I’ve been to Hooters twice in my life. The first time was with my brother Peter several years ago in Tucson, AZ — a desolate desert town where you’d expect to find a tacky joint where hot, scantily-clad chicks serve you buffalo wings. The second time was December 30, 2002 with Jen, James, and Tracy at Crossgates Mall in Albany, NY, another place where Hooters seems a natural fit (the same mall that will arrest you for promoting peace rather than war).
When I read yesterday that Hooters is coming to San Francisco, I had mixed emotions about it. On one hand, I thought, “Woohoo! Easy access.” I’m a straight, 26-year-old man (the Hooters target market is men ages 25 through 54), so of course my initial reaction was to celebrate a Hooters in my city (the first in Northern California). On the other hand, Hooters, as it proclaims in its motto (“Delightfully Tacky Yet Unrefined”), represents all that is tacky and tasteless about America.
San Francisco is a city with character — even its red light district sits tastefully alongside fine Italian dining in North Beach. It is a bohemian city through and through that defies the norm in many ways. San Francisco is not like most of America; people live here and visit here to experience something different — a restaurant (House of Nan King, Farallon, Tommy’s Joynt, AsiaSF, Boulevard), a landmark (Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, Alcatraz, Lombard Street, Haight-Ashbury), an event (Gay Pride Parade, Folsom Street Fair, Bay to Breakers, Halloween in the Castro) — something that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the country and is uniquely San Francisco.
Hooters will not bring anything unique to San Francisco, and its concept will certainly not be a shock to anyone who lives here. As Rob Morse reveals in his column today, the saddest part about this news is not that Hooters is coming to town; it’s that the Alioto-Lazio Fish Company is at risk of leaving town. Alioto-Lazio is a true staple of the Wharf that embodies San Francisco character, and “has been run by three generations of women.”
Like other San Franciscans, I don’t often visit the Wharf, so if there’s going to be a new Hooters in our unique city, at least it will be at home among the tourists from Tucson and Albany. And I think I’ll wait for my next trip to a city more suited for Hooters before I go there again.
7 responses so far ↓
1 jenner // May 21, 2003 at 11:37 am
well put, G. personally, i am not upset about hooters coming to fisherman’s wharf… not that i am a fan of hooters but i agree– folks who visit that part of the city aren’t going to find a real slice of SF anyhoo. the wharf offers a different , bizarre aesthetic and other questionalbe cultural phenomena: bubba gump shrimp, ripley’s believe it or not, hard rock cafe to name a few… boobs and beer seem a natural extension of the neighborhood.
however, i’m not afraid to get NIMBY…if hooters were perching in my neighborhood, it’d be a different story.
2 Dan // May 23, 2003 at 3:46 pm
Really, I might just be delirious from my 24 hour bus ride, but I think I know that girl from Albany.
3 Eric // Jun 19, 2003 at 7:18 pm
I continue to laugh about people objecting to Hooters. Please tell me where in this city you can drink beer, watch sports, and eat chicken wings, peel-n-eat shrimp and oysters – without breaking your wallet. Ask anyone that has visited a Hooters about the quality of the food – it’s surprisingly good.
4 Franz J. Prestar // Jul 20, 2003 at 12:53 am
I find, that HOOTERS’ concept is great and it’s awesome that a HOOTERS restaurant is now in San Francisco.
5 clive // Aug 27, 2003 at 12:25 pm
Is there a patio at the new Hooters that welcomes smokers? I’ll be spending a couple of weeks in SF next month and won’t ask friends to meet me where they aren’t welcome.
6 J.L. Waterstower // Dec 16, 2003 at 2:43 pm
Encountered my first HOOTERS in Weatherford, Texas. Good Food, Good Fun and Why Not? San Francisco is ready for it!
7 Jason // Feb 20, 2004 at 3:38 pm
More like San Francisco is a city OF characters…