Bar Owner Defends Two-Way Mirror In Women’s Restroom With An Epic, Expletive-Filled Rant

Restroom bars are often icky, what with all the vomit that comes with the territory. The ick factor took a step forward this week after Tamale Rocks, a comedian, discovered a two-way mirror in a bar’s restroom.

Rocks went to the Cigars and Stripes “BBQ Lounge” in Berwyn, Illinois, and discovered the voyeuristic two-way in the women’s restroom. Behind the mirror was a janitorial closet, so basically, if someone wanted to, they could watch female strangers going to the bathroom without their knowledge.

Rocks posted a video of the mirror, which of course has incited controversy and quickly climbed to the top of Reddit.

The video shows the stall has a second door equipped with a two-way mirror.

Ronny Lotz, the 16-year owner of Cigars and Stripes, which serves up chicken wings alongside local comedians, defended his two-way mirror to Jezebel, claiming that it had been put up in 2001 for Halloween pranks. Lotz also pointed to the fact that many of the bars’ patrons have known about the mirror for a while now, due to reviews on Yelp. But the newest reviews center on attacking the mirror.

“Stacy C.” from Chicago, posted the following on Yelp a few days ago:

“The problem with the mirror is that if you know about it,  yes you can make sure no one is hiding behind it but if you DON’T know about it, who is to stop the many people who DO know about it from sneaking in when no one is there and watching women come and go?”

But Lotz doesn’t seem deterred by the mirror’s public criticism, as he told Jezebel:

“I will burn this f*cking place to the ground before I get rid of that mirror. . . [D]o you know how much joy that mirror has brought to us? We’re synonymous with Halloween. We do a freaky family fun day, and all the kids look in the mirror. This is a fun house, honey, and if you don’t like the two-way mirror, go fuck yourself.”

Lotz also added:

“We used to hang a witch’s head in there so that the girls would pee, and they’d look into a dingy closet and be all weirded out. We specialize in making people feel very uncomfortable. It’s why we’re successful today. If you get it, you get it. If you don’t, stay home.”

Lotz was frank about his intentions for taking Jezebel’s call, claiming the buzz about the mirror would help bring him press about the chicken wings he sells. In fact, when discussing the mirror, he often went into marketing mode, claiming his “angle” is selling barbeque, promoting it and showcasing local comics in Chicago, whom he tries his best to turn “into rock stars.”

Lotz also had some advice for Rocks — he stated that the comedian should be a “little bit more aggressive” the next time she wants to make a public outcry. He said of Rocks:

“What we have here is a comic with a bad set who’s looking for a viral video. She’s doing nothing with her career; she’s stuck in Chicago.”

Ever the salesman, Lotz then returned to promoting his chicken wings, because they “wanted attention.” He even kept his promise to “promote the shit” out of the story, pinning it to the top of the bar’s Facebook page.

Written by Augustine Reyes Chan of NextShark, Feature Image via Youtube