people.
I FUCKING COMEPLETELY AGREE WITH THIS POST!!!!!!!! No, Seriosuly. I read the yelp revirews of this joint and people are calling it an east side Saddle Back Ranch House....BARF! ANd I hear they are selling PBR's for $4!!!
You are SO SO SOOOO right on about irony being so over done in L.A. I mean CAN WE STOP HAVING FUCKING 80'S NIGHT EVERY FUCKING WEEKEND IN EVERY SINGLE DANCE BAR/CLUB ALREADY FOR FUCK SAKE?!!??!?!?!
With all the amazing NEW music out there from ALL over the world Im stuck listening to fucking Blondie and Grand Master Flash every thursday night. Jesus.
Hey QUIETTRISTAN....THis writer isnt being "bitter" she's dead on and being honest and has good taste. APparently unlike everyone else commenting who doesnt get it.
This place is cheesy. Or do I mean cheez-its? Oh I don't know what I mean anymore.
Palin 2112!!!
This post is so... ironic.
And this post is post-post-ironic.
everything is beginning to collapse on itself at such a rapid pace that i have a hard time distinguishing my pre from post and authentic from cheap copy to ironic cheap copy. i guess post-post is what comes next but i could really care less.
i hope those pull-tab beers costs $6/ea.
Wait, hipsters have hard-earned money?
This place almost seems like it might be fun - not cool, not the most amazing bar on earth, but a good time had by all - if it wasn't SO popular and over blown and the next big thing. Give me Big-Wangs-before-it-was-on-the-Hills anytime over this crap. The only other way I might try it would be if it were really cheap or within walking distance of my house. I doubt it is either.
I like my hangouts either really cheap ($4 beer, no more) or really classy. Scratch that, I like my hangouts cheap, and occasionally will go out someplace classy. The ironic hipster bar with people wearing skinny jeans and drinking natty light isn't what I'm into. Tiki Ti - now there's a bar. $10 drinks, yes, but they ain't watered down and there's nary a hipster in sight!
^No hipsters at Tiki Ti? Have you ever been there?
Yeah, I don't get it anymore. Is a place like this supposed to be awesome, or "awesome"?
And what exactly is the difference?
this is so NOT like rain on your wedding day.
I hate Dave Eggers. I hate people and places that try to hard to be ironic. Or to be anything, really.
And rain on your wedding day is not ironic! Neither is meeting the man of your dreams, then meeting his beautiful wife. Those are just bad luck. The only thing ironic was Mr. Play It Safe who was afraid to fly, waited his whole damn life to take that flight, and then it crashed. That is ironic!
Or, is the irony that the majority of those things were not ironic? Like Stinkers?
Oh, Alanis.
Oh, Stinkers.
urgh, I meant "try too hard." That was embarrassing.
The calling out of Dave Eggers is pretty dated. He published that memoir when he was 26 or so, when are ALL self-involved narcissists. It's part of your mid-20s.
He now supports some of the best youth nonprofit programs out there (826) and he published the quite-sincere What is the What? about war-ravaged Sudan.
If all self-indulged douchebag hipsters grew up to be Dave Eggers in 10 years, the world will be an amazing place.
Every time I've been to Tiki Ti it's been people in their 40s and up. *Shrug* If those are ironic hipsters, color me wrong.
Of course, I go on Wednesdays for the 1/2 priced drinks. Never been late on a Saturday night.
What the hell ISN'T an ironic hipster hang out in Hollywood or Silverlake?
@anthony t
i dunno, but it begs the question as to how all the swap meet thrift store "hipsters" can all afford Mac Book Pros.
can someone explain irony to me. thanks.
I ALSO totally fucking agree with this post.
I am sick to death of pseudo intellectual skinny jeans wearing piss-beer drinking, cupcake-eating, eye-rolling, facially-hairy shitheads who troll Sunset Junction and WeHo and generally look every bit as uninteresting as they're trying so hard not to be. Seriously. We all need to grow the fuck up and get over ourselves, and realize we're just folks, and being concerned with "cool" and "irony" is boring and predictable.
Pandering conformity bullshit = Stinkers
Toeing the line, OK in moderation = Bigfoot Lodge and Jumbos
Was forced into irony = Dresden and Taix
Tolerable/enjoyable = Little Cave
The real deal = not telling, you assholes, or it'll get ruined.
I agree with so many commenters on this post.
Weird.
paul, mrkilltime, - did YOU just move here? cause i sure didn't, and that's why i can say with conviction that i'm sick of ironic hipsterdom. i mean, to be fair, it was always kind of annoying...but really? a bar dedicated to it? that just seems excessive.
quiet tristan, thanks for your concern - but no need to worry, my cookie is just lost somewhere in your ironic leg warmers. i'm sure i'll get it back soon.
caliking & bbp, thanks for the love...
and greatgatsby, i know dave eggers is old news - that's why i said he and those like him were kinda sorta the BEGINNING of irony (not the end...unfortunately).
irony was invented by Eggers? woah, who knew! i always thought it was Alanis Morrisette....
