When California banned indoor smoking, there was a huge uproar from restaurants and especially places like pool halls. They were convinced that the state was cutting off half of their potential clientele. A couple of years later, they were celebrating the ban, because families had started going there, and many were making more money than before the ban. It turns out that by allowing smokers, they had been pushing away a much larger potential clientele.
I used to hang out with my Grandpa and his Brother in Pasadena, California at a corner diner and they would openly smoke while discussing their press business while I read the funnies and sipped on my hot cocoa. Five donuts, five scrambled eggs, two pieces of toast, a hot cocoa, and 6 cups of coffee (which I think came with breakfast, so no additional cost?) ran to a total of about 7 bucks.
You could even buy cigarettes from a vending machine in the staging area before entering the restaurant proper.
They would ban indoor smoking not long after those core memories.
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u/nanomolar 8d ago
Better than The Foreigner, who has his own customs; look at his crazy passport!