tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42051570844256021442024-03-18T00:44:50.961-07:00indogpatchindogpatch is a periodic blog profiling the interesting people in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood. Interviews are conducted by Patricia Kline. Portraits are photographed by Scott R. Kline. The Klines are residents of Dogpatch. Patricia Klinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01357789973936857513noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-32099657286469159132020-02-13T15:10:00.001-08:002020-02-13T15:31:42.380-08:00Art that's meant to Inspire and be Experienced: Meet Nataly Gattegno and Jason Kelly Johnson of FutureForms<style type="text/css">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jason Kelly Johnson and Nataly Gattegno of FutureForms at their studios in Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA. </td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">"I'll meet you at the 20th Street underpass after dark" said no one ever. Until last spring that is when Dogpatch business, <a href="https://www.futureforms.us/">FutureForms</a> together with students from the California College of the Arts (CCA) lit up the night and a very dreary Dogpatch underpass to show us all that it is possible to activate these lost spaces and make them a potential gathering place for the community. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">This one-night pop-up used digital projection, light and sound as a pied piper to gather the neighbors together. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">The pop-up might have only been one night (for now) but Jason Kelly Johnson and Nataly Gattegno, the husband and wife team behind FutureForms have made it their mission to bring these types of spaces to cities worldwide. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">FutureForms creates <a href="https://www.futureforms.us/public-art">public art</a>, <a href="https://www.futureforms.us/immersive-installations">immersive installations</a>, <a href="https://www.futureforms.us/shade-canopy">shade canopies </a>and <a href="https://www.futureforms.us/interactive-facades">interactive facades</a>. An extreme simplification of their talent and vision is they create large urban art installations that make public spaces appealing and accessible places to gather. Their many projects under way include two art installations located nearby -- one for the park to be located near the under construction Marriott by the SF Giants ballpark and an installation by the new Uber headquarters located near the Chase Center. As the Pier 70 and the Power Station projects take shape they hope to be part of the discussions for the art that will activate the public spaces of those large projects as well.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">Jason and Nataly and their two children live in Dogpatch and as do many businesses in Dogpatch, FutureForms started life in the <a href="http://www.aicproperties.com/">American Industrial Center</a> (AIC). They have grown from just the two of them in their first studio in 2013 to six employees and multiple studios within the AIC. In addition to running their company, they are both full-time associate professors at the CCA. We met with Jason and Nataly among the scale models in their studio for their various projects to find out more about their passion for bringing people together. We have blended our conversation with both of them into the following interview:</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jason Kelly Johnson and Nataly Gattegno of FutureForms with photographs and models of their projects. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Why do you do what you do?</b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: small;">There is a lot of satisfaction in having something we created out there in the world and to feel you influenced a place with your artistic vision. It is a great feeling to bring people together and to know that our art was the catalyst that brought them together. One of our favorite stories is a worker helping on an installation wanted to know when it would be finished so he could propose to his girlfriend there! Activating a public space is more interesting to us than creating private art installations that few people will get to experience. We want the whole family to show up to enjoy and experience the art -- whether it be an interactive piece (</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Editors Note:</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: small;"> like the <a href="https://archpaper.com/2015/06/murmur-wall-installation-tells-secrets-public/">murmur wall</a> installed at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in SF) or an immersive LED light and sound experience. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Jason grew up in Canada and moved to New York as a teenager. Nataly grew up in Greece and first came to the U.S. for grad school.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: small;">We like to say that we are recovering architects. We met </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: small;">at grad school in 1999 at Princeton. We were both in the architecture program. We both have undergrad degrees in architecture as well. We began collaborating almost from the time we met on various design competitions and our company FutureForms really formed in 2005. After grad school the economy wasn't so great so we both accepted teaching positions at the University of Michigan. We knew our next step after those positions ended would be to find an urban area where we could live, teach and pursue our design projects. There are really only a few cities where you can do that and San Francisco fit all our requirements. We both applied to the CCA and accepted positions there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In the studio Jason primarily handles design and fabrication of the art pieces. Nataly is studio manager taking care of proposals, contracts and studio business. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: small;">Almost all of our work comes from developers and cities and some from private commissions. All of the projects are competitive bids. One of the benefits of our architecture background is that we can build scale models to showcase our plan for the installation. This helps explain our ideas and heads off any confusion that might cause problems once we are under way with a project. The models also really increase our win rate. Before we decide to bid on a project we look for well-crafted projects that will allow us to be adventurous with the design. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: small;">Although teaching full time as well as running our business makes for a very busy schedule we find that our designs benefit from being out in the world with our students. Teaching forces us to remain engaged with the world and that keeps us fresh. We are always hearing about new ideas and that improves our work. And our students are smart and optimistic so that rubs off on us as well! </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The copiously organized tool bench at FutureForms in Dogpatch.</td></tr>
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
We really feel we lucked out by finding this neighborhood. When we moved here it was really just <a href="https://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2012/04/to-serve-protect-meet-dames-shouman-of.html">Reno's Liquor</a> Store. <a href="https://piccino.com/">Piccino Restaurant</a> soon opened but not much else was here in terms of shops. We are close to the CCA and our offices in the AIC. It was affordable and reminded us a lot of Brooklyn where we had spent some time.<br />
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Our studio in the AIC really kept us in the neighborhood. We have developed a real community here with inventors and artists. Many are friends now as well as collaborators. Greg Markoulis, owner of the AIC, really gave us a chance to grow and thrive here. We love the history of the neighborhood and it has become not just a place to live and work, but also a place to put down roots and become part of the community. We want to be part of deciding how the neighborhood grows in the most effective way for the community. We are involved with the <a href="https://www.greenbenefit.org/">Green Benefit District</a> (GBD) and the Esprit Park renovation, among other projects.<br />
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<b>What would you do if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
<i>Nataly:</i><br />
Whatever I chose it would still be in a creative field and I would be making something -- clothes, jewelry -- something where it is very hands on and I can be obsessive about the all the tedious details!<br />
<i>Jason</i><br />
In our business even though we have a lot of control in the projects we do we still don't have complete control. It would be fun to take on a project where I controlled everything and could do it at my own pace. I've made furniture before and I would love the complete control of making furniture as well as the slower pace of designing and producing each piece.<br />
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<br />indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA37.7591221 -122.3895377999999737.734014099999996 -122.42987829999997 37.7842301 -122.34919729999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-87661258264673102872019-06-10T12:40:00.003-07:002019-06-10T12:46:26.407-07:00Designing A Difference: Meet Rebecca Cahua of D.A.D. Sewing House<style type="text/css">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rebecca Cahua of D.a.D. stands on the sewing machine floor at company headquarters in Dogpatch.</td></tr>
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The fact that Rebecca Cahua is running late for our interview doesn't surprise me when I look around the busy sewing room of <a href="https://dadsewinghouse.com/">Designing a Difference</a> (DaD), a full service sewing contractor, located on Indiana Street.<br />
