Althouse: "We've had bras hanging here for 45 years. It's been a charm of the place. So here comes this gal..."

May 17, 2013

"We've had bras hanging here for 45 years. It's been a charm of the place. So here comes this gal..."

"... and she's walking in here like Lady Astor's pet horse, you know, and she says she wants those bras down because they're a fire hazard. Now how can a bra be a fire hazard unless someone is wearing it? Honest to God."

28 comments:

edutcher said...: You mean to tell me all the women who loved the place didn't invite the press, march in there, take off their bras, and hang them up in protest?

WWFD?; 5/17/13, 4:22 PM
Sydney said...: Lady Astor's pet horse:

1. An overly dressed-up or made-up person. 1950. 2. A self-important person.

Wonderful insult. That's exactly how those inspectors come across, too. Both overly dressed and self important.; 5/17/13, 4:34 PM
edutcher said...: sydney said...

Lady Astor's pet horse:

1. An overly dressed-up or made-up person. 1950. 2. A self-important person.

Goes back to the 19th century.

Witness Rio Bravo:

How'd I know it was you?

You get yourself dolled up like Astor's pet horse and then stick your nose in that door and don't say nothing.; 5/17/13, 4:45 PM
David said...: It's been a long time since I heard someone say "Lady Astor's Pet Horse."

Made my day.; 5/17/13, 5:09 PM
FullMoon said...: The inspectors' name should be made public; 5/17/13, 5:17 PM
Astro said...: Not entirely Lady Astor's horse, just the south end as the horse is walking north.; 5/17/13, 5:20 PM
Gospace said...: "Female customers, particularly first-timers, are encouraged to remove, autograph and leave their bras behind because, well, just because."

Looks to me like a clear case of discrimination against cross-dressers and transexuals. Why aren't they encouraged to take off their bras? From watching TV, you know at least 25% or more of the male population is out there cross dressing....or engaged in some other used to be called deviant behavior.; 5/17/13, 5:23 PM
Chip S. said...: I'm guessing Skowronski didn't sign the Walker recall petition.

That's the way government works, right?; 5/17/13, 5:23 PM
Ipso Fatso said...: There was a place in Chicago called Weeds that did the same thing as far as bras hanging from the ceiling, etc. It has been 15 years of so since I was last there. It actually was kind of a cool effect. Don't know if they are still open or if Chicago's notoriously corrupt building inspector's got to them.; 5/17/13, 5:34 PM
Chip S. said...: When they took the bras down did the ceiling sag?; 5/17/13, 5:37 PM
Baron Zemo said...: Jeremy's in lower Manhattan had the same deal going on ever since the 1980's when the Seaport was the big singles scene. You would get tanked up at Fluties or the North Star Pub and then wander down to Jeremy's to get a pint in a cardboard cup.

I wonder if they survived Sandy because a lot of joints down there did not.; 5/17/13, 5:52 PM
Baron Zemo said...: Their website says they are up and running so that's good.; 5/17/13, 5:53 PM
Anonymous said...: That inspector sounds like a real boob.; 5/17/13, 5:53 PM
Anonymous said...: That inspector sounds like a real boob.; 5/17/13, 5:54 PM
rhhardin said...: Bras are traditionally burned.

The place I learned to fly had collars of soloed students pinned on the wall, but they omitted mine, possibly owing to my being under 17.

No fire hazard was recognized.; 5/17/13, 6:17 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: "...Now how can a bra be a fire hazard unless someone is wearing it?

Or there's a feminist around.; 5/17/13, 6:27 PM
techsan said...: Sadly. A percentage of "Americans" agree with the Authority (who is backed by the State). The "common" in common sense has been divided. There is the American understanding. And there is the State's. There can't be both. The next few years are deterministic of whose definition Reigns. Individual freedom does hang in the balance.; 5/17/13, 7:46 PM
Henry said...: My kids' preschool teachers had to limit the number of drawings on the walls per order of the fire marshal.

