Denise Whiting

Denise Whiting should also trademark "chutzpah" because she really owns it! Debbie Kent, Joppa

Anyone who ever had an inclination to do so should get all their family members sweatshirts or T-shirts invoking "Hon" in some way: "Merry Christmas, Hon," "Happy New Year, Hon," "Welcome to Bawlmer, Hon," and, to drive home the point, "You Don't Own Me, Hon" (off the 1964, Hon-era Lesley Gore song). That's my suggestion for a unified public response to Denise Whiting's crass effort to own a Baltimore regionalism — take away the local market for her wearable Hon merchandise by springing for some custom-made sweats and T's for our next of kin. Let her try and put a stop to that.

Let's see, Denise Whiting says trademarking the word "Hon" isn't about profit ("Hands off 'Hon,' Hon," Dec. 10)? Then further in the article she says that she "thinks when the time is right, there could be an opportunity to use the Hon brand to make real money. " Oh, but wait, she might be willing to let the city use it for free in exchange for a parking lot. Anticipating possible challenges or negotiations with the city, she says "Its going to be fun. And I'm going to be ready. " Very nice, especially from someone who isn't even from Baltimore!

For the purposes of this editorial, we will refrain from using a three-letter expression in common parlance among Baltimoreans, particularly those of the waitressing profession, that starts with an "H," ends in an "N" and has an "uh" in the middle. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to readers, but we would not want Café You-Know-What owner Denise Whiting to demand we turn over the entire press run of the newspaper, as she did with some unfortunate soul who was selling H-word paraphernalia at the airport a few years ago. We do, after all, still hope to make money from printing and selling papers, and we'd hate to run afoul of the trademark Ms. Whiting apparently so jealously guards.

Denise Whiting has not only built her life around the fabled Balmer Hon, opening Cafe Hon and founding the city's annual Honfest — she's helped to make the three-letter term of endearment a household word around town. Now she owns it. Whiting has officially trademarked the word "Hon. " Over the years, she has trademarked almost every play on the word she could think of. Like the words " Cafe Hon " and "Honfest" and "Hon Bar" and "Hontown," the name of her newest Hampden shop.

Dressed in a ruffled hair net, neon pink slippers, and a green floral muumuu, Julia Hidary was the quintessential hon. The 98-year-old Pikesville resident didn't let the fact that she uses a wheelchair get in the way of showing the younger generation of hons how to do it. "She adorable," said Emma Ur, a 14-year-old from Columbia who posed with Hidary shortly after the Best Hon competition. "I felt honored to stand next to her." Hampden was overrun by sky-scraping beehive hairdos, neon-colored feather boas, vibrant dresses and tacky housecoats this weekend at Honfest, a festival that celebrates the fashion and culture of Baltimore during the '60s.

Usually, Honfest is a celebration of kitsch, from beehives to cat's-eye glasses. This weekend, the annual Hampden festival will be honoring a different Baltimore icon. "It was all about the beehive," said Honfest founder Denise Whiting. "This year, it's all about the bird." Whiting is referring to the giant pink flamingo affixed to the front of her restaurant, Cafe Hon. It was there for years, until the city demanded Whiting take it down or pay an $800 "minor privilege fee" last fall.

The giant pink flamingo that hung over Baltimore's Cafe Hon until it was netted last month by an overzealous city housing inspector is back. We're glad to see the kitschy fowl return to roost in the spot from which it never should have been shooed away. The bird was emblematic of Baltimore's love for all things retro, and its humongous dimensions matched the outsized personality of cafe owner Denise Whiting, whose entrepreneurial savvy helped turn The Avenue in Hampden into a trendy cultural destination.

The bird is back. Or, rather, a new and improved fiberglass pink flamingo has come to roost on the fire escape above Hampden's Cafe Hon, replacing the chicken-wire-and-bedsheets bird that was shooed away by a city code inspector last month. After a compromise was worked out with City Hall, an $800 "minor privilege" fee imposed to allow the bird to stay perched over the city sidewalk was cut in half. Cafe owner Denise Whiting then ordered up a new bird. She unveiled it Wednesday night with music, searchlights and another bit of only-in-Baltimore marketing genius.