Mayor Of Wingville: Exclusive Interview: Struff!

The Mayor sits down with one of his heroes Struff, Hooters Tour manager extraordinaire!

Mayor: How many Hooters have you been to now, 76?

Struff: Yup. 76. Sadly not all of them are with us anymore. And two of those are questionable because when I went to them I found that they were closed. Such as near the Aventura Mall in Florida - I drove all the way out there only to find that the location was closed because a highway interchange ramp system was built in the parking lot. I guess it was an eminent domain type of thing. But because I did not know this ahead of time, and I went out of my way to find it, I still count it. It was sad seeing the building there with no life inside of it. And a pain in the ass trying to find it since there was new highway built literally all around it.

Mayor: When did you start? What was your first Hooters store? What sparked the interest?

Struff: It's tough to say when it really started. It wasn't much of a conscience choice. It just sort of happened. My first one was the French Quarter in New Orleans in 1995. The next one wasn't until at least a year later but by 1999 when I was at Daytona and looking at one of their t-shirts, that's sort of when the imaginary light bulb went on over my head. The t-shirt - which is still hanging on the wall of my den - has the Hooters owl playing a guitar on the front and "WORLD TOUR" underneath. On the back of the shirt is a list of cities with Hooters locations. So I remember standing at the counter looking at that shirt and spouting off "I've been to that one...and that one...and that one...". And that's when the light bulb lit up.

This is me wearing that t-shirt at Warwick in 2000:

Mayor: What is your goal? (All 400+ or will you retire after a certain number?)

Struff: I don't think I really have a goal. Believe it or not but I still haven't been to the original one in Florida. It wouldn't be that hard for me because my parents live on the other side of the Florida so it's really just an easy several hour drive, but I've been wanting to save that one for a cool number. I thought of making that #50 but I was in St Louis at the time so #50 went to one on that area. Then I thought #69 would be cool but that would up being one near the Orlando airport. Then I thought of #75 but that went to one on Long Island for my birthday. So I guess the short answer to your question is that I mostly don't plan much and it just happens.

However, when I go anywhere out of town, I do definitely check the area and make an itinerary which I do stick to and I will not let anything stop me.

Mayor: How many states have you been to?

Struff: Hmm...let's see...take the 76, carry the 1...but wait a minute...I was told there would be no math involved!

Mayor: How many countries?

Struff: I've just stuck to the US so far. I go to Cabo San Lucas almost every year and I wouldn't mind one down there but so far they don't have one.

Mayor's side note: Hooters of Cabo opened in 2008!

Mayor: What is the most numbers of stores you have seen in 1 day / trip?

Struff: In one five-day trip for work I hit all seven around the Houston area, one of which was a grand opening in which I was the very first person in line and got the first (public) beer poured...

On the first day of that trip when I asked for a pic they called literally every girl to pose with me but the group was so big that we had to go out in the parking lot...

On this Houston trip my rental car had OnStar and it was perfect for me - I pressed the button and asked for the nearest Hooters. Couldn't be more simpler for me. One night after leaving one of the locations I asked for the next closest location and the voice on the other end replied "sir, it appears that you are currently in the parking lot of a Hooters", so I explained my story and they got me to the next one. :)

This past January I hit four on one day (Manhattan and all three in CT). None of these were new for me, though, but I had to go get my stamps for the Passport contest.

When I was filling up the 2003 Passport book I took a weekend trip to Las Vegas and southern California and in one day I drove from Orange County down to San Diego and hit four or five of them (as many there were at the time). I had a convertible rental car so I used Hooters as an excuse to drive around sightseeing.

Mayor: How you doing on the 25th Anniversary Passport? Do you think you'll make all 25?

Struff: I'm only about half way done the Passport so I am kinda hurting. But my parents live in Florida and it looks like I may be going down there sometime next month so I can easily knock off a bunch down there. And if I plan a layover in Atlanta to visit my friend, I can probably fill the book.

Mayor: What's your best experience? What's your worst experience? Favorite store so far?

Struff: People ask me those questions all the time and they're not really easy to answer for the most part. Almost all of them have been great in their own way. For example one in St Louis had a Hooters clock on the wall that I really wanted so I bribed them to sell it to me - we wrapped it in rolls of paper towels so it wouldn't get scratched when I shoved it into my bag on the flight home hours later.

Daytona was another great one and had probably one of the best waitresses ever (more about her later).

I spent a lot of time in the old Boston location and had lots of fun there. People I used to know from a Boston radio station did many appearances and had great parties there. One time I entered a wing eating contest there and failed miserably, but my buddies and I won a frozen t-shirt contest there once. The t-shirts were soaked in water ahead of time and ties in knots and stuck in the deep freezer for a number of days. The winning team was the one that could untie the frozen shirt and have someone in the team wear it before the other teams. My buddies and I won thanks to my brilliant idea of using our collective body heat to thaw out the shirt - yes, there was hugging involved, but it worked and we won a 200 wing party so I think it was worth it.

The only really bad experience I had was at one near New Orleans about eight years or so ago. I had my meal and as I always do I asked for a pic with one of the waitresses (I always get a pic with me and at least one waitress for my collection). But the girls all refused to be in a pic with me. They gave me bullshit excuses like "it's against policy" and "we only take pictures with little kids" and "we don't want our pictures to appear on porn sites". So needless to say I wasn't at all happy so I went to manager to complain. But the manager wasn't any better and started to say that it was company policy along with the other excuses, so I took out my cell phone and started to call the 800-number for customer comments. We wound up with a compromise of me in a pic with an off-duty waitress who was hanging out there in her sweats. I think this location was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Good!

Mayor: Have you met any famous Hooter Girls?

Struff: I met one outside of Ft Lauderdale who claimed to have been one of the very first girls at the original in Clearwater. And in Daytona was Erica, who was one of the most perfect waitresses ever. She had been a model in a swimsuit thing and they had her pic on the wall...

She posed for us like she had posed in the swimsuit pic.

She loved my step dad...

Mayor: Do you wish list of what stores you'll see next? / How do you plan a trip?

Struff: I used to travel a lot and I would always make it a point to look up every Hooters nearby and along the way.

One time while going to Las Vegas one of the connecting flight options was Nashville and this was perfect for me because I hadn't been there before. So I planned a four hour layover to give me time to get a cab from the airport to Hooters and back to the airport for the rest of my flight.

And I took that a step further when I once flew home from Cleveland through Baltimore and planned that flight with a four hour layover so I could get out to Hooters. The step further is that I went to the Cleveland location that morning before the flight to begin with, so this means that I went to Hooters in Cleveland and Baltimore in the same day. :)

I don't really know where I will go next. Islandia, NY is on my list and I have a friend in Atlanta whom I haven't seen in a while. If my Passport book is still lacking in a few months, I may have to go there to fill it up. :)

Mayor: Ever been the victim of a birthday Hooter Girl hazing?

Struff: I've been the victim of lots of shenanigans at Hooters all over the place - my friends like to play practical jokes on me. And I have also put many friends on the spot by having the girls surprise them with a "man of the hour" song and dance or hula hoop or whatever feels right at the time. Of course they're always so accommodating and it's always a good time. Like the last line of the back of the menu says: "Hooters makes you happy".