Modern Hipster/Irony is just a bi-product of people being WAY too into past fads (ska, techno, goth, metal, etc) and creating a new fad that is impossible to argue with:
"you look like an idiot"
"it's just a joke, i'm not serious. its called irony"
"oh"
"duh, now let's go listen to some Jimmy Eat World... IRONICALLY"
No matter what it portends to be, Stinkers is not ironic. It's just a somewhat silly theme bar, plain and simple.
Shortstop (a police bar turned hipster hangout) was ironic. Little Joy is (or was) ironic.
Besides, most any true blue echo park/silverlake hipsters wont be caught dead in Stinkers more than once (if only just for the irony of being seen in such an uncool place, no doubt). It's more for the OC or Westside based weekend warriors who read about it in the LA Times or City Search.
I find it interesting that the writer of this post and most of the commenters apparently have not even been to this bar, yet all have strong opinions.
But it's way cooler to diss stinkers without even going. That's what a "real" eastside hipster who moved here from Wisconsin last year would do, right?
Laurel Canyon music scene 2010. Mark my word.
I've been there, Saddleup. I don't know what I said to make you believe I had not.
Ok, I totally agree about how annoying someone can be when they ooze ironica.
It's so 90's David Spade.
Sincerity is the new sarcastic.
But I wouldn't be so passionate about the passionless if I were you. After all, we are talking about a bar, big whoop. You can drink anywhere,but a bar is, on a normal day, a shallow thing. You become BFF's with people at the bar, come up with big ideas and the next day you get a damn headache and what plans?
You can find something irritating about most groups if you want to.
If you don't like who I happen to call "subhipsters" then don't hang out with them.
Fucking great post. Very well written and all of it true.
"paul, mrkilltime, - did YOU just move here?" Seriously.
Totally agree with this post—Stinker's is a great bar with cheap drinks and fun atmosphere, I hate it.
Is there anything more "hipster" than passionately debating if a bar that plays the Marshall Tucker Band and sells canned beer is ironic or not? Who fucking cares? However, this is probably some of the best free publicity that place can ask for.
This was the best LAist post and comments in weeks!!!!!
Sincerity IS the new sarcastic. Ive been saying that for years tho so...holy shit. did I just do that? FUCK.
Also...I hate stinkers, never been there, and am FROM L.A. I totally win.
Off topic I know but...Can anyone tell me whats going on with the old Netty's location on Silver Lake Blvd?
"Is there anything more "hipster" than passionately debating if a bar that plays the Marshall Tucker Band and sells canned beer is ironic or not? Who fucking cares? However, this is probably some of the best free publicity that place can ask for."
VERY GOOD POINT!!! (I say that with the utmost sincerity)
yeah, let's all get over irony. I'm not sure what it really means anyways. on to bigger problems. next up>> world peace!
why does everyone hate skinny jeans so much?
as for stinkers, i would still rather go there than almost anywhere in hollywood. unless you've been living in silver lake/echo park pre-gentrification, you had to know what you were getting yourself into with the whole irony thing, and it's actually a lot less annoying than anything going on west of la brea.
i find little joy to be way more ironic and pretentious than stinkers. "hey look at me, i look like cory kennedy and i go to really disgusting cash only bars that smell like piss and bleach." - some flannel-clad blonde anorexic hipster girl with a hippie headband and fake chloe purse. at least stinkers is new, clean, and has a smoking area.
"at least stinkers is new, clean, and has a smoking area." - REALLY? Gross. We dont want nor need said 'new' and 'clean' in Silver Lake and Echo Park thank you very much.
A call for the end of calling for the end of things.
A curated presentation of a specific element of popular culture doesn't necessarily have to be ironic or sincere. Neither does a bar.
"What's in there?"
"Only what you take with you."
Hey Jessica, I'm a Silver Lake resident who supported both Barack Obama and No on 8. Unfortunately I also support the painful, profound self-awareness of Dave Eggers, enough to volunteer at his tutoring center 826 LA in Echo Park one day a week (but maybe that's just the narcissist in me). From what I infer from this post anyone who really cares about the world should not patronize irony, including this bar Stinkers, which is a bummer for me because I was really looking forward to having a beer in a place that didn't take itself so seriously. So I'm wondering if you could suggest a few places to have an authentic, real, passionate, vulnerable bar experience. So far on my list I have Chili's and Applebee's.
"We dont want nor need said 'new' and 'clean' in Silver Lake and Echo Park thank you very much."
