Update 12/20/2006: I had some errors in this post as far as the facts presented below. I’m editing it to help show those, and the corrected info as best I can to make sure the truth gets out there.

Earlier this year, a restaurant in Washington, DC, Fran O’Briens, located in the lower level of the DC Hilton, was sent packing, on short notice. They were told their lease would be renewed, but about 60 days before it was time to resign, the Hilton Management pulled the plug, citing a variety of things, one being the lack of ADA capabilities and therefore the possibility of law suits.

The blogger who, as I recall, was the first one to notice this problem was FbL of the blog Fuzzilicious Thinking. By scanning back some, here is a post of hers that has links to many of the posts with all the background on the issue. Here, however, is the first “Saving Fran O’Briens” post.

There is plenty more around the blogsphere, from Andi’s World, Castle Arrgghhh!, Black Five, Mudville Gazette, etc, etc, etc. It got “our” attention, particularly because when the news broke, we were only a few weeks away from the first ever MilBlogging Conference, to be held in DC, mere blocks from Fran O’Briens. On Friday night before the conference, many of the MilBloggers showed up at Fran O’Briens, to meet and show our support to troops and Marty and Hal.

That’s not really important. What is is the legacy of what happened on Friday nights ar Fran O’Briens. Wounded servicemen from the local military hospitals were brought over for a great steak dinner, as a way of saying thanks to this generation’s best and brightest and bravest from the two restaurant partners, Marty O’Brien and Hal Koster, both a Vietnam Vets themselves.

As a result of the rude and unprofessional behavior on the part of the management of Hilton Corporation, there has been a grass roots protest to now grace any of the Hilton facilities with travel/entertainment dollars.

As a way of helping to make this more visible, the website Perish Hilton is now up and operating, complete with a graph to record the dollars not spent with Hilton Corporation. If you have had the opportunity to “divert” your personal or professional resources away from Hilton, the Perish Hilton site will record and display the dollar value.

The point at Perish Hilton is to not make this a site where “Hey, I coulda spent $2M with them, but I didn’t,” but one that is based on fact. You can submit your data, and the staff in the background (all volunteer) will scan it and then submit the amount to the database for graphical display.

Now, the good news is the dinners, while Fran O’Briens DC location shut it’s doors is the dinners went on for the troops, thanks to the Aleethia Organization.

[ed note: The “better news” following this editorial comment was a report in error. More background on the confussion found here, thanks to Andi]The better news is the new Fran O’Briens Steakhouse will be opening in McLean, VA, and the tradition of serving up some hospitality to our servicemen and women, as well as their families, will kick off again.

I know some people have commented around the web on how they have not spent their money with Hilton, some with pretty sizable travel budgets, and now you can make your conviction of supporting the troops known.

If you can help add to the numbers, please get over there. If you have like minded friends, please pass this around.

Questions/comments on this efforts welcomed. Leave them in the comments section or you can email them to me.

And for those of you who might like the chance to show some more support to Fran O’Briens, the 2007 MilBlogging Conference is scheduled to be held in the DC area (specific location not designated) May 5th. [ed note: We can pray this will come to pass, but, who knows?]I’m sure a Firday night join up at Fran’s will be in the plans….mark your calenders now!