Snapping a photo with Tupac Shakur, the legendary 1990’s rapper, may not be out of the question at Rook. Or at least a poster of him, that is.
The Indianapolis restaurant not only serves contemporary Asian cuisine and an elaborate cocktail menu, but is also home to one of the most Instagrammable spots in the city’s restaurant scene.
Rook customers can snap a picture with the famous hip-hop artist in the women’s bathroom, interestingly enough. Carmen McGee, a friend of co-owners Ed Rudisell and Carlos Salazar, snapped a selfie with the Tupac poster during the restaurant’s opening during February 2016 and captioned it #tupacselfie.
The trend took off from there. Dozens of photos started appearing on Instagram with #tupacselfie within weeks of McGee’s first bathroom selfie.
View this post on Instagram When you bring a newbie to @rookindy you gotta give them the full experience. #tupacselfie A post shared by Elise Shrock (@eliseshrock) on Feb 6, 2017 at 5:04pm PST
The trend began when Rook relocated to its current location on Virginia Ave. “We looked at the space, and it felt a little too fancy,” Rudisell said.
He and Salazar decided to give the restaurant a more casual feel by adding posters of hip-hop artists they liked, namely Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Wu-Tang Clan, Missy Elliott and Eminem.
Deciding where to place the posters ending up being completely arbitrary, Rudisell said. He asked his wife for her opinion, who thought Tupac should go in the women’s room because he was so handsome.
A poster of Biggie Smalls also hangs in the women’s restroom, and Wu-Tang Clan is in the men’s, yet Tupac’s poster is the only one at Rook with a hashtag following. Rudisell attributes this to the singer’s dreamy expression: “I think it’s the angle, because it looks like he’s giving you the side eye.”
“We would have groups of 15 people in the bathroom, and they’re taking a selfie with a poster. They’re taking a selfie with a $15 dollar poster off of Amazon,” Rudisell joked.
“There’s nothing special about it, it’s not a statue. We didn’t make anything special, it’s just a poster.”
View this post on Instagram #tupacselfie A post shared by Rook (@rookindy) on Jun 2, 2017 at 11:21am PDT
Rook’s management wasn’t quite sure how to address large groups going into the women’s bathroom, but decided to just go with it. Rudisell considers the #tupacselfie now a part of Rook’s overall experience, like taking a picture at the WhatLiftsYou Wings mural in Nashville.
“It becomes a part of the fabric of the restaurant,” he said. “We didn’t make it happen, but we’re going to let it.”