So then i take it you only eat at cockroach-infested restaurants in the area that receive a "C" rating or less from the health department? Wow, you really are cool.
saddleup - I think its painfully obvious YOU just moved here.
Update: Little Joy was shut down last night for health code violations.
"I hate stinkers, never been there"
classic
the wonderful thing is: if you don't like the atmosphere at a place, you don't have to frequent it! if you want, you can just drink at home! that way, you won't be so offended by...everything.
saddleup - I think its painfully obvious YOU just moved here.
Wrong again. Been here nearly a decade. I'm just over having to prove my worth to anonymous posters on laist who want a medal for living in Silverlake. Now i declare this thread officially dead. There is much tivo-age to watch.
Who is this Dave Eggars you all speak of? I've lived here all my life and I am sadly that out of touch with coolness.
Since we're all throwing our opinions around: I think bars should be dark and clean, have good cheap, stiff drinks and great music on a free jukebox. Maybe even other people should be allowed to come in but for now my house is off limits.....
All together now:
It's Silver Lake - two words for fuck's sake. One would think that after nearly a decade, that bit of information would make it onto one's radar - even incidentally!
But it really is Silver Monica anyway. Who cares. Haven't yet been to Stinkers, but anything is better than Johnny's. Nothing could match up to the Latino bar that was there before that though, anyone remember the name?
BTW, how is Taix ironic?
Yes someone please explain what is ironic about Taix??
Also, try the salmon - it's delicious (in a non-ironic way).
This was so fucking funny.
what's with all the swearing?
srsly, swearing is so fucking ironic. cut it out, you goddamn shit heads.
is this post's misunderstanding of "irony" (and coincident assumption that Dave Eggers's is both ironic and the beginning of irony) meant to be ironic?
I doubt it. but it's there either way. fucking meta.
Real journalism about the state of irony
If you don't like the bar or the people, don't spend your time around them!
As an avid drinker who is allergic to hipsters and the $15 cocktail, I cultivated a few places in Hollywood that are shockingly awesome.
And since I moved from LA and plan on never, EVER returning except to visit the family on holidays, I will share with you my favorite hole in the wall bars:
1. Powerhouse - Started going there when I was 19 (six years ago) with a fake id. They really weren't too pleased when I showed up on my 21st with my real ID. I still got a free birthday drink though. Yes, you may complain that it has hipsters or something like it. And perhaps, on the outside they appear to be that way. But on the inside, they're just drunks. Drunks with darts that occasionally like to get into fights in the back.
2. Frolic Room - No hipsters, just drunks, with two amazing bartenders that have been there for years.
3. Piano Bar - It's an interesting crowd. On weekends it's a mix of old queens and the standard weekend party crowd (although hardly ever crowded). It opens early, it's rarely ever crowded, and the same people are in there every night. Drinks are cheap, bartenders are awesome, and the smoking patio is excellent. One day I even caught a free sex show out there! Would have been better if the boys weren't old... and if it was dark... and if they weren't sitting 3 feet away from me. Still an experience though.
Go forth and drink heavily. Hopefully you'll be too drunk to notice the hipsters descending. :D
"The calling out of Dave Eggers is pretty dated. He published that memoir when he was 26 or so, when are ALL self-involved narcissists. It's part of your mid-20s.
He now supports some of the best youth nonprofit programs out there (826) and he published the quite-sincere What is the What? about war-ravaged Sudan.
If all self-indulged douchebag hipsters grew up to be Dave Eggers in 10 years, the world will be an amazing place." - greatgatsby2 (here, Nov 17th)
Exactly. Thank you.
I wanted to be an ironic hipster too. but the wig couldn't fit.
wow, you go out of town for a week and look what happens...
thank you all who decided that this argument wasn't worth having (tarpitrob) and yet still took the time to sign in or register and comment.
sciencevsromance, jeez - it took you long enough! i was sure that your incredibly predictable (albeit wrong) comment would have happened much sooner in the thread. but i have to wonder, since you seem to live in seattle, do you actually have any idea what i'm talking about when i refer to the ironic hipster scene here in l.a.? (and p.s., "Dave Eggers's"???)
and for all of you engaging in the dave eggers hero-worship/balls-licking, you're right - i really took it too far when i bashed his nonprofit in this post. i mean, saying something other than positive about the writing style of "the dave eggers of the world" was just way out of line, and clearly implied that i think that mentoring kids is wrong. i've learned my lesson.
I waited a year to think up something cool and ironic to say...but I forgot what it was. Oh yeah, you people need to get some kids or something. Too much self indulgence...thinking about things that don't matter. I guess I'm old but you'll all look back at this someday and laugh.
Please, hipsters don't laugh.