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Workers at sewing machines with their heads bent and fingers moving rapidly worked on articles of clothing from local company, <a href="https://amourvert.com/">Amour Vert</a>. Nearby, tables were stacked with projects awaiting their turn from such companies as SalesForce and home interior companies such as <a href="https://halffull.life/">Half Full</a>. A screen printing press next door worked on a t-shirt order for another client.<br />
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The white board behind Cahua's desk is filled with the status of incoming and outgoing orders and the smudges of completed orders are faintly visible under the new deadlines. Clearly, Cahua has a lot on her plate.<br />
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Her desk has a clear view of the action in the sewing room and although we couldn't yet see her we could hear the rapid clicking of high heels which announced her imminent arrival.<br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">I see a real opportunity to have an impact in the community. I want to be part of the creative process of others and help them bring their vision to reality. And it is important to me to create local employment and keep contract sewing in San Francisco. </span></span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">We are a full service sewing contractor and we also offer screen printing and design development assistance. We work with many corporate brands to oversee their entire production process. One of the largest growth areas for us is in wearable tech products. If it can be sewn then we can do it!</span></span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">I was born in San Francisco -- one of six kids. We lived in the Mission but now I live in Burlingame. My mom was a single mom and drove for Muni -- including the T-line! She has some great stories from those days. I get a lot of confidence from my family. I was the first one of us to go to college and the first to own a business. My siblings help me out a lot and I help them as well. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rebecca Cahua of D.a.D. in Dogpatch amongst her silk screen equipment at the company headquarters.</td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">I graduated from SF State in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in apparel and textiles and then returned a few years later for my Master's degree. While I was in college I created a successful swim line.</span></span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">When I graduated in 2012 I founded a nonprofit called <a href="https://www.hashtaglunchbag.org/">Hash Tag Lunch Bag SF.</a> I was inspired by a post I saw on social media of a group of young people in NYC who made lunches then gave them to the homeless. I put the word out on social media here and a group of us met and assembled more than 300 lunches. They were gone in an hour. We gather every month and all are welcome to join us. </span></span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">I also had the opportunity to work with football star <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshawn_Lynch">Marshawn Lynch</a> on his film -- <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4241982/">Family First</a>. I worked as a stylist and really did anything they needed on the film. I found the experience really inspiring. </span></span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">I'm intrigued by the idea of meshing fashion with community service. I also hope to restart a program that I founded to train people with employment barriers such as the homeless or at risk youth in the apparel manufacturing industry. </span></span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">In 2011 I had the opportunity to purchase the sewing machines and screen printing press machine from a company located in SOMA and was able to open the doors to DaD in this location in Dogpatch.</span></span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Why Dogpatch?</b></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Even though I’m from San Francisco I didn’t know this neighborhood.<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-size: small;"> </span>I started spending more time here when a family friend bought the building next door. </span></span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">At the time our building was occupied by <a href="http://www.hire-ability.org/">Hire-Ability</a>, a non-profit job training program, as well as a mosaic<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>tile packaging and manufacturing facility. </span></span>We originally leased a small space from Hire-Ability then later the entire tile facility became available and we moved into that space as well.</div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">I felt like there was not only a lot of creative energy in this space and in this neighborhood, but also a "get it done" attitude and both describe me and what I'm trying to do with my company.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?</b></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">I would be writing and producing movies. The work I did with Marshawn Lynch on his project gave me a taste of that world. I feel that the best way to have an impact and spread your message is through film.</span></span></div>
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<br />indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-39599549528514913502019-02-26T09:41:00.000-08:002019-02-26T09:41:39.045-08:00Bartender for Life -- Yes please! Meet Alicia Walton of The Sea Star<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alicia Walton of the Sea Star bar in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood. </td></tr>
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Your first impression of Alicia Walton, co-owner of the <a href="https://www.theseastarsf.com/">Sea Star</a>, might be of someone who never stops moving. Similar to the multi-tasking glass Octopus hanging suspended over the bar, Walton cracks jokes, crafts drinks and somehow manages to make eye contact with each new customer without breaking a sweat or missing a beat of the cocktail shaker.<br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">There has been a bar at 3rd and 20th Street for more than 100 years -- including an1899 version named the Sea Star. When we first moved to the neighborhood the bar had been refreshed and renamed from the Sea Star to <a href="https://indogpatch.blogspot.com/search?q=hogan%27s+goat">Hogan's Goat Tavern</a> by owner Christopher Webster. The vibe at the Goat was one of peace and quiet rather than the current bustling and busy one of the Sea Star. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">Webster owned Hogan's Goat from 2011-2014 when <a href="http://www.southernpacificbrewing.com/">Southern Pacific Brewing</a> took over the space and brought back the Sea Star name. Barely a year later Southern Pacific Brewing decided to move on and Walton and her partners Ryan Gilbert and Tommy Shaw were the new owners. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The first few years the team was always behind the bar but have recently hired five part-time bartenders to help out. It also took a few years to complete some of the bigger renovations such as the huge front window which flooded the bar with much needed light and which was high on Walton's list to complete. The team also has plans to spruce up the back of the bar with a mural that pays homage to the neighborhood. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The popcorn machine is gone but feel free to bring in or have food delivered from <a href="https://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2018/06/glenassf.html">Glena's</a> next door or from other local spots. Walton and her team will also reserve tables for small events and they also offer the entire bar for buy outs. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: small;">The Sea Star under Walton and her partners is almost always bustling with people shooting pool in the back room and with neighbors and soon to be new friends gathering by the new front window or at the polished bar. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">With the slogan "Boozeness as usual" the Sea Star has a selection of beers -- many from local brewers such as <a href="https://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2015/08/harmonic-convergence-meet-craftsmen.html">Harmonic Brewing</a> and <a href="https://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2013/09/liquid-courage-meet-tim-obert-and-clint.html">Seven Stills</a> -- and also a cocktail list curated by Walton who shows just why she was picked as <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/2017/bar-stars/">2017 San Francisco Chronicle Bar Star,</a> just one of many other local accolades of her cocktail prowess. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">The bar has a new limited performance license so a </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">favorite</span> <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: small;">neighborhood activity is to gather on the second Sunday of the month when Dogpatch residents and hip hop enthusiasts, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dogpatchvinyldjs/">Dogpatch Vinyl DJs</a> can be counted on to make the transition to Monday just a bit easier. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">Dogs are always welcomed as evidenced by head dog, Chamba, Walton's dog whose name means "work."</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: small;">And work Walton does and, as we hear her story, has done so since a very young age. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alicia Walton enjoys poking a little fun at our President with a special drink.</td></tr>
