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Japanese-Style Maid Cafes Have Opened in Los Angeles

March 23, 2009 at 1:56 PM | by | Comment (1)

If you've been thinking to yourself "you know self, I'd really like to experience some surreal Japanese sexual creepiness but I just can't afford a trip to Tokyo right now" - great news! Among Japan's recent innovations is the Maid Cafe, a place where prepubescent-looking girls and boys dress up as French Maids and spoon sweetcake into the mouths of patrons. Because why should cosplay (enter if you dare) be limited to geeks? Naturally this is an institution tailor-made for the City of Angels, and indeed two Maid Cafes have opened up in the Greater LA area.

It turns out, though, that some people consider restaurants staffed by girls in fetish outfits to be a little... declasse. Knowing that, these fine establishments have gone to great lengths to convince customers that French Maid servers are the height of ironic and kitschy sophistication Ironic and kitschy and and not at all creepy sophistication.

Royal/T in Culver City bills itself as "a playful collision of spaces—cafe/shop/art space... An eclectic mix of retail and contemporary art reimagined in... Japanese-style cosplay." Read: hipsters peruse some sculptures in the outer art gallery, nod to each other about how the $15-$20 dinners are "actually really good," and try not to giggle while smoking hot girls in low-cut maid outfits lean over them suggestively. It's the creepy equivalent of an "ironic" outing to Hooters.

On the other end of town, Little Tokyo's Wine Bar C avails itself of a more time-honored LA tradition: selling sex. The sofas are low-slung, the walls are lined in faux fur, and the menu is loaded with chocolates, seafoods, and other aphrodisiacs. And of course the lighting is low but not so low that you can't get a good look at the "waitresses outfitted in chic, retro French Maid costumes." It's the creepy equivalent of those burlesque shows being targeted at couples.

Know of any other Maid Cafes in the states? Tell us where.

[Photo: Linden G. / Yelp]

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Royal/T

Just went to Royal/T tonight and had an absolute BLAST! Such a cool space with changing exhibits, a little retail store with all kinds of Japanese knicknacks, and pretty good food too!
EricRosen on March 27, 2009 at 12:51 AM #Permalink

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