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9 Cool Massachusetts Bars Featured in Movies Made in Massachusetts

By Lauren Beckham Falcone
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9 Cool Massachusetts Bars in Movies Made in Massachusetts

Lights, camera, intoxication! Hey, it’s National Bourbon Day, why not down an Old Fashioned at one of the Massachusetts Bars in Movies!

When it comes to recreating movie scenes in bars in Boston, it’s a booze-infused adventure with cinematic shenanigans!

Listen, Bostonians like their bars.

And they like their bars featured in movies. Because if Ben Affleck downed a beer in a dive bar in South Boston, we want to recreate the scene!

And let’s be honest, we have a LOT of choices in this boozy city and surrounding towns.

Massachusetts Bars in Movies

Over the years, many Boston-made movies have showcased some of the city’s coolest bars, adding an extra layer of authenticity to these films.

There are TONS of places around the city you can recreate your favorite movie scene.

These bars have become cultural landmarks within the city. Exploring these establishments can offer visitors a chance to immerse themselves in the rich film history of Boston while enjoying the vibrant bar scene the city has to offer.

And we’re not just talking about Boston. Bars all over Massachusetts have been featured on the big screen.

“American Woman” filmed at Big D’s Neponset Cafe in Canton, but like many of the bars featured in Massachusetts-based movies, it closed. Fun fact, the famous scene in “Good Will Hunting?” According to thespiritsbusiness.com:

“Anyone who is familiar with Good Will Hunting will remember Matt Damon’s infamous ‘How’d you like them apples?’ line in a scene where Damon upstages an elitist student in a Harvard bar, while also impressing student and love interest Skylar (Minnie Driver). Co-starring Ben Affleck, the duo wrote the script about Will, a young troubled mathematics genius (Damon) growing up in South Boston. The bar is supposed to be the Bow and Arrow bar in Boston – but it is actually the Upfront Bar and Grill in Toronto. Only exterior shots of Bow and Arrow were used, and sadly both have closed their doors.”

The Bar and Arrow is now a Dunkin’. How perfect.

Anyhoo, check out the 9 Cool Massachusetts Bars Featured in Movies Made in Massachusetts

  • 1. Fibber McGee's Bar and Grill, 102 Talbot Street, Beverly

    “Manchester By The Sea.”

    This is the MOST depressing movie in the history of mankind and I have no intention of watching it EVER again, but here’s the bar that’s supposed to be in Quincy. Casey Affleck’s character hangs out here.

  • 2. Buck's Bar & Grill, 165 Chelmsford Street, Lowell

    The Fighter.

    The ‘Foxtail Lounge’, where Micky (Mark Wahlberg)  asks out Charlene Fleming (Amy Adams).

  • 3. Thirsty Scholar Pub, 70 Beacon Street, Somerville

    “The Social Network”. This is bar where Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) gets dumped by exasperated girlfriend Erika (Rooney Mara).

  • 4. Murphy’s Law, 837 Summer Street, Dorchester

    “Gone Baby Gone”

    This is the bar where the masked gunman threatens Lionel (Titus Welliver) as he starts to spill the beans to Kenzie and Gennaro about what really happened.

  • 5. L Street Tavern, 658 East Eighth Street A, South Boston

    “Good Will Hunting”

    This is the bar where Will (Matt Damon) hangs out with Chuckie Sullivan (Ben Affleck) and his buddies. Helpfully, there’s a sign on the wall outside, proudly announcing the bar as a location in the Oscar-winning movie. The exterior has had a bit of a makeover since 1997.

  • 6. Jacob’s Corner, 278 Rantoul St., Beverly

    “The Tender Bar”

    Starring Ben Affleck, The Tender Bar was an OK movie. But the bar looks cool. The bar that stands in for Dickens in the location scenes is Jacob’s Corner, 278 Rantoul St. in Beverly.

     

  • 7. Sonsie, 327 Newbury St., Boston

    “Fever Pitch”

    Lindsey (Drew Barrymore) meets her friends for dinner at Sonsie.

  • 8. Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe, South End, Boston

    “Ted”

    Lori (Mila Kunis) goes to make up with John (Mark Wahlberg) on neutral territory, in Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe.

  • 9. The South End Buttery, Boston

    “Spotlight”

    Again, NOT a fun film. The movie is about a team of Boston Globe reporters covering the investigation into the Catholic child-abuse scanda. This is where Rachel McAdams’s reporter character met up with a victim of the molestation scandal.

     

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