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
I like giving people a place to come and enjoy themselves. And of course I like to make a good cocktail. I like that people come for a good time. Maybe they will meet someone. I've always been a hostess so that is where I feel the most comfortable.<br />
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I'm an only child and I grew up in Virginia where I lived with my aunt. We had no extras growing up so I started working at an early age. I started in the restaurant industry at age 15 as a hostess and tended bar at age 17 -- not exactly the legal age to do so but I was good at it.<br />
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I decided I wanted to study medicine so went to a state college for two semesters to study Pre-med. Decided pretty quickly that this wasn't for me. I moved to Charlottesville for four years and in 2002 visited San Francisco with a boyfriend. I was 21 and our friends had moved here. I loved that San Francisco was so liberal, friendly and just a lot of fun. Art, music and good food all in one city -- what wasn't to like! San Francisco just really clicked for me.<br />
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My first bartending job in San Francisco was at <a href="http://leftysf.com/">Lefty O'Douls</a>. I was there for almost two years. I also worked at <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Show-tunes-and-strong-drinks-at-Martuni-s-one-12735797.php">Martuni's</a> from 2007-2008. While I was working I also went back to school at City College. I studied marine conservation. It took me seven semesters but I finished! I also had fallen in love with the Spanish language so I also got a degree in Spanish in 2013. And frankly, given my modest upbringing I was worried about finding work in ocean preservation so hedged my bets with a Spanish degree!<br />
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I also tended bar at <a href="https://comstocksaloon.com/">Comstock</a>, <a href="http://www.brasstackssf.com/">Brass Tacks</a>, <a href="https://www.elixirsf.com/">Elixir Saloon</a> and <a href="https://bloodhoundsf.com/">Bloodhound</a>. I met Tommy at Martuni's and hired Ryan at Bloodhound. My time at Comstock really elevated my cocktail game.<br />
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I would say that <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/hjosephehrmann/">H. Joseph Ehrmann</a> owner of Elixir Saloon is the one who taught me how to bring flavor profiles together when mixing cocktails.<br />
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I also saw him enjoying his life as a bartender. He worked hard but he also found time to travel. I saw that you could do good work and have a good time, a good life as well.<br />
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Someone once asked me if I wanted to be a bartender the rest of my life -- I realized that yeah -- I do!<br />
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In 2010 I made the decision to find my own spot and I started saving money to make that happen.<br />
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Southern Pacific Brewing had heard that Ryan was looking for a spot. So they reached out to him. Initially they were looking for an operating partner but then decided to sell. They gave the first right of refusal to Ryan.<br />
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Ryan asked me to pitch for the bar with him. I taught myself Excel on YouTube so we could make the best presentation possible. We put a huge effort into getting this place -- we wanted to show that we were worthy -- that we had not only the experience but a plan. We had to not only convince the owners of Southern Pacific but also the landlord of the building.<br />
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But the landlord said no. I went off to Thailand on vacation thinking I had done everything I could. Then the landlord changed his mind and the place was ours.<br />
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
I didn't know this neighborhood at all before we took over this spot and I was a bit nervous that it wasn't busy enough to support another bar.<br />
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I changed my outlook just a matter of weeks after opening. The neighborhood was so accepting and supportive of us. Many of the people we have met have become friends and really, like a family to us. I had no idea there were so many cool people in Dogpatch!<br />
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With <a href="https://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2016/07/AdamMendelsonThePearl.html">School Night</a>, <a href="https://indogpatch.blogspot.com/search?q=triple+voodoo">Triple Voodoo</a> and <a href="http://thirdrailbarsf.com/">Third Rail</a> all nearby -- we feel like we are carving out our own space in this part of Dogpatch where a lot is going on -- people now have a lot of options.<br />
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<b>Why did you call keep the name the Sea Star for the bar?</b><br />
Given that it was the original name of the bar it seemed like a good omen given my affection for the ocean. Not only that, one of my tattoos is of an octopus and an anchor -- just seemed like the right name so we decided to keep it.<br />
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<b>We see you are mixing politics along with cocktails -- what's behind that decision?</b><br />
I know you're supposed to keep religion and politics out of a bar but given this time in our country we felt we needed to acknowledge what is going on. <i>The Fuck Trump</i> is a beer and a shot and the <i>Sanctuary City Buck</i> is a cocktail with gin, passion fruit, ginger beer and bitters.<br />
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We donate a $1 from those drinks to <a href="https://www.plannedparenthood.org/">Planned Parenthood</a>. So far we have sent about $2,000 to Planned Parenthood and I'm pretty proud of that. Also loved that on Mike Pence's 59th birthday we sent $59 to Planned Parenthood in his name.<br />
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But we won't ask you about your religion!<br />
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
I would want to own another bar but perhaps in Mexico or Thailand that is on the water. A bar that is open Wednesday-Sunday. How perfect would that be!? I truly believe the location will reveal itself to me some day.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The "For the Love of Nick and Nora" drink from the Sea Star in Dogpatch. </td></tr>
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<b>The Drink</b><br />
Alicia was nice enough to mix up a cocktail just for indogpatch readers:<br />
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<b><u>For The Love of Nick & Nora</u></b></div>
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1.5 oz bourbon </div>
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.75 oz Sutton Cellars Brown Label (.5 oz Carpano Bianco: alternative if hard to find Sutton Cellars) </div>
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.5 oz Giffard Passion fruit liqueur </div>
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.5 oz honey </div>
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.5 oz lemon</div>
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Shaken & fine strained over fresh ice into a tulip glass. Pansy garnish 💜</div>
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</style>indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA37.7591221 -122.3895377999999737.734014099999996 -122.42987829999997 37.7842301 -122.34919729999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-31309652840830624782018-09-24T12:19:00.001-07:002018-10-03T08:51:16.575-07:00Gateway to Dogpatch: Meet Girolamo Aliotti and Alex Goretsky of La Stazione Coffee & Wine Bar<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBEn5uGQ-AU5_ecAR5-AVa-83jeEofwnscoHANTbkN8lhLKkkfaz7Ot3FMGXBm4c_Z8PLHQRbUD7QBK3ZvZ5HR19E4axftme4iQy2CSVu4G4HFmnRBLQN0-CjN8XWKUZVp9QVTnPOSSY99/s1600/La_Stazione_18J4584.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBEn5uGQ-AU5_ecAR5-AVa-83jeEofwnscoHANTbkN8lhLKkkfaz7Ot3FMGXBm4c_Z8PLHQRbUD7QBK3ZvZ5HR19E4axftme4iQy2CSVu4G4HFmnRBLQN0-CjN8XWKUZVp9QVTnPOSSY99/s1600/La_Stazione_18J4584.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Girolamo Aliotti and Alex Goretsky at La Stazione in Dogpatch after finishing off a trademark Nutella Latte.</td></tr>
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Despite the efforts of Potrero Hill (AKA: upper Dogpatch) to claim <a href="http://www.lastazionesf.com/">La Stazione Coffee and Wine Bar</a> as their own, the truth is the espresso and wine bar lies firmly in Dogpatch territory. But we don't mind sharing. After all, where else in that area of Dogpatch can you get your caffeine fix pronto as you are running for the train whose station steps are literally right behind the aptly named cafe? Or perhaps a late afternoon glass of wine as you wind up a day's work or long train ride?<br />
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Owners Girolamo Aliotti and Alex Goretsky, business partners as well as life partners, welcome all who pass through their doors for coffee, wine, a panini sandwich or one of their many locally made treats from <a href="https://dynamodonut.com/">Dynamo Donut</a> or <a href="https://www.blackjetbakingco.com/">BlackJet Baking Company</a>, among others.<br />
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We have certainly been made to feel welcome from our first meeting almost seven years ago. It took awhile but we were recently lucky enough to sit down with Girolamo and Alex to chat about life and coffee. We couldn't speak with them together as they have a new adorable addition to their family -- a baby daughter. We have blended our conversations into the following interview:<br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
