Posted on 04/14/2006 5:37:45 AM PDT by Coop
Edited on 04/14/2006 5:42:21 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
A two-year tradition for wounded war vets is about to go by the wayside. A downtown DC steak house that’s catered to injured troops every Friday night is about to close.
Fran O’Brien’s landlord [Hilton] is forcing out the steakhouse of the same name.
“We're not feeling very good about leaving and especially the Friday night dinner,” O’Brien said.
With the restaurant soon to close, so too will go a hang-out spot that troops have been able to call home while healing, if only for a few hours every week.
In a statement from Hilton hotels, a spokesperson writes: "this is a business decision whereby Hilton Hotels is exploring several options to utilize this space."
But the decision impacts more than just the business that's getting the boot.
A Hilton hotel spokesperson say they are -- on some level -- hoping to keep the Friday night alive without Fran O’Brien’s.
I'm not sure enough people really care about this to make a difference.
Having re-read the article more carefully, the author was likely quoting Marty O'Brien! :-p
I bet the Hilton management have been getting feedback from 'guests' that the presence of seriously wounded people has made them "feel uncomfortable." Being Liberal means never having to feel uncomfortable. They equate that with "harassment."
So Hilton corporate management throws the wounded diners overboard in favor of their room guests.
Actually, it's my understanding that the bus uses a back entrance, so the wounded don't have to feel self conscious going in and out. So I doubt most people staying there are even aware of their presence.
Don't you have a favorite place you like to go? Wouldn't you be irked if your corner pub (or wherever)was forced to move to an urban strip mall? Wouldn't quite be the same.
There is no guarantee of continued success if they did decide to reopen somewhere else. Finding a space compatible to it's operating needs, financial capabilities, and convenience to existing patrons need to be taken into consideration. Granted, the "decision" not to move may be their's, and it is Hilton's right to do what it wants with it's property, but this sucks.
BTTT!
"We have an opportunity here to give the Left a black eye. Imagine not allowing the "Physically Challenged" a steak dinner."
Disagree to a degree.
The opportunity is not to give the Left a black eye, but rather to do what is right. Develop a strategy by which other restaurants pick up where O'Brien's is no longer able.
Making the Left look bad doesn't serve the Servicemen and women.
Overcome evil with good.
HIlton better come up with a better excuse than that for closing. I work for an honest personal injury lawyer and no business is exempt from a lawsuit. And besides, to me this is blantantly clear- "We accept responsibility for anyone who might get hurt at any of the other thousands of properties we own; just not this one."
Setting aside our tinfoil hats, isn't it just possible the place simply went out of business?
It wouldn't be the first restaurant to have done so.
Read the article.
HUH?? ... Is the Hilton Hotel not handicap friendly as the law requires them to be?
This excuse sounds like discrimination
Thanks for keeping this on the front burner, Coop. I'm still hoping Hilton will have a change of heart.
So am I, Plea. But I'm once again underwhelmed by the response.
Then it would be the Steakhouse that would be closing down .. not Hilton Hotel closing them down
There is a difference
It all too "fishy".
The "tinfoil" hat insinuation tells us all we need to know about that post.
Of course they are, which is why this is a lame excuse.
And they can't argue that it's economics, because they didn't even try to cut a better deal in negotiating a lease extension.
They didn't want the vets there. There is no other plausible explanation.
Wounded servicemembers fill plates, nourish spirits at weekly Steak Night (Stars & Stripes)
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