Facebook and Twitter are blowing up over an incident that occurred over the weekend at newish West 7th bar, The Local. Cozzette La Belle, owner of a local hair salon, was not allowed into the bar because of her neck tattoo.
La Belle said she was going to the bar for a welcome back party for a friend who was recently discharged from the army.
“The place was really crowded,” she said. “There was a line of about 10 people at the door, and when it came to our turn they said, ‘I’m sorry, you can’t come in.’ I thought it was just because of the occupancy or something.
“Then he goes, ‘oh, you can’t come in at all,’ ” she said. When La Belle asked him why, he told her it was because of her neck tattoo.
She called her friend and the entire party relocated to another nearby bar.
“It just made me feel really bad,” she said. “I’ve never had anyone tell me anything about my clothes; I’ve never been kicked out of a bar; I’ve never had any issues.
“Then I posted one thing on Facebook and it just blew up,” she said.
Since that post, social media took off with the story, and outraged ink-enthusiasts brandished their cyber pitchforks and torches.
“Based on all the buzz there will be a bar space available off 7th Street pretty soon,” one person wrote on Facebook.
“Hey guys, fuck this place,” another Facebooker wrote earlier today. “Don’t go there. In fact, if you have a tattoo above your collar, you CAN’T.”
Graham Jackson, the general manager of the bar, said the whole thing was just a big misunderstanding.
“I’m the GM of the bar, and I have a neck tattoo,” he said.
“There was a miscommunication between one of the owners and a door guy,” he said. “[The owner] doesn’t want people with obviously offensive facial tattoos coming in. ”
The person working the door misinterpreted the owner’s wishes.
“I understand the outrage,” he said. “A cute girl with a rose tattooed on her neck not being allowed in, that’s ridiculous.”
The bar issued an apology on its Facebook page:
“First, we would like to send out a personal apology to Cozzette and her friends for Saturday night. There is no way to go back and fix what has been done.
This all started with a miscommunication within our own staff, and will be dealt with accordingly. We always appreciate the very diverse community, tattoos, piercings, or other, in which we are a part of, and hope to continue to serve those who are willing to join us.
Again, there is no changing past events. The public is allowed their opinions, and we can respect that. We will do our due diligence to make sure patrons do not feel alienated or uncomfortable when visiting to our establishment. ”
La Belle said the apology was disingenuous, and the bar is backtracking on its policy because the reaction has been so strong. She took a screen shot of the bar’s Facebook administrator explaining the bar’s policy to another customer.
“If they made a real apology and said, ‘yes, we did say that, but we realize it was a stupid rule and now we’re going to change it,’ ” she said the whole thing would likely have blown over by now. “Instead,” she said, ” it just sounded like they were just covering their ass.”
She said she won’t be returning to the bar any time soon.
“I don’t really care to go that bar anyway,” she said. “It’s not my style.”
“I think it’s rude, because everyone around here is so accepting,” she said. “You can be a meat-head and go there, and you can have an offensive tattoo on your arm you can go there. But because you have a tattoo on your neck, you’re not welcome.”
“A CUTE GIRL with a rose tattooed on her neck not being allowed in, that’s ridiculous.” – GM Graham Jackson. That quote makes me want to spit acid. No, Mr. Jackson. What is ridiculous is minimizing a local business owner’s experience in 2014 by referring to her as a “cute girl.” The weasel worded apology and back tracking was bad enough, but THAT really pisses me off. That “cute girl” is a business savvy entrepreneur with a large and happy group of customers. She gets what it is to be Local in Fort Worth. Show her some respect Mr. Jackson.
Gina, you said it all and said it best.
that one stood out to me, too. Incredible what people will say with a straight face.
This is a knee jerk reaction. I was there Saturday and the dude made a mistake and its being felt with. I saw people with tattoos and on the neck too. People in this town are easily offended and knee jerk to anything. The bar isn’t closing any time soon. Damn place is packed on the weekends.
Please try to read the entire article. Since you seemed to have difficulty in doing this, I’ll skip to the part that you missed:
“She took a screen shot of the bar’s Facebook administrator explaining the bar’s policy to another customer.”
<>
So, unless the door man is also the FB admin, the situation has definitely not been “felt” with.
Whoa. Did this joker really just add insult to injury, referring to an obviously respected and popular woman of our community as some CUTE GIRL? Way to add condescending to the list of reasons I won’t be visiting. Dumbass, you ALREADY insulted a well known FTW female business owner– please just.shut.up.now.
Come down to Shipping & Receiving off S. Calhoun St. then. We don’t discriminate against stupid stuff like this.
