HFF Quickie: That Superfluous "S"

Why the fuck do people add an "S" to the end of so many goddamn restaurants' names? In Berkeley, you went to "Cesar's," "Fonda's," or "Zuni's."

And yet, strangely one of the few restaurants that actually had a possessive "S" in the name, Lalime's was often called simply "Lalime."

In LA, it's "Ugo's," "Bastide's," and "Pintxo's."

Why can't we just call something what it's named? There is no Cesar or Bastide to own the restaurant. It's not Pintxo's Bar, it's Bar Pintxo. It's not Humperdinck Fonda's Solana, it's Fonda Solana.

It's okay to end a word on a vowel or soft consonant. Really, I promise.

Changing the name of an establishment for your own linguistic convenience is on par with calling somebody by a name they don't want to go by. It's sort of an unintentionally asshole-y East Coast/Midwest habit that masquerades as friendly or quaint.