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<i>Girolamo</i><br />
We are both from immigrant families -- we see hard work as something that can bear fruit and bounty for the long run. You must work hard for what you want. That is the one of the main lessons from our families. So that is why we do this -- to provide a future for our family. One of the unexpected benefits has been all the friends we have made -- we met them first as customers and now we think of them as family. We feel like our little cafe is at the gateway to Dogpatch with the 280 freeway being the gate.<br />
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My family is a family of fishermen from Sicily. Overfishing had created a scarcity of jobs in the fishing industry there so thanks to my dad's older brother who sponsored him -- we moved to California to Monterey in 1989 so he could work in the fishing industry there. There is a huge Italian community there -- the neighborhood is nicknamed <a href="https://dynamodonut.com/">Spaghetti hill</a>! My mom also worked -- she had a daycare in our home for more than 15 years.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alex Goretsky and Girolamo Aliotti at La Stazione in Dogpatch with the rest of the morning team.</td></tr>
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I have three siblings -- I'm the middle child -- and none of us spoke English.That made school difficult but my classmates and teachers at school and in the community were so helpful to us. But we were still an Italian household -- once you opened the door and crossed the threshold at home you only spoke Italian!<br />
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Being in such a close knit family and community made me want to go away for the college experience. I was the first in my family to go to college. I decided to go to Chico State -- I had fallen in love with the campus. Even though I knew I wanted to be an artist -- I was always drawing -- I studied computer science but with an emphasis on graphic design. My family was worried I would be a starving artist so that was a compromise. But I knew zero about being on my own. I could cook but that is about it. After two years I felt ready to come home. I took about a year off then went to CalState Monterey Bay to finish my graphic design degree. I landed a great job as a marketing manager at the <a href="https://montereyplazahotel.com/">Monterey Plaza Hotel</a>.<br />
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I spent my weekends with my friends in San Francisco. I met Alex in 2006. We dated a year then I moved to SF to be with him. We lived in Twin Peaks at the time but moved to Dogpatch in 2007 -- a friend who lived in this building clued us in when a condo became available to purchase. This was right before the economic downturn. I had a job at a startup doing all their packaging and design work. The start up failed so we needed to figure out what we were going to do now that we had a mortgage and only one income!<br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
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<i>Alex</i><br />
I love figuring out how our customers can have a great experience. Many customers who are catching the train cut the time a little bit too close. We like to spoil them by having their coffee ready fast so they still make their train. Sometimes we even run the coffee down to them if they had to leave before it is ready. One customer who I did that for said it made her day and restored her faith in humanity! Now that's a good feeling! I guess I like the business analysis part of the business given my background -- I like figuring out the pain points for customers then improving on them for the best experience possible.<br />
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My family moved to the U.S. from the Ukraine in 1991. We settled in Pennsylvania first but my parents and sister are now in California. I went to Caltech for undergrad and then Berkeley for graduate school. I studied chemical engineering. I wasn't interested in getting a PhD which was the logical next step. I knew I could use my skills in the energy sector or in semiconductors so I chose semiconductors. I worked at Novellus Systems on the technical side. I went to San Jose State at night to get my MBA and then made a move into marketing at Novellus. I decided I didn't want to spend my life around chemicals and I was excited by the travel that I knew I would get to do as part of the marketing department. I was there for six years -- eventually the company was acquired by LAM Research. I got interested in IT when I worked with an outside IT firm to help automate our companies systems. I eventually left Novellus to work in IT consulting firm called <a href="https://www.essention.co/">Essention</a> which is my other full time job!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">La Marzocco Espresso machine at La Stazione in Dogpatch.</td></tr>
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<i>Girolamo</i><br />
We had a spare room on the ground floor that we used as a guest bedroom. We always joked that if we ever lost our jobs we could open a coffee shop in that bedroom. We decided to see if there was enough foot traffic to support a cafe. <br />
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We took turns standing at our window with a counter we would click every time someone turned the corner. We did this for about a week from 6 am-5 pm. We decided it was worth a shot. The train gave us a built in audience. We figured even if 10% stopped by it would be worth it. Plus we knew the neighborhood was growing more each year. We opened in 2009. We used every cent we had saved to buy the best espresso machine in the industry -- a <a href="http://www.lamarzoccousa.com/">La Marzocco</a>.<br />
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We did all the work ourselves. We painted, etched the concrete floors, everything. I had a lot of customer service experience but neither of us had experience running a cafe.<br />
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My brother had worked at Starbucks for six years. He trained us how to make drinks. He said we had to have a signature drink and that is how the Nutella Latte was created. He said, "we are Italian and grew up eating Nutella. Forget Mochas. It needs to be Nutella and with a heaping spoonful in a teaspoon just like we used to eat it." And now it is our best selling drink!<br />
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We went to all the coffee shops in SF to ask questions. Some owners were happy to talk to us and some not so much. The owners of <a href="http://thecreamerysf.com/">The Creamery</a> were so helpful and told us about something called the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_wave_of_coffee">Third Wave of Coffee </a>trend and said we had to have the best coffee. To them the only coffee to serve was Ritual Coffee and they introduced us to Eileen Rinaldi, the owner of <a href="https://www.ritualroasters.com/#about">Ritual Coffee Roasters</a>.<br />
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We had zero employees for six months. That's how we got to know all of our customers so well. Every year we see growth in the business. Now that the neighborhood has even more residents we hope to expand our hours, focus on our wine program more and maybe even have more outside seating.<br />
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<i>Alex</i><br />
When we first started the cafe I was still working at home so that was helpful in the early days when we were doing all the work ourselves to open. Given my background I was good at getting all the systems in place. We are also proud of our staff. We discovered that a lot of people in the food and beverage industry feel a bit beat up after working in that world for awhile. We treat them like an extended family. One thing I learned from my consulting business is if you treat people with dignity and respect and give them flexibility in the decision making they feel some ownership of the business. People can really blossom here. I'm proud that even people who have moved on still come back to visit or to work a shift or two.<br />
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<b>What do you love about Dogpatch?</b><br />
We love that it is sunny and flat! The community has been so supportive of us. We love how we can stroll down the street with our daughter and all the shop keepers say hello and often come out to check on the baby. It is like a small village.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmLy0IGd11IUYs1NVfLGRQ4RfTv3ijeXblidjQh2z8neDhUreTSolEZB2kV1M7ybN2Wuftxi6RSNoKh-ZgSgcfKRyl8seBxh1FGnn6ajaqyT-4PQwP6G85BZtHNK1EO5K52CiuUoSqm4ct/s1600/Nutella_Latte.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmLy0IGd11IUYs1NVfLGRQ4RfTv3ijeXblidjQh2z8neDhUreTSolEZB2kV1M7ybN2Wuftxi6RSNoKh-ZgSgcfKRyl8seBxh1FGnn6ajaqyT-4PQwP6G85BZtHNK1EO5K52CiuUoSqm4ct/s1600/Nutella_Latte.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Nutella Latte at La Stazione in Dogpatch comes with a spoonful of Nutella right on top.</td></tr>
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<br />indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0701 Pennsylvania Ave, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA37.7573615 -122.3928402000000212.4315125 -163.70143420000002 63.083210500000007 -81.084246200000024tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-89845822655515735952018-07-17T08:02:00.000-07:002018-07-17T08:02:47.391-07:00Be Innovative, Be Clever and Let the materials guide you: Meet Olle Lundberg of Lundberg Design<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Architect Olle Lundberg in the Lundberg Design offices in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood. The wall behind him is covered with Hot Sauces collected from his world travels. </td></tr>
