Gasp!

May 20, 2003 9:29 AM

Hooters is coming to San FranciscoOh My, Hooters, The ultimate in crass disgusting guy-ness and un-PC-ness is finally coming to San Francisco-the utlimate in PC-ness and "new-age-king-of-guy-ness." Will San Francisco be able to handle it? Granted the self-professed "slightly tacky yet unrefined" Hooters IS going into Fisherman's Wharf, which is tacky tourist-central. But, "it's about so much more than...that..." you know.
posted by aacheson (52 comments total)

If this nation had as many Hooters as it did starbucks.... it'd be a lot cooler.

And the wings are actually pretty good.
posted by quibx at 9:41 AM on May 20, 2003

While I've never been to SF or Hooters, I hear that SF already has lots of uh, adult entertainment. For many, many years. Which would seem to undermine the idea of Hooters being shocking to residents.

Their choosing Fisherman's Wharf as a location strikes me as the only mildly interesting point here.
posted by pmurray63 at 9:48 AM on May 20, 2003

If only Fisherman's Wharf had any bearing whatsoever on the culture of San Francisco, the question "will SF be able to handle it?" might actually be relevant. Most of us ignore the Wharf, some of us deride it (since irony is dead here, the kitsch factor has come and gone), but it's tough to decline your parents' request to willfully engage as tourists (concluding a cable car ride, of course) in the West Coast's answer to Coney Island. As to choosing Fisherman's Wharf for the location, it's where we sweep everything under the rug. Who knew SF had a wax museum and a Ripley's Believe It or Not? Not most San Franciscans, or they've put it out of their memory. Trust me, this is not a sign of the times - it's a drop in the Bay.
posted by birddog at 9:59 AM on May 20, 2003

Oh GOOD. . .I am taking my wife and kid from Oregon down to Southern Cal in July. . .I finally have a reason to stop in Frisco. They can ride around on BART for awhile while I have a few beers and steel myself for the long grind down I-5 to LA, then we will see some REAL culture.
posted by Danf at 10:01 AM on May 20, 2003

this reminds me of the wankjob article posted here a while back about how great and wonderful and unique san francisco is and you peons who live outside its great pearly gates just don't get it.

in other words, here's the biggest ladder i could find. please, get over yourselves.
posted by kjh at 10:02 AM on May 20, 2003

I hear that SF already has lots of uh, adult entertainment.

True, but they operate around corners with mirrored doors and age-checking bouncers. They are somewhat set apart from mainstream society. Hooters is like Denny's with hot pants and giant breasts. It's a PG-13 girlie bar that operates in the mainstream. It's the difference between being able to procure a porno mag and having the topless page 3 girl in every copy of USA today.

Not saying it's a slippery slope or even condemning it. But there is a difference. It's not the degree of objectification, it's the openness and acceptance of it in a city that isn't known for that sort of thing.
posted by 4easypayments at 10:02 AM on May 20, 2003

Strip clubs are ok, but not Hooters?
posted by The Jesse Helms at 10:03 AM on May 20, 2003

PAGE 3 LINK NSFW!!! Sorry, about that.
posted by 4easypayments at 10:03 AM on May 20, 2003

SF already has lots of uh, adult entertainment.
Their choosing Fisherman's Wharf as a location strikes me as the only mildly interesting point here.

They put the McDonald's of adult entertainment in SF's McDonaldland. What's interesting?
posted by badstone at 10:11 AM on May 20, 2003

4easypayments: It's not the degree of objectification, it's the openness and acceptance of it in a city that isn't known for that sort of thing.

Or, at least, a city that thinks it isn't known for that sort of thing... Please. This is only slightly less silly than the silly "Corporate Coffee is Evil!" tantrums that greeted Starbuck's expansion into San Francisco. If you don't like Hooter's, by all means, don't go. Maybe a overwhelming number of San Franciscans will do the same. It won't actually matter, because I'm just guessing that tourists - remember them? those people who come to San Francisco and spend a lot of money? - will flock there, spend even more money, and spare your delicate sensibilities from having to be assaulted by nearly nude human breasts hovering over a tray of hot chicken wings. You're going to have a hard time convincing anyone that a Hooter's on the Wharf is going to lower the tone of that particular neighborhood...
posted by JollyWanker at 10:14 AM on May 20, 2003

After the pacific heights crowd gets over the hype they'll be back to strip clubs and chinese food. The convenience of hooters will remind sf'ers of what they have right now.
posted by xtian at 10:18 AM on May 20, 2003

SF also has a chevy's, Bennigans, and California Pizza Kitchen. I don't understand how Hooter's is going to make any impact on the city at all. Especially in Fisherman's Wharf. The real interesting thing about this hooters is about who owns it and how he acquired it...

