Hooters and The Elbo Room: Two Florida Institutions Get Facelifts

Two Florida institutions associated with boozing and boobs are getting lifts. ...

December 9, 2011

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Two Florida institutions associated with boozing and boobs are getting lifts.

A liquor mecca since 1938, Elbo Room shuttered its street level in late October for a two month job to bring the bar up to building codes. The last time the restaurant had been renovated was 1957. Owner Mike Penrod says the upstairs will remain open through renovation, which is expected to wrap in January.

Further west between Tampa and Clearwater at 2800 Gulf to Bay Blvd., the original Hooters is in the process of revamping. The restaurant that pairs breasts with wings in over 480 locations worldwide debut in this location 28 years ago. Historians and Hooters aficionados are outraged at the decision to renovate rather than preserve, but alas: sagging boobs --and bars-- do not a dollar make. Hooters is slated to reopen on February 15.

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