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We first met Olle Lundberg as we often meet other neighbors -- at the bar in <a href="https://www.serpentinesf.com/">Serpentine Restaurant</a>. As we chatted we realized that this was the person responsible for the design of many of our favorite spots including <a href="http://mouradsf.com/">Mourad Restaurant</a>, <a href="http://www.slanteddoor.com/">Slanted Door Restaurant</a>, the whiskey bar, <a href="http://hardwaterbar.com/">Hard Water</a> as well as many other projects around San Francisco.<br />
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Although his firm, <a href="http://www.lundbergdesign.com/about">Lundberg Design</a>, might be known for these and many other high profile restaurant projects -- he actually has quite the diverse roster of clients including personal residences, wineries, corporate headquarters and as he told me recently, even SFMTA bus shelters. In Dogpatch he has lent his team's design expertise to such projects as the <a href="https://sfmcd.org/">Museum Of Craft and Design's</a> Gift Shop and the <a href="https://www.dutchmansflat.com/">Dutchman Flat's Dispensary</a>.<br />
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His studio fronts Third Street and backs out onto Angel Alley. The interesting angles of the site are thanks to <a href="http://pier70sf.org/dogpatch/DogHistSig.htm">Tubbs Cordage Company</a> that occupied the site from the late 1800s to the early 1960s. You might have passed by his studio often -- it is hard to miss with the front door that looks like an airlock and the Vespa parked out front. The back of his studio boasts an old Airstream and you might spot a Labrador or two running around.<br />
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We met up recently with Olle in his studio in the Hot Sauce bunker room to talk about his current projects and how a guy born in Sweden, raised in Ohio and many other U.S. cities -- ended up in Dogpatch.<br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
When I finally became an architect I felt like I had found what I had been looking for as a career -- a creative outlet that came easily to me. Not that it wasn't hard work to get to where I am today but that it felt natural to me that I should be doing this work.<br />
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I like to say I was made in Sweden but born in the U.S. I arrived two weeks after my parents immigrated to the U.S. to live in Ohio. My dad was a PG&E chemical engineer who moved into managing paper mills. So we moved around a lot. I went to a different school every year until high school. All that moving around made me very self-sufficient and I was exposed to a lot of different houses -- a lot of different floor plans.<br />
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After high school I went to a boarding school in Connecticut. It was a different experience for me as most of the other students were from wealthy East Coast backgrounds. I liked the academics and I also did a lot of athletics -- mostly football. I remember that most of the students already had their careers mapped out for them -- bankers, lawyers, etc. That gave me a new perspective. I knew that path wasn't for me and that I wanted to shape a more creative career for myself.<br />
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I was a carpenter in high school and college and I loved the physical aspect of that type of work. And I loved being outside and the process of building something.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The metal shop at Lundberg Design in Dogpatch. Doing their own metal work produces unique results for clients.</td></tr>
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I knew I wanted to go to a small college but didn't know what to study. I went to Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia and started as a business major. I took Economics class and lasted one day. I switched to an English major right away. I thought maybe I would be a writer but while I loved the end product I didn't like the process of getting there. I finished my major early but I still needed coursework to graduate so I took a sculpture class. I had a very young professor from New Orleans. He was very inventive, very hands on. He was in to all kinds of processes including metal work which I loved. I immersed myself into sculpture for more than a year. That's where I got my start as a fabricator. My brother (editor's note: artist <a href="http://peterlundberg.com/">Peter Lundberg</a>) is an amazing sculpture artist.<br />
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An interesting side note is that after my first year at school I had to live off-campus as dorms were only for the freshman students. I found an old chapel outside of town and convinced my dad to let me buy it for $10,000. A friend partnered with me and we fixed it up and leased out three rooms to other friends to pay the mortgage. That house ended up paying for my grad school when we sold it.<br />
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So now I'm trying to decide between law school or business school for grad school. I decided I really wanted to go to Stanford Business School. Stanford wait-listed me and told me to go do something interesting for a year and then they would look at my application again. So I decided to go to architecture school for a year. I got into Yale and University of Virginia. Since I was an in-state resident Virginia was the clear choice at $5,000/year tuition vs. $25,000 for Yale. I felt like Virginia was a better fit for me given that I hadn't had any prior architecture experience. After a year I told Stanford I wanted to finish school and then when I graduated I turned them down -- I no longer wanted to go to business school.<br />
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After I graduated I worked in Charlottesville, Virginia for a former professor of mine at his architecture firm. I moved to California in 1980 on a whim. I had been here once as a teenager and loved it. I had cousins in Palo Alto and they took us to visit San Francisco. We went to the Haight and some guy offered me a joint. I was 13. I didn't take it of course but I thought that was very cool! San Francisco felt like a European city to me and I liked the diversity and the tolerance of the city after having lived in the Midwest which isn't the most diverse part of the world.<br />
I was offered a job in San Francisco in 1980 for an architecture firm which is now Perkins + Will. I was the go to person for their residential projects.<br />
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A pivotal project for me was when I decided to design a house for my sister who lives in Connecticut. It came in at twice the budget so I did the work myself. It took two years.<br />
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After that experience I started my own firm. We market our firm differently than most architecture firms. We market ourselves as designers. Our work is very personal and we want to work with clients we connect with. We are always looking for projects that we haven't done before which is why we have such a diverse client list. We are always looking for the big ideas -- on ways we can be clever and innovative on a project. When I'm considering a new project I always have this gut reaction to how to approach the project. Most of our work is focused around a singular big idea and what materials we can use to execute the idea.<br />
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And we are always looking for using materials in unusual ways. Our studio includes a metal fabrication shop which allows us to know how to put materials together. The shop also helps us solve problems as they come up. We also use the shop to create signature pieces for our projects such as a reception desk or light fixtures. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Pool Room at Lundberg Design in Dogpatch. The offices used to be an auto repair shop.</td></tr>
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
We have been in Dogpatch since 1996. Before we found this place we leased studio space at various spots in SF. We had a studio at Tehama and 16th but it was red tagged after the earthquake. We then moved to a spot in SOMA on 12th Street with the goal of buying a building in SOMA so we could control our future a bit. But this was during the first tech boom so we missed out on the opportunity by about a year. All the small buildings got snatched up first during this boom time. I had an SBA loan so I cast a wider net in my search.<br />
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We focused on the old Mission Police Station that was no longer in use at 25th Street that was going to go up for auction. Two days before the auction a homeless advocacy group got involved and wanted the city to consider that site for housing. That got a lot of press and public outcry for the city to take action so then Mayor Willie Brown took it off the market.<br />
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That spot was never right for public housing but now everyone knew that it was available so the price went up. We lost out to another architecture firm.<br />
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I heard about our current place from one of my employees. It was a former SAAB repair shop. We think it was originally built in 1933 as a mattress factory but never used in that way. It might have been used as a stable at one time -- we have found a lot of horse shoes.<br />
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We also looked at a really cool space on Yosemite Street but I had a sensed that Dogpatch was going to change faster than that neighborhood.<br />
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It was filthy as auto repairs shops are but I loved the geometry of the space. It has a dramatic central space and concrete walls and wood beams. I used all of my SBA loan to buy the building and the last bit of my credit line to sand blast all the years of accumulated dirt from the space.<br />
