There were times you would find me curled up on the ground late at night on some doorstep of a business or somewhere in a dark spot in San Francisco. There are nights drinking that I call "a good time" and some that I'm not quite sure what happened and others that I have no other word for it except "Legendary." It was on the some of all of those nights you would sometimes find me curled up on the cold concrete in a quiet place on the streets of more than a few towns. I even look forward to some of the spots. I would get to the point that I was done with drinking, done with the people I was hanging out with (at least momentarily), and done with the overstimulation of the lights and sounds of the bar. I'd wander out into the darkness (or brightness, depending on which part of town the evening had taken me to) and start roaming the streets. An alcove behind a theater, a recessed doorway in The Mission. Places where the cops went past if you kept qu...
It's the story of a 90s rave concept that moved me out of tech and into the bar business. In bars and restaurants, we like to pretend it's all about margins, menus, and inventory. Let's be clear: If you don't master those things, you won't be open long. However, if that's all you master, you won't be open much longer. I was in the rave scene in the 90s. I didn't really look like your typical raver. At every party I went to I looked more like the son of a state senator who was tagging along with one of his friends to "see what it was all about." I was trying to grow a tech business at the time, but man, I sure did love that scene. I loved the energy, the music, and the people. They were usually outcasts and misfits who found each other through a love of the music but also because they just wanted a space where they didn't have to be around a bunch of assholes. It wasn't about going somewhere to get drunk and try to get laid. It was hippi...