There wasn't anything we could do about it. The school space was leased from a church and the church was not going to fight the city.; 5/17/13, 8:35 PM
Unknown said...: Fire Marshall's really put a cramp in teachers displaying kids work in our schools also. I get the point, but it's very difficult to do anything even something as simple as display student work in the increasing regulations everyone faces. We all tiptoe around fearing that every action will bring down the wrath of the overlords.
No room for error.; 5/17/13, 9:23 PM
SwampWoman said...: I worked at a school. We posted however the hell many of the kids artwork and "A" tests that we wanted and took it down before the fire marshal inspection. Then it went right back up.; 5/18/13, 9:27 AM
tree hugging sister said...: If you look at these pictures in Google images, you'll see what the ceiling, walls and every available, staple-ready square centimeter of space at McGuire's irish Pub in Pensacola is festooned with. Now you've got me wondering if they send a sight-handicapped Fire Marshall into it every year. Or if they're just aware angry mobs'd burn the Fire Department DOWN if they acted...stupidly.

Much like when an out-of-town woman who felt herself to BE Lady Astor wound up all high dudgeon over the manner in which the restrooms were identified. She didn't bother to read the ENTIRE sign, plowed through the door and wound in the Gentlemen's Lavatory. She sued.

McGuire's legions of loyals went BONKERS and there was actually a compromise.; 5/18/13, 10:02 AM
Mike_in_Cinci said...: Mitchell - Pinnacle Peak in Scottsdale used to cut the neckties of anyone who wore one into the restaurant. Been doing that since it opened in the 1950s.

http://pppatio.com/; 5/18/13, 10:07 AM
Anonymous said...: McGuire's....
It's not good to antagonize guys (and gals) who fly overhead with munitions strapped to the underside of their planes...munitions that have been known to "malfunction" and accidently drop from the sky.

"Nice little fire dept you got there, be a shame if anything happened to it!"; 5/18/13, 10:45 AM
tree hugging sister said...: Well, true, DK. There is always THAT. Although, with the sequester, less of it.; 5/18/13, 12:45 PM
Anonymous said...: Easy: spray the bras with fire retardant, dry, rehang.

http://www.amazon.com/No-Burn-Fabric-Fire-Spray-32-Ounce/dp/B002TKLD14/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368900669&sr=8-1&keywords=fabric+fire+retardant+spray; 5/18/13, 1:12 PM
John henry said...: I am sure that everyone here realizes that the NFPC (National Fire Protection Code) which the bras allegedly violate, is not a govt regulation.

It is a private regulation promulgated by the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association).

NFPA also promulgate the National Electrical Code which Madison most likely also enforces.

Most jurisdictions, including Madison, adapt it and enforce compliance to it. It is easier than developing a state or local code. Also a lot easier on engineers and architects as there is only one code to comply with.

I have no problem with private regulation. There are a Helluva lot more things regulated privately by NFPA, ASME (Boilers and furnaces, f'rinstance), ANSI and a host of others.

Back in the day I used to have to deal a lot with the private regulations as well as with the public ones such as OSHA, FDA, DEA, EPA and more.

The private regulations are thorough but well written and you don't need to be a lawyer to understand them. The inspectors sent out by the insurance companies were interested in us being in compliance and would help us if we were in doubt.

Govt agencies were interested in catching us in violation. Ask them to help? Not only would they not help if asked, they took it as a confession of being out of compliance.

John Henry; 5/18/13, 1:28 PM
Sam L. said...: Pinnacle Peak cooks steaks, pretty much in the open, and I suspect tiny grease particles could float around and get trapped in the tie fabric. I would take the risk for their steaks.; 5/20/13, 12:36 PM
Unknown said...: OK, people, drop the misplaced outrage. Or do you thing that flammables on the ceiling have never been a problem (The Station Nightclub fire in 2003, 96 deaths; Cocoanut Grove fire in 1942, 492 deaths)? And, of course, everyone in a bar makes good decisions, has full motor control and mental capabilities, and can self-evacuate, right?; 5/20/13, 3:15 PM