Businesses Celebrate Mad Men With Specials

The Mad Men trend hit two Harvard Square businesses this weekend. Sweet offered cupcakes with the Mad Men logo while playing 1960s music, and Noir at the Charles Hotel offered Draper’s Drink cocktails and Ritz cracker retro snacks to customers watching the season finale.

Sweet, a local cupcake shop that opened in Harvard Square last spring, made special cupcakes with cocktails on the icing.

“The owner is a big fan of Mad Men, and we thought the whole cupcakes and home-baked goods theme worked,” said Ali Clark, Sweet’s assistant manager. “The store has a modern retro twist like the show.”

The vibe at the event was low key, with small signs announcing the Mad Men theme by the counter, and no announcements outside. The store ordered only 12 specialty cupcakes for the promotion, and customers in general did not even know that what the theme was.

When asked whether the occasion had affected his decision to come to Sweet, customer Sheraz A. Choudhary replied, “The cupcakes are the same, so not really.”

At Noir, the production was much larger. By 9:30 p.m., the bar was full of people, many in costumes, all buzzing excitedly about the upcoming showing.

Noir’s event was the culmination of a weekly Mad Men night that has attracted between 5 and 30 people every time.

The commercial breaks featured trivia questions and a costume contest, and the drink menu included Sterling Cooper Cocktails, Betty’s Bubbles, and Madison Avenues.

The customers were noticeably excited by the theme.

“It’s one of my favorite theme nights around town, and Noir is an awesome bar,” said Leaura S. Levine, who won Noir’s Mad Men advertising contest.

As a prize for coming up with the best slogan—“Noir—Because The Best Ideas Happen At Night”—Levine had the opportunity to judge the costume contest.

Blogger Eleanor L. A. Howe has enjoyed the Mad Men nights at Noir so much that she has been chronicling them each week.

She selects one drink from the specialty menu to represent each episode.

“I thought, I don’t have cable and I’m coming here every week, why don’t I work my way through the list of cocktails?” she said.