I love this insight. I adore sitting in the last seat. Often, it's got the best view in the place. You can see everything happening in front of you, and you feel uniquely situated to take in the whole scene. To make up stories about the couple arguing quietly at table 5 or the first date at table 7. To see the world as you want to see it or to see the world as it is. The choice is up to you, though perhaps lightly correlated to the number of drinks you've been through.
Hi Tim - James Ellroy fangirl here! This is quite lovely, but it got me thinking how 'the last seat' plays out for women; lone female drinkers tend to be the floozy, the working 'girl', the drunk -- or all three. It's the trope of the lonely, vulnerable woman in The Absinthe Drinker, Faye Dunaway's glorious but doomed Wanda in Bar Fly -- Elisabeth Shue's character in Leaving Las Vegas. There's glamour there -- but rarely a happy conclusion. Chat GBT did find some 'empowering'/positive examples when asked tho - such as SATC, Frances Ha. Mad Men. These are all super-stylised and though - the bars, restaurants and even the drinks in SATC are just another styling choice. Interested to think if there are other/better ... even more hopeful examples?
I eat and drink alone. It started with my job, travelling and living in hotel. I thought that it was an habit coming from over 30years of this life but, I admit, it's because of my nature that I can still travel, eat and drink alone. When I go to my 'home-bar' in Milan, I like to go there, drink a Martini standing at bar, talking with others, ninety minutes max. It's a pleasure when it happens, one per week, no more.
When a bartender sees a guy (it’s a guy most of the time ) choose the last seat, he knows—and the bond is made, comfortable, easygoing, open. Thanks for the evocative reminders, Tim.
If I’m not mistaken that picture is the last seat at Brutto? My favourite place to sit when I visit alone (which is not very often now I live over 200 miles from London). I makes me feel like I’m in a Raymond Chandler or George V Higgins novel and I spend my time imagining stories for the diners I watch whilst sipping my Negroni before enjoying the most delicious plate of pasta.
Absolutely! Got it in one.
I’m planning to have my ashes quietly sprinkled there ❤️❤️❤️
(Also… Higgins! Great call!!!)
I love this insight. I adore sitting in the last seat. Often, it's got the best view in the place. You can see everything happening in front of you, and you feel uniquely situated to take in the whole scene. To make up stories about the couple arguing quietly at table 5 or the first date at table 7. To see the world as you want to see it or to see the world as it is. The choice is up to you, though perhaps lightly correlated to the number of drinks you've been through.
Apt. I'm reading this in the last seat at Lawson Flats in Perth, in-between critical duties.
Hi Tim - James Ellroy fangirl here! This is quite lovely, but it got me thinking how 'the last seat' plays out for women; lone female drinkers tend to be the floozy, the working 'girl', the drunk -- or all three. It's the trope of the lonely, vulnerable woman in The Absinthe Drinker, Faye Dunaway's glorious but doomed Wanda in Bar Fly -- Elisabeth Shue's character in Leaving Las Vegas. There's glamour there -- but rarely a happy conclusion. Chat GBT did find some 'empowering'/positive examples when asked tho - such as SATC, Frances Ha. Mad Men. These are all super-stylised and though - the bars, restaurants and even the drinks in SATC are just another styling choice. Interested to think if there are other/better ... even more hopeful examples?
I eat and drink alone. It started with my job, travelling and living in hotel. I thought that it was an habit coming from over 30years of this life but, I admit, it's because of my nature that I can still travel, eat and drink alone. When I go to my 'home-bar' in Milan, I like to go there, drink a Martini standing at bar, talking with others, ninety minutes max. It's a pleasure when it happens, one per week, no more.
When a bartender sees a guy (it’s a guy most of the time ) choose the last seat, he knows—and the bond is made, comfortable, easygoing, open. Thanks for the evocative reminders, Tim.
If I’m not mistaken that picture is the last seat at Brutto? My favourite place to sit when I visit alone (which is not very often now I live over 200 miles from London). I makes me feel like I’m in a Raymond Chandler or George V Higgins novel and I spend my time imagining stories for the diners I watch whilst sipping my Negroni before enjoying the most delicious plate of pasta.