Well, duh, yes, in the case of the Hard Rock, for sure.
50’s theme diner, it could vary, depending on how into the decor they get. Just red leather booths and rock on the jukebox, not so much. Prints all over the walls and bobby soxer/greaser themed bathrooms? For sure. Although at some point it stops being pretentious and just becomes kitsch.
I never said it was *more *guilty than other places. That’s just your own gloss.
I’ve been in several semi-high-end restaurants, especially those with a retro theme, that have had Forties and Fifties pinup-girl pictures framed and on the walls, and one that has a striking, mostly-shadowed B&W picture of a reclining nude woman. (No softcore porn, though). Doesn’t bother me. If the management wants to hang beefcake pics in the women’s restrooms, bless 'em.
No idea where do you get “sneering”. I said their food looks delicious. I also said I don’t take pretension *seriously *- as in, say, mistaking pseudo-edgy decor for actual porn like the OP - but *amused *is not the same as sneering and *awareness *isn’t contempt.
Mr. Middon reported that the men’s room in the casino at the Las Vegas Riviera had similar artwork over the urinals. Nothing even remotely similar in the women’s room.
But although we thought it was amusing, we did wonder at the intent. Was it to make the men feel like they were big swinging dicks which would make them want to swagger by gambling more? Or was it to subtly make them feel inadequate and to compensate by gambling more?
Because, Vegas, ya know – everything is always about the benjamins.
From this casino design article, although it doesn’t mention urinal murals, I’m guessing that the point isn’t so much to directly impact men’s feelings about their dick size as to provide them with the illusion that they’re whipping it out for flirty attractive young women, which makes them feel pleased and attended to, which doubtless makes them more inclined to keep gambling.
Geesh. I think the most interesting decor I’ve seen in a women’s room was a plastic houseplant that had been plunked down on a rickety end table circa 1992 and never been dusted since.
While some of the women looked impressed or shocked, one of them is examining the goods with a magnifying glass (although above a different urinal, the same woman is using at tape measure extended to 10 or 12 inches.)
Heh, this thread reminds me of the long-running but now-defunct Bourbon Street Bar and Restaurant in Bangkok. Their men’s room featured a variety of photos of various animals copulating, everything from elephants to frogs and snakes.
I have seen pin-ups in some men’s rooms, but nothing that would qualify as porn, not even soft core porn. The typical Cosmo cover on full display at the checkout is closer to porn than those pictures.