Noisy Restaurants

With its 300 seats, hardwood floors, exposed ceiling beams and wood tables, La Mar is the Wall Street Journal's poster child for noisy restaurants. In addition to a nifty interactive explanation of what exactly makes La Mar's dining room so noisy, the piece also lets on what led the restaurant to make the change: "The staff of La Mar in San Francisco realized noise was a problem immediately after opening ... It was a 'low priority' ... until a local reviewer printed that the decibel level was 80—just under the level audiologists consider damaging to hearing after long-term exposure." [WSJ]