It is 9 pm on a Saturday night and the Hooters restaurant in Chinatown is filled to capacity with a bar full of a patrons and line full of people waiting for a table to be seated. It is very loud. There are numerous voices, mostly men, although there are women there as well, not counting the restaurant’s trademark waitresses. There are three times as many men as women customers, and the line to be seated is buzzing with chatter about a UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) fight being shown at 10 pm. There are about thirty televisions throughout the bar and dining area showing three different sports channels at the moment. Some of the televisions were muted while others are just loud enough to be heard over the constant conversation. It smells of beer, chicken, other fried foods, and the perfumes and colognes of the people there. One can also smell the scent of cigarette smoke wafting inside through the entrance of the establishment.
Customers are seated at wooden tables of varying sizes with either wooden chairs or wooden bar stools. The tables’ shiny finish is wearing off around the edges where the countless hands of customers have worn it down. The menus are well-used and worn at the edges where they have become soft and the paper fibers have feathered. An order of ribs and curly fries is the meal of choice for the evening, and the ribs are sweet yet spicy with the slightly salty flavor of the fries following. As ten o’clock approaches and passes, the customers become increasingly involved in the UFC fight that is showing. A chorus of loud groans and cheers can be heard with every thrown punch.
This first visit to Hooters raises a few story ideas. Firstly, how popular are restaurants such as Hooters among the different age groups and demographics found in a place like Washington, DC? Also, it would be interesting to look into the growing popularity of the UFC, especially among college students.
