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When used to describe cars, the term “GT” refers to a high-performance vehicle. Unlike sports cars, which sacrifice comfort and practicality for speed, a GT still has luxurious amenities.
When put in those terms, GT Lounge on Ingersoll is appropriately named. Not only is it intended to be a home for gear heads, with walls swathed in artwork relating to motocross, motorcycles and cars, it also has amenities such as granite table tops and an impressive list of 85 bottled or canned beers. We stopped by on a recent Saturday night to experience the bar, which thrives despite relying on word of mouth to fill its stools.
8:21 p.m. We slide into one of two booths anchoring the front of the bar, underneath a dead plant and butted up against the frigid front windows. The crowd is made up of a few pockets of middle-aged people enjoying a round or two before departing.
8:27 p.m. We witness a changing of the guard, as the last of the middle-aged patrons leave and make way for a younger, hipper crowd, the kind that wears cardigans and drinks Pabst Blue Ribbon or Old Style over the other 80-some beer choices (though none on tap).
8:32 p.m. We spot a bearded dude with black- frame glasses that have been taped together. He’s sitting with a Janeane Garofalo doppelganger. They’re joined by a guy in a white-and-gray striped knit cardigan and a fedora with a sizable feather embellishment. It’s almost as if we’ve entered an alternate hipster reality.
8:40 p.m. One of my drinking partners returns from the women’s restroom, describing an inconvenient wet spot that must be straddled while hovering above the toilet seat, making the act of peeing an interesting physical challenge. A matchbook lives on the back of the toilet; one has recently been lit.
8:55 p.m. A butt in pocket- less jeans is staring at me through the front window, as its owner enjoys a cigarette. She’s smoking with a guy who is described by another as the “Norm” of GT, albeit much younger. He has his usual place at the end of the bar, and tonight’s no exception.
9:04 p.m. A man with a spectacular, end-curling handlebar mustache arrives wearing a scally cap. He’s instantly complimented on his amazing proclivity for growing facial hair, to which he replies, “Thanks. I grew it myself.” He heads to the bar, returns with a Pabst Blue Ribbon, and pecks Janeane Garofalo before sitting down.
9:18 p.m. We spot a guy at the bar drinking Schlitz. In any other bar my bottle of Red Stripe wouldn’t feel as inferior as it does at GT Lounge, but it’s clear this bar’s patrons have a love affair with blue-collar beers.
9:24 p.m. A guy, five feet and change, enters the bar and is promptly and loudly greeted by a patron wearing a hoodie with an enthusiastic, “My favorite tiny person!” They clasp hands, and pat each other’s backs with the opposite arm in an awkward, ass-out bro hug.
9:26 p.m. A return trip to the bathroom finds another interesting revelation. Scrawled among many pieces of barroom wisecracks and drawings is this: “Jesus saves sinners and redeems them for valuable cash prizes.”
9:55 p.m. The Hooded Tiny Lover falls off his barstool.
10:16 p.m. A drinking partner brings back Jagerbombs for the table, because when he ordered Orange Bombs, he was told, “We don’t do that shit.” He also orders a mixed drink, and after taking his first sip, his eyes widen, as the drink is so strong it “will make you wake up at a prostitute’s feet.” We’ll take your word for it, dude.
10:45 p.m. The Hooded Tiny Lover, outside smoking, leans down to pick up a lit cigarette and a pocket knife falls out of his pocket. He stumbles as he picks it up.
10:51 p.m. Conversation topics take a turn for the toilet as we overhear a patron talking about how he accidentally farted in front of his girlfriend. “That changes the relationship,” he said, saying that now she feels a bit too comfortable farting in front of him, and in fact, refers to herself as “the foghorn.” Now he says he has to hold in his flatulence in an attempt to dissuade her from feeling so comfortable.
10:52 p.m. Now that we’re feeling uncomfortable, we order another drink.
GT Lounge
Find it: 3013 Ingersoll Ave.
Info: 279-6444
Hours: 2 p.m.-2 a.m. daily