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I had never been in Dogpatch before this. Never had a reason to go to this neighborhood. There was no Mission Bay at the time so this neighborhood seemed far from the main part of San Francisco. It seemed like a pretty sketchy place. There were no retail shops or decent restaurants -- the space where Serpentine is now was a Chinese Restaurant. We liked that the Hell's Angels had a clubhouse next door. Not that we have interacted much over the years but it gave us a good feeling that they were nearby.<br />
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<b>What's the deal with all this hot sauce?</b><br />
My wife and I love to travel and we love hot sauce. We always pick up two bottles when we travel -- one to consume and one to display in this room. We have been married for 28 years so that's a lot of hot sauce.<br />
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
Honestly I'll be doing this until I can't do it anymore. I've worked hard to have this firm, this life style so why would I give it up. I find building things to be very therapeutic so when I'm not doing this I'm working on a <a href="https://www.lundbergdesign.com/project/lundbergbreuer-cabin">cabin</a> I purchased with my wife in 1996. We have been using mostly recycled materials. We head there every weekend to work on it.indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA37.7566498 -122.3885187000000212.234615299999998 -163.69711270000002 63.278684299999995 -81.079924700000021tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-80995536893344793812018-06-05T08:25:00.000-07:002018-06-05T08:25:20.028-07:00Fine Dining Pedigree with a Beach Soul: Meet Mike and Stephanie Gaines of Glena's<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mike and Stephanie Gaines of Glena's restaurant in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood. </td></tr>
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We were eager to try the new Mexican restaurant that had been rumored to take over the space where the Mexican/Salvadorian Restaurant, The New Spot, had been a favorite of residents and workers in the neighborhood on 20th Street at Illinois for more than five years. The restaurant we discovered when Glen'a opened in February 2016 was not a traditional Mexican Restaurant and in fact, is actually more of a California cuisine bar bites and craft cocktail restaurant than a Mexican Restaurant at all.<br />
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<a href="https://www.glenassf.com/">Glena's</a> has now become one of our favorite places to hang out in Dogpatch and given the increasing crowds, we are not alone in feeling that way.<br />
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When you enter the small space it feels well, breezy. And that's not just from the wind that can howl along 20th Street some days. The small space had been transformed with fresh white paint, green tile, and the a rich dark wood for tables. A bar now dominates the space. There is no artwork on the walls all lending to the open feeling of the space. If you look close you can see a small figurine on the bar called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekeko">Ekeko</a> -- a bringer of good luck and prosperity from Bolivia -- a nod to owner Stephanie Gaines birthplace.<br />
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And yes, there are tacos and margaritas but there is also a Fire Dog (beef hotdog) and Fried Chicken Torta sandwich that can be washed down with any number of tasty cocktails.<br />
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The space and the food and drink menus reminds us of places we used to frequent when we lived near the beach in Southern California. It has a distinct beach bar bite vibe and you almost expect to feel the grit of sand under your feet as you take your seat at the bar or one of the tables.<br />
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So we weren't surprised to hear that chef owner Michael Gaines grew up in Southern California. He and wife and co-owner, Stephanie, have many years of fine dining and start up restaurant experience between then including stints at <a href="http://garydanko.com/">Gary Danko</a>, <a href="https://www.manresarestaurant.com/">Manresa</a>, <a href="http://www.delfinasf.com/">Delfina</a>, <a href="https://www.centralkitchensf.com/">Central Kitchen</a>, <a href="https://www.eatatplow.com/">Plow</a> and <a href="http://kinkhao.com/">Kin Khao</a>.<br />
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But they have always had the shared goal of wanting to someday open their own restaurant.<br />
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<i>Stephanie Gaines</i><br />
<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
It is gratifying when a customer gets what we are trying to do -- we want customers to have a happy time and eat food made with good quality ingredients. Go ahead -- stay awhile -- have another drink. Relax with your friends.<br />
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I've always loved cooking but certainly didn't get that from my parents who didn't cook at all! I mostly watched cooking shows and then tried out various recipes. And I have been working in restaurants for most of my adult life.<br />
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I was born in Bolivia but moved to California when I was four years old. My dad is from Kansas and my mom from Tennessee. My dad grew up in Bolivia -- his parents were missionaries. My mom was an artist and was studying textile weaving techniques in Bolivia when they met.<br />
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My dad got a job teaching middle school in Martinez and my mom was a professor at Cal State Hayward so we settled in Berkeley. But I never spent any summers in California as my mom was awarded grants to go to Peru and Bolivia every summer on archaeological digs. I have a vivid childhood memory of her describing to someone in great detail the right way to unwrap a mummy! I actually got to go on a dig with her when I was a teenager.<br />
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I went to college at U.C. Santa Cruz to study environmental studies and art history. While I was in college I worked at <a href="http://www.growbetterveggies.com/growbetterveggies/about-love-apple-farm.html">Love Apple Farm</a>s in the Santa Cruz mountains. Love Apple Farms uses biodynamic and organic techniques to grow fruits and vegetables. It was there that I met David Kinch -- the chef and owner of Manresa Restaurant. The farm had a partnership with Kinch to provide his restaurant with fruits and vegetables. I actually also met Mike there but we didn't date until later.<br />
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I didn't know any better so I asked David for a hostess job at Manresa! Of course they don't have that type of job there but he did hire me and I was front of the house and worked there through college. I graduated in 2008 which of course was a terrible time to be looking for a job so I did a bunch of restaurant gigs while I decided what my next step would be.<br />
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I wanted a place of my own but needed an affordable place to live so with the help of my step father who knew a lot about sailing I bought a 27 foot Coronado sailboat and docked it in the Berkeley Marina. Mike and I had started dating in 2011 and he thought it was pretty cool I had a boat and he actually knew how to sail it.<br />
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Mike was hired to work at Central Kitchen but the summer before he was to start he was offered a job as a chef on a mega yacht docked in Chicago. I went with him -- we had been dating all of two weeks. When we moved back to San Francisco I worked at several restaurants including Delfina and Four + Water before ending up at Plow -- the popular brunch spot in Potrero Hill.<br />
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We lived in Hayes Valley for about a year but eventually moved to Potrero Hill in 2013, married in 2014 and still live in Potrero Hill with our two little girls.<br />
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I've always been a front of the house person in a restaurant -- even if I wasn't hired from the beginning to be in that role! I think it is because I'm a great multitasker and I truly care about the restaurant and the customer experience.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mike Gaines speeds by the nicely stocked bar at Glena's in Dogpatch. </td></tr>
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<i>Mike Gaines</i><br />
<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
I enjoy providing a fun, approachable dining experience for your friends and family. I like that I can be creative and make changes to the food or drinks on a whim. That's a bit more difficult to do in the fine-dining world that I came from.<br />
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The type of food we are doing is really just bar food -- California cuisine. But it is good quality bar food and our bar program is solid. This is food I grew up on. I grew up on Balboa Island -- a small beach town located in Orange County in Southern California.<br />
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My grandmother -- Glena -- taught me how to cook. She grew up in the Midwest and her mom was from Louisiana so her cooking was of the eggs in bacon fat type of food. Kind of a southern Midwestern style. Glena and my grandfather were great entertainers as well. She was a life long cocktail waitress so that is the sort of world they lived in. They had great cocktail parties and their house was perfect for that type of entertaining.<br />
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She lived in Reno but she would often come and stay with us when we were growing up while my mom was at work. My mom worked in finance and my dad was a contractor.<br />