Frat Boy's golden goose
posted by LouieLoco at 10:19 AM on May 20, 2003

Given San Fran's demographics shouldn't some enterprising soul invest in chicken wings and tight pants and create Peckers™
posted by jonmc at 10:22 AM on May 20, 2003

Major chain opens its first restaurant in a major US city...so what? OK, I've never been to SF, but I find it hard to believe that it's so much different from the rest of the country that this is going to fundamentally change its character.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:24 AM on May 20, 2003

nearly nude human breasts hovering over a tray of hot chicken wings. You're going to have a hard time convincing anyone that a Hooter's on the Wharf is going to lower the tone of that particular neighborhood...

Keep thinking of the coldest spot to spend a summer, they will be wearing sweat-shirts & body-tights like on GLOW wrestling.
posted by thomcatspike at 10:27 AM on May 20, 2003

Good wings.
Good fries.
Draft beer.

Considering the nearest Hooters to me is by the beach in Santa Monica, the servers are overdressed compared to the clientele and the pedestrians outside.

So, yeah.

Good wings.
Good fries.
Draft beer.
posted by linux at 10:39 AM on May 20, 2003

either the Hooters in Paramus makes horrible wings compared to the others around the country, or you guys have a serious misconception of what constitutes good wings.
posted by goddam at 10:58 AM on May 20, 2003

in other words, here's the biggest ladder i could find. please, get over yourselves.

No, no, no. The whole point of San Francisco is that people move there so they don't *have* to get over themselves.
posted by MrBaliHai at 11:13 AM on May 20, 2003

The wings are mediocre at best. On a warm day I can see more (silicone-free) female flesh on display in Washington Square Park. I can get cold draft beer any number of places, most of which are far more(and in a less contrived way) tacky yet unrefined.

That said, the peel and eat shrimp is not a bad deal. And SF can't be that PC, it's also the spawning ground for Metallica and the 1%er outlaw biker movement.
posted by jonmc at 11:21 AM on May 20, 2003

The wings are mediocre at best

Ask for the bentley's not on menu.
posted by thomcatspike at 11:32 AM on May 20, 2003

TCS, I don't think it used to be but it is now. At least in Houston.

It's more really, really vinegary than hot, though.
posted by Cyrano at 11:41 AM on May 20, 2003

Look, folks, we gave the world the first topless dancer Carol Doda and launched the topless revolution. While I think the concept of Hooter's is juvenile and more than a little Puritanical (and thus more offensive than a strip club, which at least follows through with its nature instead of bullshitting around about a "family atmosphere" tailored for lonely, balding and sexually uncreative men), I really don't think this is going to create much of an impact, outside of its incongruous location on the Wharf.
posted by ed at 11:54 AM on May 20, 2003

*cry* Hooters in San Fran!? What is the world coming to! Won't someone think of the children?! What about Hooters Air? Not in MY airspace!

sigh. it's just a florida bar syndicated and copied. relax. it's innocently fun down here, and i suppose even the tight-asses on the other coast might enjoy it too. and more importantly, there isn't much pointing at the boobrs aside from the logo and the outfits, which have gotten more tame.

I've seen cocktail waitresses at night clubs that wear less, but no, you don't see anyone bitching about that...

cos that's ok.
posted by shadow45 at 12:27 PM on May 20, 2003

dude, there's a ripley's at the wharf? i am so down there this weekend.
posted by fishfucker at 12:29 PM on May 20, 2003

Note to self: Paramus Hooters has sucky wings.
posted by linux at 12:38 PM on May 20, 2003

I never really got Hooters in the first place. A family friendly titty bar? What kind of crap is that? lusting after the hot babes with your niece in your lap is supposed to be at least tacky, if not illegal. I like my titty bars seedy, thank you. And actually with titty, if possible.
posted by lumpenprole at 12:42 PM on May 20, 2003

really vinegary than hot,
Have them double dipped, just like the dipsy chics that work there. And if the wings are not hot then what's the point of going.

a "family atmosphere" tailored for lonely, balding and sexually uncreative men
Add a wife & daughter(s), see it all the time on my commute home, honest.
posted by thomcatspike at 12:44 PM on May 20, 2003

hot pants or not, that's some damn good chicken...
posted by lotsofno at 12:47 PM on May 20, 2003

> Given San Fran's demographics shouldn't some enterprising
> soul invest in chicken wings and tight pants and create
> Peckers™

No no. Gourmet vegetarian wieners.
posted by jfuller at 12:47 PM on May 20, 2003

"Have them double dipped, just like the dipsy chics that work there."

