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INTEREST: Akihabara Maid Café Opening Branch in Los Angeles


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kusanagi-sama



Joined: 22 Aug 2004
Posts: 1723
Location: Wichita Falls, TX
PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 7:08 pm Reply with quote
Didn't something similar to this fail a year or two ago in LA?

--EDIT--
Oh wait, it was in Detroit.
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dragonmastr



Joined: 09 Feb 2012
Posts: 196
PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 7:35 pm Reply with quote
I hit up one of their spots in Akihabara a couple of years back. Definitely fun, though the language barrier kept it from being better. It would be great to see some more maid cafes in the US, but it's certainly going to be hard considering the past failures as noted in the article.
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 7:46 pm Reply with quote
kusanagi-sama wrote:
Didn't something similar to this fail a year or two ago in LA?

--EDIT--
Oh wait, it was in Detroit.


It was the Royal T earlier this year. But from everything I've read and seen, it was definitely different from Japanese maid-cafes. I think they intentionally wanted to avoid the otaku vibe and went for the hipster, trendy vibe. It was also a place that catered to business people in Culver City
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GeorgeC



Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Posts: 795
PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 7:48 pm Reply with quote
As chauvinistic as Japanese society can be, in the US we have gotten so politically correct and the sexes have become so antagonistic ---- (!) --... I just don't think something like this is going to fly in the US.

I could be wrong; we'll all just have to wait until we hear complaints from the feminists and the Alan Alda crowd.

Yeah, there's a contradiction with all the gentlemen's clubs and even some legalized prostitution in the States -- and more than a bit of hypocrisy there -- but at the same time there's a drive to keep some things so polly-pureheart it's just not real...

**************************

As for Detroit -- that's Detroit, one of the most decrepit and bankrupt cities in the US. The fact that you can't find enough clientele in the local area that will pay for the cafe just doesn't seem to surprise me. Parts of that city look like bombed out sections of Europe post-World War II or Beirut.

The fact that it couldn't take off in LA is something of a surprise to me. Not enough Asians or otaku there????
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publicenemy333



Joined: 21 Feb 2011
Posts: 563
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 8:00 pm Reply with quote
Maybe one in little tokyo is the best place for this. I live close by, so I might check it out once to see what its like.
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Aethix



Joined: 06 Oct 2011
Posts: 36
PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 8:23 pm Reply with quote
It seems this one will be run by people who actually know what they're doing in a more optimal location, so it'll probably have a better chance of success than the others.

In a perfect world, it would do better than stupid breastaurants.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14754
PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 8:34 pm Reply with quote
Shall we have a betting pool how long this one would last this time? Laughing


Guess this could be expected, that they start branching out overseas, since according to this otaku merchandise industry representative: “The boom of otaku culture, when maid cafes could be found on every corner, has passed. The otaku sub-culture now seems to have cooled down."


Aethix wrote:

In a perfect world, it would do better than stupid breastaurants.


Don't see much difference. The Japanese maid culture was inspired by Anna Miller's after all, "The Waitress Uniform That Started It All." Laughing




  • The American diner, with its big pie racks, once captured the country's imagintion. Anna Miller's, originally a Hawaiian chain, spread through Tokyo during the late 1970s and early 80s.

    Anna Miller's was staffed with young waitresses who wore iconic uniforms that accentuated their chests. For its day, Anna Miller's was similar to Hooters, but less aggressively sexy and a place families could patron. (Here's a photo account of visiting one.)

    As previously posted, the restaurant was a "proto-maid cafe", existing before there was such a thing. It quickly became an otaku hangout. The skirts were short, and diehard regulars would hang out in Anna Miller's hoping to catch glimpses of underwear.

    During the 1990s, Anna Miller's got its second wind. While the food was overpriced, the staff's uniforms, with their heart nametags, inspired video games and anime—such as how adult PC fighting game Variable Geo aped the Anna Miller's uniform and how visual novel Welcome to Pia Carrot is set in an Anna Miller's style eatery. Even the recent DS game Love Plus features waitress uniforms inspired by the restaurant's iconic outfit.

    Yet, even with that nerd cred, Anna Miller's begin closing one by one en masse after the turn of the century. By the time maid cafes, which were no doubt inspired by the chain, begin hitting big in 2003 and 2004, around sixteen Anna Miller's had shutdown.

    While Anna Miller's was a proto-maid cafe, it was never able to capitalize o Akihabara street cred. During the turn of the century, Akihabara was not mainstream as it is today (the notion that Akihabara idols like AKB48 could overtake the country was mere fantasy), and perhaps the chain was reluctant to officially brand itself an otaku coffee shop with a prime Akihabara location. Otaku took their business elsewhere, frequenting maid cafes, and as the decade pushed forward, the remaining Anna Miller's closed diner by diner.
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samuelp
Industry Insider


Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 2231
Location: San Antonio, USA
PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 9:55 pm Reply with quote
Maidreamin' is a serious business and probably the most corporate Maid Cafe with the prime location in Akihabara.

In all likelihood they will consider this shop a loss-leader and try to essentially replicate what they do in Japan, which should find a decent audience in LA of extreme Japanophiles.

More interesting though would be the times when unsuspecting people wander into the place not knowing what they're getting into Smile.
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Ingraman



Joined: 07 Feb 2005
Posts: 1077
PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:04 pm Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
The Japanese maid culture was inspired by Anna Miller's after all, "The Waitress Uniform That Started It All." :lol:
[list]
[*] The American diner, with its big pie racks, once captured the country's imagintion. Anna Miller's, originally a Hawaiian chain, spread through Tokyo during the late 1970s and early 80s.

For quite a long time, there was an Anna Miller's restaurant at a mall not too far from me here in northern California. I have no idea where the next closest one was. I've also been to a branch in the Pearl City/Honolulu area (still open, it seems), and one that was near the hotel where I was staying in the Shinagawa area of Tokyo (not there any more).
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kazziyan



Joined: 26 Nov 2012
Posts: 391
PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:18 pm Reply with quote
Need to visit. :O
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firedragon54738



Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 3113
Location: wisconsin
PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:27 pm Reply with quote
Maid cafes never work in the US
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Tokimemofan



Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 37
PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:45 pm Reply with quote
I am surprised they aren't likely to be open before Anime Expo. It should only be about 1 mile. distance.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 11:42 pm Reply with quote
firedragon54738 wrote:
Maid cafes never work in the US


I dunno, I'd think places with a historically higher Asian population (especially Japanese) would have a better chance of survival than urban and desolate Detroit.
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taster of pork



Joined: 11 Nov 2008
Posts: 594
Location: My House
PostPosted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 12:18 am Reply with quote
A better idea might be to just have one during AX again and find some Japanese women who speak English to be the Maids.
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Spotlesseden



Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 3514
Location: earth
PostPosted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 12:53 am Reply with quote
firedragon54738 wrote:
Maid cafes never work in the US


you must be from some remote area. It can work in Seattle, SF, LA ..
In Seattle area(Bellevue), there is a Japanese hair Salon. $40 a haircut. You can read Japanese manga, very cute girls waste hair, ect.

http://www.bs-tokyodo.co.jp/
yes, the website is in Japanese, but it has a branch in Bellevue. Some hair stylists don't speak much English. They only speak Japanese.
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