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I was all set to go to U.C. Santa Barbara for college to become a teacher. But Santa Barbara is on the quarter system so I wasn't going to start until October. I got a job at a restaurant while I waited for school to start and was hooked. I had always wanted to cook but didn't realize you could actually have a career doing it.<br />
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I came to San Francisco to go to the California Culinary Academy. My internship at Gary Danko turned into a full time job and I stayed there about four years followed by another four years at Manresa. I was also the opening chef at Central Kitchen and helped to open Kin Khao.<br />
<br />
But all along Stephanie and I wanted to open our own place -- to take all that we had learned from these Michelin starred restaurants about dining, technique and ingredients and create our own customer experience. We held pop ups around town to test the concept and opened Glena's -- named after my Grandmother of course, in 2016.<br />
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We continue to adjust as we learn what customers want and how we work best. We started with just counter service now we have table service, for example. We are really proud of our bar program and customers can look forward to the cocktail menu changing seasonally. Matthew Campbell who made his mark at <a href="http://www.comalberkeley.com/">Comal</a> in Berkeley recently joined as our bar manager. I think our small size and the ability to be creative with the program and make it his own really appealed to him.<br />
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We hope to one day soon sell our chips and hot sauce to stores and other restaurants. Our space is small but we do offer it for private parties. We know customers can be disappointed when we are closed for a private party but that is just the reality of the cost of doing business in San Francisco. We hope to open more restaurants some day but right now we are just trying to staff this one. Finding and retaining good team members is tough for restaurants and we are no exception. We feel great that we are fully staffed right now and have a great team.<br />
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
We started looking in 2015 and looked for a long time in SF before we heard this spot might be available to lease. We were super close to signing a lease in Mission Bay at the corner of Channel and 4th Street across from The Market Hall. We live in Potrero Hill and would have loved to stay close to our neighborhood. It was a huge space and we were excited to get started but in the end the lease terms were too unreasonable and we had to pass on the opportunity. That space continues to be available by the way!<br />
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So, we kept looking. Then we heard that the landlord of this space was looking for new tenants so we took a look. Even though it is a small space we were excited to find it. We know Dogpatch well since we live so close and are happy to be part of this community. We continue to learn what the neighborhood needs and have adapted since we opened to provide a fun place with good food and cocktails for everyone.<br />
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
<i>Stephanie:</i> I think for both of us this was always the goal to have our own place. So this is it! If I left the restaurant world I would most certainly be doing something related to art -- perhaps in textiles given my education and from being inspired by my mom's expertise.<br />
<i>Mike:</i> It's been so long since I have thought of anything else but restaurants but I have always had an interest in Oceanography -- in learning about preservation.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Editor's note:</b> we interviewed Mike and Stephanie while sipping on Toes in the Sand -- a drink from their secret menu. Ask for one! And also ask what else is on the secret drink and food menu....)</span></i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIM-vNJdc4d2dLc9Z6WjAEl7rygnoGb0n01GmSZGTzRCUOfSM0ofRN672Jw4pWtq6xkunvTgOloJiMlDEpSKMxkCfrW4myxx6sRUNC8mgF4S6FH81pYONSrIGfCfKwspAOnTgTuuN3PVg/s1600/Glenas_indogpatch_18E3500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIM-vNJdc4d2dLc9Z6WjAEl7rygnoGb0n01GmSZGTzRCUOfSM0ofRN672Jw4pWtq6xkunvTgOloJiMlDEpSKMxkCfrW4myxx6sRUNC8mgF4S6FH81pYONSrIGfCfKwspAOnTgTuuN3PVg/s1600/Glenas_indogpatch_18E3500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ekeko the Bolivian bringer of good luck and prosperity stands watch behind the bar at Glena's in Dogpatch, San Francisco. </td></tr>
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indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0632 20th St, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA37.760716 -122.3882105999999812.437242000000001 -163.69680459999998 63.084190000000007 -81.07961659999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-75994416875333867632018-05-08T06:52:00.000-07:002018-05-08T14:53:36.497-07:00"A piece of heart, part of a soul, a private moment in someone's life": Meet Curator Hugo Lai of hugomento<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hugo Lai among his beautiful ceramics and textiles at hugomento in Dogpatch, San Francisco.</td></tr>
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Entering the tiny shop of <a href="https://www.hugomento.com/">hugomento</a> in the blue building on 22nd Street you can feel your shoulders relax. Soft music is playing, the faint scent of incense fills the air and your eye rests on various vignettes of ceramics and textiles arranged almost as if the owner had known how you would arrange them in your own home.<br />
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Then you hear the rumble of what sounds like an ice machine behind a beautiful walnut <a href="http://store.hermanmiller.com/accessories/accents/eames-molded-plywood-folding-screen/4570.html?lang=en_US">Eames </a>screen. Yes, that is an ice machine and you can also spy a stainless steel work table revealing that this space was previously home to <a href="http://piccino.com/">Piccino's </a>coffee bar and most recently, the <a href="https://www.recchiuti.com/">Recchiuti Chocolate </a>retail space, Little Nib.<br />
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But the rumblings don't break the spell of wanting to touch each piece of pottery. Go ahead, owner Hugo Lai encourages it and is on hand to share with you the artist's story for each piece in his shop.<br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
I have collected pottery for more than 15 years. I have met talented artists through the SF Open Studios and also throughout my travels. I was really drawn to pottery as I got to know the artists. I liked that you could touch the pieces, unlike a painting or other type of art. I especially liked hearing the story of the artist who made the piece and discovering what influenced them while they created the piece. You can feel the soul of each piece as you hold it.<br />
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I realized that many of the artists are talented at what they do but not so much at marketing themselves or having a platform to show their work. This is especially true for emerging or unknown artists.<br />
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And telling stories is what I'm good at after having spent 23 years in marketing and advertising in agencies and corporations. In 2016 I left my position as a partner in a local advertising agency. I was burnt out and ready for a change. I decided to travel and think about what my next step would be. I'm from Hong Kong and my family is still there so I also spent a lot of time there. (editor's note: Hugo is the youngest of six children -- he has five sisters!)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Curator Hugo Lai relaxes at his store hugomento in the blue building on 22nd street in Dogpatch, San Francisco. </td></tr>
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I was always creating art as a kid but realized I wasn't talented enough. So when I came to the U.S. in 1989 for college, I knew I wanted to pursue something that was both creative and practical and advertising seemed like a good fit for me.<br />
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So now that I was ready for a change, I knew in my gut I wanted to do something with art and specifically, pottery. I like to think of my shop as a hybrid gallery and concept shop but that is still evolving. The original pieces in the shop were from my own collection. I carry pieces by local artists as well as artists outside the U.S. --- storied objects from near and far is how I like to describe how I acquire items. And I want the shop to feel accessible -- not stuffy or off-putting. I've tried to arrange the pieces as how customers might display them in their own home. And my pricing is also accessible -- my ceramic pieces range right now from $30-$450.<br />
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I also have a variety of textile pieces in my shop. In fact, in collaboration with <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=jack+fischer+gallery&oq=jack+fis&aqs=chrome.1.0l5j69i57.2835j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">Jack Fischer Gallery</a> in the <a href="http://minnesotastreetproject.com/">Minnesota Street Project</a>, we are presenting an exhibition of textiles that showcase classic sewing techniques and Japanese traditions inspired by travel, fashion, photography. The exhibition opens May 5 and runs through May 30.<br />
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
