The only benefit of the lingering recession, as far as I’m concerned, is pop-up bar concepts, now that landlords are ready to lower prices to get some temporary income coming in. This month, Puma got in on the action when the footwear giant managed to temporarily snag a slice of the Sunset Strip. Last night, they lured Jeremy Piven and others to the launch of their Puma Social Club concept inside the old One Sunset space, which has been vacant for over a year. Rent at 8730 Sunset is rumored to be $30,000 a month or more, keeping actual bars or restaurants from opening in the 6,500-square-foot space, but Puma will at least light up the Strip with a few notable events before closing shop on October 28th.

So what exactly is Puma Social Club? The concept is essentially a hastily designed bar, with a few extra activities and a store thrown in for good measure. Neon signs light up the interior, and chalkboards hang on the walls, riddled with tacky encouragements to tweet, with Puma-specific Twitter hashtags spelled out for drinkers. But ping-pong tables and other games for bar goers seem to be the central raison d’être for the temporary lounge. It’s a sports bar for people who hate sports bars, and last night, it worked out splendidly. British singer Dan Black was on the decks, and several Hollywood types—Audrina Partridge, Mr. Piven, and Allison Sweeny among them—were all too happy to hit the open bar and down free Pink’s hot dogs.

This pop-up club seems to be part of a larger trend in L.A., wherein “trendy” bars incorporate some sort of sporty activity. Over the summer, New York’s ping-pong themed SPiN opened an L.A. outpost just down the Strip from Puma on Sunset in West Hollywood, inside the Mondrian hotel.

At the end of the day, Puma Social Club is all about marketing - the company recently rolled out their "Puma Social" print-and-online ad campaign - but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy drinking for free this month. The club is open during the day sans alcohol, from 12-5 p.m. if you feel the need to play video games with people other than yourself. Here is a schedule of events that’ll run until the end of the month. We suggest crashing the Vice magazine party this Friday, which should be totally doable.