Yeah, because you can judge someone by their job.

Asshole.
posted by fnord_prefect at 1:47 PM on May 20, 2003

thomcatspike: just like the dipsy chics that work there

I'll be sure to remember that the next time I'm talking to my straight-A student, working-her-way-through-pre-med, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, amply-bosomed twenty-year-old niece... the same niece who makes an average of $200 or so in a five hour shift waiting tables at a high traffic Hooter's. She'd make half that in a more fully clothed establishment. She knows precisely what she's doing and I, for one, couldn't be prouder of her for taking full advantage of all of the tools nature... um... endowed... her with.
posted by JollyWanker at 2:30 PM on May 20, 2003

just like the dipsy chics that work there

like, they have to work at Hooters now, after that Dipsy Chics boycott?

ps I've been to Hooters only once (in Palm Springs), and the place failed to impress me. I was there on a slow night, OK, but I didn't see what the big deal is. And if we're worried about neighborhoods going to hell, well, as The Jesse Helms pointed out, how can Hooters be worse than a strip club?
posted by matteo at 4:37 PM on May 20, 2003

the place really isn't a big deal, it's just a place that serves wings.. us Floridians who have been living with Hooters for years fail to understand the interest :)
posted by shadow45 at 6:11 PM on May 20, 2003

Bullshit Jollywanker and fnord_prefect.
I have all the right in the world to judge a woman who would work at a place like Hooters, or one who works as a stripper, or works as an escort, or is a porn star or a hooker. I judge them, and I judge them harshly. There's a whole lot of women out there who don't take the sleezy, I'm-debasing-all-women, disgusting, lowest common denominator jobs like the ones listed above "to pay the bills and make it through college." I bet that most ARE NOT paying their way through college. It's a silly tale told by guys to assuage their guilt for going into a cheesy and debasing place like Hooters or a strip club and paying money to see women their daughter's ages take their clothes off (or close to it.)

Yes, I judge them harshly. As a hard working women in a predominately male field who works hard to show men that women can be respected for more than their tits, I judge them as much as I want to. And don't try to tell me otherwise. There are other ways to pay for college.
posted by msacheson at 7:58 PM on May 20, 2003

Whoops, my husband was logged in. He didn't post the above comment, I did.
posted by aacheson at 8:00 PM on May 20, 2003

Jolly Wanker, would you be as proud if it were your premed, amply endowed nephew wearing a bananna hammock serving wings and beers to drooling guys?

Just wondering.
posted by Dinzie at 8:01 PM on May 20, 2003

My only problem with Hooters is that the waitresses are not naked enough.

It's all about the ritual, and not at all about real machismo, to eat there. It's like a real world Man Show.

While I don't have any particular grudge against Hooters, I do not see the point of them opening a San Francisco location. First of all, because San Francisco is not a city that celebrates male chauvinism, but also because the one thing I like about Hooters is that it's the only place I can get a bucket of oysters here.

There are more than a few places on the Ohio river that serve oysters, but Hooters has a bucket of oysters, and it's dirt cheap.
posted by son_of_minya at 8:42 PM on May 20, 2003

the same niece who makes an average of $200 or so in a five hour shift waiting tables at a high traffic Hooter's.

While in high school I worked at a chain buffet and could easily make 150-200 bucks every shift. Friends who worked in nice restaurants made even more.

Most people tip based on the tab, not because their server is a "blonde-haired, blue-eyed, amply-bosomed twenty-year-old", and hooters is pretty low cost.
posted by Dennis Murphy at 8:44 PM on May 20, 2003

women can be respected for more than their tits

... and I judge thee a prude. ;-P
posted by mischief at 9:51 PM on May 20, 2003

Jolly Wanker, would you be as proud if it were your premed, amply endowed nephew wearing a bananna hammock serving wings and beers to drooling guys?

