Hooters Opens `Seattle' Outlet In Lynnwood

LYNNWOOD - Well, Hooters is here.

And judging by the crowds, it's a news event only men can truly appreciate.

The popular but controversial chain chose a highly visible storefront at the corner of 196th Street Southwest and 44th Avenue West, amid a sea of Lynnwood strip malls, for its first Pacific Northwest restaurant, which opened Friday.

In the company's eyes, this is its Seattle outlet. The T-shirts say so.

Debbie Kuzminsky of Mill Creek had the honor of being the first female customer through the door after the restaurant opened.

For the occasion of the grand opening, she and her brother drove into Seattle to pick up a friend and chauffeur him up north for lunch.

"I look at these women and I just see healthy, fit women," said Kuzminsky, explaining why she finds the restaurant innocuous.

No way, said her brother, Joe Davis of Lynnwood. When men look at those women, he said, that's not what they see.

"You don't see a line full of women out there, you see a line full of men out there," Davis reminded her.

Customers are welcomed by exuberant "Hooters Girls" wearing their uniform of form-fitting orange nylon short shorts and tight crop-tops.

Last year, the Atlanta-based Hooters of America fought off an attack by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which demanded a $22 million fine for sex discrimination because the company only hires women as food servers, hosts and beer-pourers.

The chain - helped by its Hooters Girls - fought back, comparing its hiring practices with those of the Playboy organization, which hires only female "bunnies." In May, the commission dropped its probe.

Hooters bills its 191 outlets in 38 states as sports-themed restaurants with a "beach-scene environment."

"Hooters - Delightfully tacky yet unrefined," reads its menu, which features chicken wings.

Before opening last week, the new restaurant had an invitation-only dinner for contractors and "VIPs," said manager Ryan Klaus, 26, of Seattle.

Some Seahawk players showed up, including Sam Adams and James McKnight, he said. The Mariners were invited too, he said, but none showed.