I was also there on Saturday night and tried to get in and was denied access. I have neck tattoos, but they are not offensive tattoos. My Fiancee and I went to the bar to meet up with a wedding party to celebrate a wedding shower. The door guy looked at my i.d. and said “Sorry bro, we are not doing neck tattoos tonight.” This is not the first time I was not allowed into a bar in Fort Worth. I did not throw a fit nor talk back to him. I just said “That is too bad” and walked away. It is unfortunate that people still judge or look down on tattoos in this day and age. I am not a thug nor a criminal. I am actually a Manager at a fortune 500 company in Dallas. I lead 40 people, train sales people and also do big acquisitions for this company all over the US. I have been with this company for 5 years and I have never had a problem conducting business with all of my tattoos. This company judges me by my character and by my work ethic and not by the way I look. I wish others would do the same. The management from the Local sent me a personal apology and I appreciated that.
It may have been a knee jerk reaction but the truth of the matter is it is offensive to many of the tattooed members of our society. I realize that Clubs have dress codes to try and prevent violence but a general statement of No Neck Tattoos (especially since the owner has neck tattoos) is unnecessary and offensive. It wasn’t just one staff that were ‘misinformed’ of the policies since the people in charge of The Locals facebook were also stating the very same policy on their page in reply to some of the negative reviews. I doubt that the negative reviews will put this place out of business and I honestly believe that that is not the intent of any of the people voicing their displeasure in the policies. It is simply a matter of inacting change. If nothing is said, and nothing is done, then nothing will change. It’s a simply truth. However, our outcry resulted in not only an apology for offense but also in a change of policy where those of us with tattoos on our neck and faces will not be discriminated against simply for choice in the placement of our art.
This place looks even more stupid now. Now they will bend documented standards while blaming it all on miscommunication. Next thing that will happen is that they will allow bestiality and gang initiations just in the name of losing potential revenue. Stop acting like whores Local. Besides you concept is stupid and overplayed anyway. Close your doors, change management and open something that is not a copycat of the rest of Fort Worths corny @$$ Nickelback and Top 40 inspired bars.
This place looks even more stupid now. Now they will bend documented standards while blaming it all on miscommunication. Next thing that will happen is that they will allow bestiality and gang initiations just in the name of losing potential revenue. Stop acting like wh0re$ Local. Besides you concept is stupid and overplayed anyway. Close your doors, change management and open something that is not a copycat of the rest of Fort Worths corny @$$ Nickelback and Top 40 inspired bars.
This bar looks even more stupid now. They are now bending documented standards and blaming the incident on “miscommunication”. Next thing they will be allowing besti@lity and gang initiations in the name of “missed potential revenue”. Stop acting like wh0re$ Local. Besides your concept is corny and overplayed anyway. Close your doors, hire new management and come up with a new concept that is not a copycat of the typical West 7th Nickelback and Top 40 inspired crap that already saturates this neighborhood.
I’ve known the owners since they were tykes. Excellent guys.
Get over it, don ‘t like the place? Don’t go. They’ll thrive regardless.
It was a misunderstanding, and the apology sounded very genuine. Get your panties out of a wad and get over it. The bar will do just fine without the 7 of you who are upset about this ever going back. You can just head over to the Durty Crow and have a drink. They let anyone in that place.
It was a misunderstanding, and the apology sounded very genuine. Get your panties out of a wad and get over it. The bar will do just fine without the 7 of you who are upset about this ever going back. You can head over to the Durty Crow and have a drink. They let anyone in that place.
Awwww! I hate it when the TCU crowd and hipsters fight! It’s their bar…let them decide what they will and won’t allow. In a year or less we’ll see if it was the right decision.
I had a similar issue with The Dirty Crow. I was wearing my Texas Rangers jersey, (I had just come back from the Ballpark), and when I was in line, the bouncer/door man said no jerseys today.
I can understand if I had a random jersey on, but come on, a Rangers Jersey on a game night in a baseball town?
I bet had I been a cute TCU girl with a Jersey right after the TCU game, it wouldn’t have been an issue.
I called my friends inside, and we all left. It’s very annoying that they have a “stand alone” rule. One can tell quickly by the person the odds that they will be trouble. I can assure you I won’t be going back to either bar. This is not Dallas……
“…You can be a meat-head and go there…”
Let’s not throw people who put in years of dedication, hard work, and insane diet in the same sentence with someone who spent an hour at a tattoo parlor. Thank you very much.
You rich white people on the west side having problems?
Moral of this story. Conform, be like everybody else, get a neck tattoo.