Of course I would - why wouldn't I? Not everyone is as self-loathing as msacheson's wife, you know. Lots of people - my niece, myself and my nephew, whose a state champion swimmer and who hadn't considered a job as a bartender in a gay bar until you kindly suggested it but now that you have I think it's a fine idea - believe that Nature gave us bodies that we needn't be ashamed of. If you have a body other people find attractive, where precisely is the harm in using that to your financial advantage?
posted by JollyWanker at 10:01 PM on May 20, 2003

The harm? Because it's a double whammy for their bodies to give them decent money as well as the affection they already get. How unfair for those of us who are truly, repulsively ugly.
posted by hincandenza at 11:21 PM on May 20, 2003

you can show off your brain for money

your muscles, your wit

it's okay to be a sports star or an investment banker or a doctor

it might be okay to be an actress but i'm going to have to see what movies you starred in

and then i'm going to have to watch those movies, just to be sure you didn't sneak anything past the censors

being a writer is pretty good

maybe you could work in the tech field but watch out for the lecherous male-dominated environment

what i'm saying is, don't you dare make a single dollar off your looks

or a part of your body i deem inappropriate

because i will judge you.

and judge you harshly.
posted by kjh at 12:13 AM on May 21, 2003

I think the better reason to be none-too-proud of working at Hooter's is the lack of dignity inherent in the job. It advertises itself as "delightfully tacky, yet unrefined" and its waitresses wear these terrible hose and orange shirts that have owls with exaggerated eyes over their tits. In any case, if you're proud of your body and want to make some money off of it, why not try to get work as an art model or something? Or just find work as a model? Hooter's is the best you can do, when you're supposedly pretty smart, a pre-med student and all?
posted by raysmj at 5:37 AM on May 21, 2003

Um, make that orange "shorts," and white shorts with orange eyes. Or whatever. Went there once about five years ago - will never go back.
posted by raysmj at 6:08 AM on May 21, 2003

Self-loathing? What on earth makes you think I'm self-loathing? What I said has nothing to do with that whatsoever.

Call me a prude, sure, maybe I am. But I can't respect people who make money doing things that are demeaning to themselves and other women.

Congrats to those who have a great body-really-but don't expect me to respect you just because you have one. It takes more than a great body to earn my respect. I'm not saying beautiful people should be ashamed of their bodies, either. But use your MIND to get ahead and people will respect you. Use your body, and people won't.
posted by aacheson at 7:45 AM on May 21, 2003

Wolfdaddy may be slacking by not having mentioned that Hooter's is a great haunt for those gay men that like observing the blue-collared, hairy-faced, thick-necked, football-watching, boob-staring redneck in their natural environment.
posted by TuffAustin at 7:57 AM on May 21, 2003

"But use your MIND to get ahead and people will respect you. Use your body, and people won't."

Or maybe use your MIND to figure out it is Ok to profit from having a nice body :)

It's so not a big deal in any rational sense, cute girls (OK, usually cute) waiting tables in something that accentuates their shape is not going to bring down female equality.

Of course, a lot of people think it will - but I have a feeling the problems are much more with THEM being uncomfortable with sexuality and attractiveness and using feminism as a place to express those fears with a feeling of support and justification.

As a side note, Hooters generates a lot of panic and hatred in the extreme feminist camp.
posted by soulhuntre at 8:34 AM on May 21, 2003

Given San Fran's demographics shouldn't some enterprising soul invest in chicken wings and tight pants and create Peckers™

Not Peckers, but Cocks
posted by Fezboy! at 12:10 PM on May 21, 2003

demeaning to themselves

Demeaning is in the eye of the beholder. Through my makeup-artist exwife, I have met quite a few dancers and none of them felt demeaned. After all, it is the MEN who are acting like pigs.
posted by mischief at 12:48 AM on May 22, 2003

Beer and wings.
posted by studentbaker at 7:56 AM on May 23, 2003

tepid beer and subpar wings.
posted by studentbaker at 7:57 AM on May 23, 2003

I was in the "so a franchise of a major chain is coming to a major city -- so what?" camp.

But then I remembered that San Francisco has an explicit size discrimination law.

This could get interesting.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 10:16 PM on May 25, 2003