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Ex-student set to open hookah bar in Hillsdale
The Hillsdale Collegian ^ | April 1, 2004 | Dave Frank

Posted on 04/15/2004 3:06:17 PM PDT by kennedy

The first experience most students probably had with a hookah was watching the caterpillar swarthily blow smoke vowels from one in Disney's Alice in Wonderland.

Former student Deryk Schlessinger will try to make that experience a bit more personal by opening Hillsdale's first hookah bar. The bar is scheduled to open soon after Spring Break in downtown Hillsdale near the old Democratic Party offices.

"We're trying to bring the Middle Eastern culture to Hillsdale," Schlessinger said, from an easy chair beside a 5-foot gold-plated hookah in his Park Place apartment. "Even though that sounds like a big task, we think we can do it through hookahs, a couple tapestries and a fountain."

The bar will be open Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights and will serve tea, coffee and an assortment of 11 hookahs with tobacco in flavors such as banana, melon, coconut, strawberry daiquiri, pina colada and margarita.

He described the atmosphere to be something like a Turkish bazaar with hanging, dim lights, tapestries, murals and a colorful looming cloud of smoke.

Customers will pay $10 for the hookah and smoke it while sitting on low couches and pillows as a waitress resets the coals as needed or changes flavors.

Schlessinger is also planning eventually to bring in a belly dancer.

"If we're going to do it, we're going to do it right," he said.

Schlessinger said he is confident there is a market in Hillsdale for such an operation because of college students, legal high school students and interested locals.

He's putting up approximately $20,000 to get it off the ground.

"I'm pretty optimistic," he said. "I've gotten positive student reaction already."

Co-owner freshman Brandon Muri is new to the scene but impressed.

"I kind of fell in love with the whole hookah thing," he said. "The whole foreign culture-it's pretty neat."

Schlessinger himself has worked at several hookah bars in Los Angeles and was introduced to the concept while visiting Israel his sophomore year in high school.

Schlessinger said his mother, national radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger, is OK with the idea.

"She's happy as long as I don't go to jail or get kidnapped," he said.

For those unfamiliar with the hookah, the tobacco water pipe originated in ancient Arabia but didn't become popular in the West until the 19th and 20th centuries. Still, it is becoming quite popular in America, especially on the West Coast.

Hookahs cost between $75 and $250, depending on the size and quality, and consist of a charcoal screen, clay bowl, bowl grommet, tray, shaft, air valve, hose grommet, and glass base and base grommet.

"That's one of the easiest ways to pick up chicks-with a hookah," Schlessinger said.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: hookah; smoking; smokingbans

1 posted on 04/15/2004 3:06:18 PM PDT by kennedy
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To: kennedy
Again, 9/11 proves to be the greatest political/cultural coup of all time. We're damn near begging them now to take over us.
2 posted on 04/15/2004 3:07:47 PM PDT by Monty22
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To: kennedy
"That's one of the easiest ways to pick up chicks-with a hookah," Schlessinger said.

Once again, I am speechless. -bump-

3 posted on 04/15/2004 3:12:03 PM PDT by Cboldt
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To: kennedy
So is this April Fools, or what?
4 posted on 04/15/2004 3:13:07 PM PDT by stayathomemom
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To: kennedy
*shrug* Hey, if the kid can get the idea off the ground and make it work, more power to him. Tobacco's legal, the hookah is legal...why not?

}:-)4
5 posted on 04/15/2004 3:25:41 PM PDT by Moose4 (This is not a "war of ideas." It is a war of life and death.)
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To: kennedy
Predicting an early belly up (no pun intended) for this enterprise unless that belly dancer is a real knockout.
6 posted on 04/15/2004 3:29:57 PM PDT by iconoclast
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To: kennedy
There is a hookah bar in my neighborhood. Every night I can see about a dozen huge hookahs very prominently in the window. I can't say I've seen many people there except what appear to be a few regulars.
7 posted on 04/15/2004 3:39:14 PM PDT by BunnySlippers (Must get Moose and Squirrel ... B. Badanov.)
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To: Monty22
Middle Eastern culture? Or just another of the worlds ne’er do wells - the picture shows two thread bare chairs...two fit young men who might better enlist and see the Mid east up close and in person.
8 posted on 04/15/2004 3:39:32 PM PDT by yoe (Political Correctness OUT! Profiling IN! Know your enemy!)
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To: kennedy
"Schlessinger said his mother, national radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger, is OK with the idea. "

Mom probably would've done the belly dancing in her earlier years.

9 posted on 04/15/2004 3:52:42 PM PDT by TonyBanks (To you I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the loyal opposition.)
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To: kennedy
Which one in the picture is Dr. Laura's son?
On a side note, Dad and I will finance college for the girls only if they go to Hillsdale. It's the height of conservative!
10 posted on 04/15/2004 3:54:11 PM PDT by netmilsmom ("You can't fight AQ and hug Hamas" - C. Rice)
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To: kennedy
I wouldn't dance in a hookah bar (or a cigar bar, either) ... you'd never get the smell out of your costume.
11 posted on 04/15/2004 4:59:12 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Some people say that Life is the thing, but I prefer reading.)
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To: kennedy
Is this related to a hooker bar?
12 posted on 04/15/2004 5:02:54 PM PDT by freedom1st
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To: netmilsmom
Same here. Hillsdale has been my end goal ever since we first started homeschooling 10 years ago. I get the sense that we will get our money's worth continuing our sons education at Hillsdale.
13 posted on 04/15/2004 5:03:52 PM PDT by Boxsford
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To: Boxsford
How easy is it for Homeschoolers to get in?
We have two that we are homeschooling.
14 posted on 04/15/2004 5:06:01 PM PDT by netmilsmom ("You can't fight AQ and hug Hamas" - C. Rice)
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To: kennedy
You can lead a hookah to the bar but you can't make her smoke...... ;)
15 posted on 04/15/2004 5:09:02 PM PDT by BossLady (You don't need a wishbone....You need a backbone.....)
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To: kennedy
I wonder if "His Mom's Kid" graduated college early, quit or failed out of school.
16 posted on 04/15/2004 5:11:51 PM PDT by pete anderson
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To: netmilsmom
When I spoke with officials at Hillsdale they were not concerned about 'official' HS diplomas. They're very homeschool friendly. Good SAT scores will help lots to get in. I hear Hillsdale's sister school here in PA, Grove City, is really hard to get in. Have to have top shelf scores.
God Bless your efforts with your daughters.
17 posted on 04/15/2004 5:32:17 PM PDT by Boxsford
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To: BossLady
How can you make a hookah moan????

Don't pay her!

18 posted on 04/15/2004 5:35:33 PM PDT by Alas Babylon!
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To: netmilsmom
You have an interesting profile page. Hope folks out there take a minute to read the story behind the picture.
Very cool.
19 posted on 04/15/2004 5:37:34 PM PDT by Boxsford
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To: Boxsford
Why thank you and all the best to yours!

Sunflower is my favorite little mystery.
20 posted on 04/15/2004 5:58:14 PM PDT by netmilsmom ("You can't fight AQ and hug Hamas" - C. Rice)
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