Old Town Jumps on Sex and the City Bandwagon

The proprietors of the Old Town Bar & Restaurant are usually pretty accurate when it comes to advertising.

So the bar's brand-new 2008 calendar magnets gave us pause:

Did Carrie really meet Mr. Big at the Old Town?

Let's go to the tape--er, complete DVD set:

In the very first episode of the HBO series "Sex and the City," Mr. Big (played by Chris Noth) first encounters Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) on some random city street. His driver pulls up as she's trying to hail a cab: "Well, get in for Chrissakes," he says.

In episode No. 2, they reunite at some "party downtown" in a nondescript bar adorned with Christmas lights. Could this be the Old Town? If so, where are the old-fashioned booths?

OK, maybe the bar's owners aren't referring to the show, but rather writer Candace Bushnell's original "Sex and the City" column in The New York Observer. Hang on while I dust off ye ol' archives...

Aha! Here it is. The couple's first encounter (printed on April 24, 1995) occurs in an office setting. Later, they run into each other at a cocktail party thrown by the designer Joop. Several days later, they reunite at Bowery Bar.

"Maybe I'm wrong," Old Town owner Gerard Meagher told The Observer on Friday. "I wouldn't call myself an expert on it. They filmed an episode here where they had a date or whatever. It was my impression that this was the episode when they originally first met. You'll need to ask an expert more schooled than I am."