The owner of an Illinois bar is defending his decision to have a two-way mirror in a women's bathroom, saying the woman who took video of the mirror ruined his "fun house gag."
In a story first reported by Jezebel, female comic Tamale Rocks posted a video showing a two-way mirror in the women's bathroom at Berwyn bar and comedy club Cigars and Stripes. The owner, Ronnie Lottz, told the Huffington Post the mirror is staying.
In a recorded phone conversation, Lottz said the mirror was part of his "live art," and that the comic who posted the original video simply wanted attention.
Rocks could not be reached for comment.
"I have to tell you this: The woman who recorded that obviously has had a little difficulty with her career, and everybody is looking for that niche right now. They just gotta find that viral video," Lottz said.
Listen to the full audio conversation here:
https://soundcloud.com/sebastianmurdock/ronnie-lottz-defends-two-way-mirror-in-womens-bathroom
Lottz says people go to his bar for a one-of-a-kind, funhouse experience. "I make a living on making people either very happy or take them out of their reality for a couple of hours of their life. My bar is promoted as haunted. I was in the professional wrestling business. I have a 10 foot mummy that was stolen."
The bar owner spoke to HuffPost from a beer garden at his establishment, where he said visitors could see Bigfoot's grave.
Rocks' video shows the mirror directly opposite of a women's toilet. All it takes is the turn of the knob to go to an adjacent room, which appeared to be a closet where anyone could watch others going into the restroom.
"I noticed a full-length mirror opposite of the toilet," Rocks wrote on the YouTube page. "Curious, I explored and discovered that it was two-way mirror, the door behind it cut away to allow an unobstructed view of the toilet...and anyone who may be using it."
Lottz said he simply expects women to check behind the door before going about their business.
"[Most of the women] in there will turn the doorknob and go ‘there’s nobody in there, I gotta pee’ and there you go. Enough said."
The two-way mirror is only in the women's restroom, Lottz confirmed. The owner said he and his staff would never allow men in there -- not because of the mirror -- but because they "piss on the seats" and upset female customers.
Lottz said members of the Berwyn Police Department checked out his bathroom earlier in the day and they saw nothing wrong with it. A call to the department was not immediately returned.
The owner said the mirror originally had a monster that would "scare" female customers.
"What we do is we put a monster behind it, and we used to have a switch, and we hit the switch, and it lights up and the monster appears, and they come running out and it’s big fun," he said.
Video of the incident shows the closet is empty.
"People have been playing with that mirror for 15 years now, I’m not taking it down," he said. "Period."
