Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 6, 1993 TAG: 9310050206
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BETH MACY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"Number one, my buddy Mike here had his bachelor party at a Hooters in Newport News. And from what he can remember, he had a good time," says Rodgers, 25, who was expected - if all went well - to get married last Saturday.
"And number two: the large, firm breasts."
Indeed, Roanoke's Hooters of Virginia has been drawing crowds of curiosity seekers - eager oglers, mostly male - to its 3121 Franklin Road location (formerly Chef Santos) since it opened three weeks ago.
Although it's not affiliated with Hooters of America, one of the nation's fastest-growing restaurant chains, the local Hooters is definitely trying to cash in on the same politically incorrect concept.
Hooters "girls" wear midriff-exposing tank tops, cut off just below the breasts, and jogging shorts with V's cut into the legs. Although bras are a mandatory part of the ensemble, many waitresses pin their shirts at the back, creating a tighter jogging-bra effect.
Few are overweight. Large quantities of hair spray are on hand. So are a number of Hula Hoops - which waitresses demonstrate upon customer request, hoping for extra tip money at the end of the evening.
"Working here's like winning a cheerleader tryout," says restaurateur Billy Harbour, whose mother owns the property. More than 100 women applied for the 15 waitressing positions, advertised in the newspaper and on fliers distributed at area colleges.
"We had a Hula Hoop crisis the other night," Harbour, 47, says. "One of the girls was Hula Hooping in another girl's section and got a big tip. Now we have designated Hula Hooping sections."
The local Hooters - whose attorney takes great pains to pronounce the business "Hooters of Virginia, comma, I-N-C," to distinguish it legally from the national chain - is expected to draw controversy, if not for sexism, then at least for possible trademark infringement.
Already, Harbour has been threatened with legal action by the national chain. His attorney, Frank Perkinson Jr., says the chain has issued a 30-day ultimatum - either change the name, or expect a lawsuit.
"The fact is that the Virginia State Corporation Commission prohibits us from registering a corporation that is confusingly similar to any other corporation's name," Perkinson says. Thus, the name's OK, he contends, because the State Corporation Commission said it's OK.
"The word `hooters' is a definable word," Perkinson adds. "We're not talking about Kellogg here. This other outfit's trademark uses the two O's in Hooters embossed as the eyes of an owl's head. So I assume they use it in connotation of the sound emitted by an owl.
"As for my client, I don't know what particular connotation they put on the word - but obviously, it's one of the ones in the dictionary. The only thing I see in common with the two is they both use pretty girls as waitresses."
Careful not to use the chain's owl logo or its orange-and-white color scheme, Hooters of Virginia uses the word "hooters" to refer to "a ray-rah good-time, etcetera, etcetera," Harbour insists. "You know the term, `It's a hoot' or `What a hoot'? That's what we mean."
Asked if the term fit the Dictionary of Contemporary Slang's meaning of the word - "American, for breasts" - Harbour conceded, "Yeah, probably. . . . We do want attractive personnel."
Mike Heretick, a spokesman for the Hooters chain, says the 30-day ultimatum is almost up. "We're suing 'em - for sure," he says.
"We've had similar problems with trademark infringement before," says Heretick, vice president of operations for the Virginia and New York franchises, called Virginia Wings Inc. "And nobody has failed to change their name yet."
Furthermore, Heretick says his franchise will be opening up a Roanoke Hooters restaurant itself next spring, probably located near Valley View Mall. "By that time, I don't think [Hooters of Virginia] will be operating. At least I hope they won't be."
As if the local Hooters isn't controversial enough, Harbour has a somewhat checkered history in Roanoke business. In 1987, he was sentenced to three years of probation on bankruptcy fraud charges after FBI investigators said he plotted a "bustout," a planned bankruptcy in which a merchant purposefully overstocks without paying for the inventory and then bleeds the company of assets.
In the early '70s, Harbour built an $11 million business and real estate empire, much of it along Southwest Roanoke's Franklin Road, including the area where Hooters of Virginia is located.
"He used to be a multimillionaire and lost it all," Perkinson recalls. Asked if his past dealings would hurt Harbour's shot with Hooters of Virginia, Perkinson said, "I don't think so. It wasn't a crime of violence."
Harbour claims his new venture into Hooterville won't be hindered by his past. "People here, they'll give you a shot. Besides, it's old news," he says of the crime. "My family is starting to get aggressive again" in business, though he refused to say what the Harbours' other ventures included beyond "several restaurant involvements."
So far his involvement with Hooters of Virginia appears to be a hit. "I think it's a real novelty in Roanoke, being such a conservative community with a church on every corner," says bartender Diane King-Hash, whose nickname at the restaurant is "Hollywood."
"This is something new and exciting for the area, beyond the transportation museum or the Dominion Tower."
King-Hash says she took the job because she thought the tips would be better than what she was earning as a Troutville Waffle House waitress. A self-described recovering alcoholic with one son and three step-children, the 22-year-old bartender says she's not ashamed to show off her body, nor does she think the Hooters concept is demeaning to women.
"When I told my husband a Hooters was opening up here, he said `Go for it. You have have 'em [the breasts] for it,' " King-Hash says. "I've always been comfortable with my body. This is what God gave me, and I'm proud of it."
King-Hash says she's earning close to $400 a week in tips, enabling her a rare opportunity to spend money "on frivolous things - like Mary Kay makeup."
Hooters of Virginia isn't a pick-up scene, she adds, "because it's all mostly guys coming to see the girls. One night a couple was here, and they left after they placed their order. I overheard the girl yelling at her boyfriend about looking at the waitresses."
The place attracts mainly 40-ish blue-collar workers, though there is a fair number of cops, salesmen and lawyers that come in regularly, too, King-Hash says.
Asked if she was concerned about sexual harassment, King-Hash said no, though she conceded carrying pepper mace and a three-cell Mag flashlight with her to her car every night.
Diane Stover, a Roanoke accountant and a member of the Roanoke chapter of the National Organization for Women, believes that women working at Hooters increase their chances of becoming victims of both sexual harassment and violence.
"My personal viewpoint is it's very much like Playboy magazine," Stover says. "I consider it very demeaning. As long as women are willing to show themselves off - whether they're proud of their bodies or not - it casts all women in a bad light.
"It doesn't elevate us beyond our looks and body shapes."
Some people believe the Hooters concept is an AIDS-era alternative to the bar pick-up scene of the '70s and '80s: Look all you want, but don't dare touch.
Mike DelGrosso, who was with the bachelor party at Hooters of Virginia last week, pointed out that an evening there was "much cleaner than a private party with a stripper."
Added Rodgers, the groom: "It's cheap thrills, but no danger. I mean, I can't really get into any trouble here."
DelGrosso, whose own bachelor party was held in a Hooters of America chain restaurant, compared the two Hooters entities this way: "The real [chain-operated] Hooters is more family oriented, more respectable, I guess. There are kids' birthday parties going on, T-shirts for sale. It's louder there, and their Hula Hoops are larger, too."
"Plus," said Rodgers, "this place seems to cater more towards the middle-aged man."
by CNB