From my friend's Facebook status update last Wednesday:
Lola's Gaspar [Gustavo note: the too-cool-for-school downtown SanTana restaurant] is on boycott status. The owner through out 7 ppl of color for no apparent reason. The only people of color in the place. The whole group of professionals whose age ranges from 25-55. Would they be treated the same if they were white?
Talked with my amigo, and this is his side: He and others (whom I also know) went after a meeting of the California Endowment Fund to eat, drink and smoke. There were no ashtrays, so the septet used empty glasses to gather their cancer sticks' residues. One of the Lola owners saw this and yelled at them for not using an ashtray; the group immediately apologized. The owner returned with some ashtrays, tossed it at their table, but continued to shoot them an ugly look. One of the guys couldn't resist. “You have such a penetrating stare,” he cooed. They get the boot. The duck tacos were really good. They paid for the meal.
The Lola side, per witnesses sympathetic to the eatery: The guys (let's call them the Lola 7) were scattering ash all over the ground and harassing a waitress all night. The owner finally arrived with an ashtray, but the Lola 7 continued being dicks. The owner yelled at the group, kicked them out, and paid for the meal.
My thoughts: My friends obviously don't read SAFII; otherwise, they would've never visited in the first place. Lola staff is known for its snobby attitude against non-hipsters of any race. The guys who make up the Lola 7, all working for non-profits or teachers (my friend is a high-school history teacher) and either Asians or Latinos, are all lefties and have too much respect for women to harass or even be jerks. They did fuck up in not requesting ashtrays, but shouldn't an attentive waitress have noticed that in the first place?
What do YOU think?
