Waitresses Save Environment with Pin-Up Calendar

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://gothamist.com/2007/11/26/pinup_calendar.php

November 26, 2007

Waitresses Save Environment with Pin-Up Calendar

Fort Greene’s Habana Outpost – the Brooklyn spin-off of Nolita’s popular Café Habana – bills itself as New York’s first “eco-eatery”. The indoor/outdoor flea market/café/artist community runs on solar power and rainwater-flushing toilets, uses biodegradable cups, and boasts a bike-powered blender to mix their smoothies and margaritas.

Although the funky earth-friendly establishment shuts down during the winter months, they’ve left their clientele with a little parting gift to keep them warm until spring. Inspired by vintage Mexican calendar models, the Outpost is selling cheesecake calendars featuring Habana Outpost waitresses in various photogenic poses. By today’s salacious standards, the calendar would barely merit a PG rating, and all of the waitresses volunteered and chose their own attire. As owner Sean Meenan told The Brooklyn Paper, “We’re trying to be progressive and look forward through environmentalism, but at the same time, we’re trying to be old school New York.”

Naturally, the Habana Girls calendars are printed on recycled paper with vegetable ink, with proceeds raising money for Habana Works, a non-profit that sponsors free sustainable design workshops. And next year Meenan intends to make the 3-year-old restaurant equipped to stay open year round, so ardent admirers of the Habana Outpost staff won’t need a calendar to survive winter ‘09.