What is the word I am looking for?  I was in a restaurant with my
family yesterday called Bubba's Seafood.  We had to wait to be served,
and there were no charis to sit it.  My wife asked why they dont have
chairs, why it's so crowded and cramped, and how they could be so
popular.  I said, "Because it's Bubbas!"  I could not come up with the
word or phrase to describe WHY we do something like that.  It's
famous!  I dont know.  It's the aura of being at Bubba's.  It's like
why do baseball fans want to go to a game at fenway park one time
before they die?  The word Nostalgia kept coming to mind, but that's
speaking of the past.  This was the present, and we were at BUBBA's! 
Are you getting the point?  Well, I WANT THAT WORD OR PHRASE I am
looking for.  No, TRADITION, is not the word.  Aura was the closest I
came, but my brain was saying, "NOPE! That's not it!"  PLEASE HELP!!

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Request for Question Clarification by hammer-ga on 15 Apr 2006 07:41 PDT

FabricKing,

Are you willing to accept any of the suggestions as an official answer?

- Hammer

Ambience?

- Hammer

Atmosphere?

- Hammer

Nice quick answer - but no.  Those are good words to describe, but
this is more like saying BECAUSE ITS BUBBAS!!  Its more of a  - I'd
put up with anything just to say I have eaten at Bubbas.

Maybe there isnt a word, but my mind is saying there is!!  And that is
why it's killing me and I am willing to pay $2.50 to find out!!  :-)

Mystique?

- Hammer

Any of these words?
http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=reputation

- Hammer

MAN!!  Mystique came the closest and certainly cures a small fraction
of my frustration.  It is RIGHT THERE! However, ALL these words -
mystique, ambience, classic, tradition, ALL describe this ONE WORD
that I believe is alluding me.  Maybe I am wrong.  Mystique would fit
the bill, however, as in Bubba's Mystique, there is a light portion
that is alluding to something mysterious, and that is where that word
fails.  Because, this word could pertain to something famous and
well-known, and not mysterious at all.

Thanks for the time you have put into this.  

Mark

Excuse my spelling and wrong use of the word alluding in that one instance.

Mark

Mark

Look no further!

The word you seek is 'synchronicity'.

Cachet?

It seems to me that Bubba's and Fenway Park are compelling
because of their notoriety, their renown, their preeminent
reputations, their prestige, their prominence in their fields.

It's that French phrase for "I dunno what." Jenny-something. No, that
was the French girl that told me the phrase. Or was that Barbie?

Whatever.

Aha!

"Appeal", "Popularity"?

Sublime's "notoriety" occurred to me, too.  Maybe the right word if
you think it is on the tip of your tongue and it starts with N.

Here is place you can look:
http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=popularity

"je ne sais quoi"
'I do not know what'; indescribable attractive attribute or quality;
'a certain something'.

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/difficultwords/data/d0007214.html

Rainbow~

"Character"?  "Quality"?  "Essence"?  "Unique"?  "Distinctive"?

Actually, I think "mystique" may be the best you can do.

I think Mark and Rainbow have got it, and most appropriate for a
description that Fabricking can't find a way to express.

It doesn't seem like the way the crowd of customers at Bubba's would
describe the place, more likely, they would say it has "pizazz."

"Allure"?

Myoarin, they ain't got no pizza there much less a bunch of 'em. Just seafood.

Actually I like pizzaz (oomph and zing, too). But Jenny Sequoia, or
whatever that French is, is good.

Mark,
And I really like your "Jenny Sequoia", envy.  I was trying to think
of something like that  - and even know Sequoia as a place and trees. 
 I'll remember, the next time I am served "oars devories".

Myo

The experience at "Bubba's" sounds a bit "eccentric". Perhaps even
"quirky" or "unique".

How's that?

tutuzdad-ga