I never really considered any other neighborhood. I moved to Dogpatch in 2000 into the then brand new building at 23rd and Minnesota. I had originally thought that I would start really small and have clients come to my Dogpatch condo by appointment but then two things happened -- the Minnesota Street Project literally opened across the street from me and second, Jacky Recchuiti, whom I have known for a long time from the neighborhood, told me they were moving down the block so their Little Nib space would be available if I wanted it. It almost seemed like the stars were aligning for me to open a real retail space. Dogpatch was becoming a destination for art thanks to the Minnesota Street Project and this perfect space was available. So I decided no more excuses and hugomento opened in 2016.<br />
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<b>Why did you name your shop hugomento?</b><br />
The "mento" part of the name spoke to me as I was brainstorming names for the shop. One of the main reasons is that I liked the word "momento" to describe the items I have in my shop. Momento means memory and keepsake. And that really spoke to me for describing what I hope to do.<br />
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<b>What is your advice for novice collectors?</b><br />
If you see an item you like -- pick it up and hold it. If it speaks to you then it is the piece for you. Don't look at the price. Expensive doesn't mean better.<br />
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
Perhaps a filmmaker -- I love hearing and telling people's stories. So my films would be character studies. And if money wasn't an issue I would always be traveling! I enjoy meeting people and discovering how they see the world.<br />
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<b>Editor's note:</b> Here are just a few of the artists Hugo works with:<br />
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://ealishwilson.com/">Ealish Wilson <o:p></o:p></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.lencarella.coml/">Len Carella</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.andrewdewitt.com/">Andrew DeWitt</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.mineralworkshop.com/">Carrie Crawford </a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.damazustudio.com/">DAMAZU </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://luckyrapp.com/">Lucky Rapp</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Editor's Note: The quote in the title of this post is from artist </span><a href="https://www.imagekind.com/Invest-In-Artists_art?imid=c37718a7-cf60-41be-af4b-9076cf4dbffd" style="font-size: small;">Rebekah Joy Plett</a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Storied objects from near and far at hugomento in Dogpatch, San Francisco.</span></td></tr>
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</style>indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-9336885861296383682018-02-14T08:33:00.002-08:002018-02-14T08:36:25.471-08:00Good, Better, Best: Meet Jamie Gentner of Center Hardware<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamie Gentner of Center Hardware in the Dogpatch Neighborhood in San Francisco. Jamie is a fourth generation hardware entrepreneur. </td></tr>
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When I was a kid growing up in Indiana the sight of my dad with his feet sticking out from under the kitchen sink or from beneath our car struck fear in my heart. Fear because I dreaded being asked to ride my bike to the local hardware store to pick up a critical part or a missing wrench that was needed to finish the job. Our local hardware was a lot of things but it wasn't helpful to a kid with scabbed knees with dollars wadded up in their pockets wandering the aisles looking lost. And I almost ALWAYS bought the wrong thing which incurred the wrath of Dad and yet another bike ride to the hardware store.<br />
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Despite this hardware PTSD, I retain a certain fondness for hardware stores. The idea that if I looked hard enough I would find whatever I needed for whatever needed fixed in my life was fixed firm in my DNA.<br />
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I seriously doubt though that my small town hardware store could envision the mix of customers that frequent <a href="http://www.centerhardware.com/">Center Hardware</a>. The clerks' head would be on a permanent swivel just taking it all in. Burners, makers, artists and oh yes, contractors, city workers, and more all find what they are looking for at Center Hardware. That poncho you need for the rainy day protest on Golden Gate Bridge? They have it. The tool you need to turn the bike you are taking to burning man into an art piece? They have it. Need an American flag for a photo shoot like I needed last week? They had it.<br />
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Every town needs a hardware store, a bank and a grocery store. Dogpatch may not have a bank or a grocery store (fingers crossed on that last one) but when Center Hardware took over the at Third Street and 26th -- we finally had our hardware store. Of course they were always nearby in Potrero Hill but the walk from Mariposa under the freeway wasn't always the most pleasant of journeys. But they almost didn't reopen at all according to chief operating officer, Jamie Gentner. <br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Because a city needs basic services like a hardware store and not only coffee shops. We keep things running -- Muni, the Department of Public Works -- you name it. Because I believe we need to show up. At the end of the day we felt that there was no one doing what we do left in San Francisco.<br />
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But we have been through a lot. In 2014 <a href="http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2014/12/hardware-housing-potrero-hill-proposed.html">Socket Site</a> announced that our store was closing to make room for condos. Our business is still recovering from the misconception that we were closing for good. Our landlord hadn't told us yet of this decision so you can imagine how disruptive this was. <br />
<br />
The Potrero Hill neighborhood really rallied to keep us at our Mariposa Street location. <br />
But thankfully we actually do have a good relationship with our landlord and they found us our current space which they also own. The electrical company that was in this building moved to a bigger space also owned by our landlords so we all just moved around a bit.<br />
<br />
I mean we can't actually be against development since we are in the business of selling tools to help that development!<br />
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My grandfather's uncle lived in Ocean View neighborhood of San Francisco and started the Ocean View hardware store there after World War II. After the war it was a boom time so he was really busy. He asked my grandfather to help out. My grandfather was supposed to teach PE but he never left the hardware business. My dad, Keith Gentner, started helping out and he never left either.<br />
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In 1980 Center Hardware at 4th and Brannan was looking for a partner so my dad merged the two businesses and closed the Ocean View location. My dad also made the pivot from only selling to the walk in public to also selling to the government and commercial businesses. In 1986 we move the store to the Mariposa location.<br />
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I started helping out in the mid-1980s. I was eleven and wanted money to buy cassettes from Tower Records. I cleaned, did inventory and sometimes worked the cash register. I wasn't always so helpful. <br />
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I left when I was 15 because I wanted to buy clothes from The Gap and I wanted that 30% discount they gave if you worked there so off I went to work at The Gap. I helped to open the first GapKids/Baby Gap in the nation on Burlingame Avenue. I worked there through high school. <br />
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I thought I wanted to be a vet so I went to the University of Reno with plans to go to U.C. Davis later. But I flunked Physics 101 and that was the end of that idea. My professor generously let me pass the class but said my brain wasn't a physics brain and to find myself a new passion. Which I then decided was journalism so my final degree was in copy editing.<br />
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When I graduated in 1998 I asked my dad if I could work at the shop while I figured out how to get a job in journalism. And just like my grandfather and my dad, I never left. And by the way, my son is now working here during the summers.<br />
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Everyone in our industry is worried that Amazon will get into the hardware space. But the online market seems to have resisted the home improvement market. We are a needs based business which makes it tough to be an online business. You walk into a shop with a need and there is someone to help you.<br />
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We like that we offer good, better, and best options -- every budget is served. <br />
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In the future we hope to keep hosting local popups and perhaps a few seasonal neighborhood events like a pumpkin patch and a Christmas tree lot. We would also love to offer training classes.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamie Gentner of Center Hardware in the middle of the nuts and bolts of the hardware business. Jamie was named Businesswoman of the Year in 2017 by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce at the Excellence in Business Awards (Ebbies) </td></tr>
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
<br />
Moving to Dogpatch was a no brainer. We aggressively looked here. Greg Markoulis of the <a href="http://aicproperties.com/">American Industrial Center</a> offered us a spot in his building and it would have been a blast to be with all the businesses we already know but the space that would fit our business best was already occupied by Dogpatch Bolders.<br />
<br />
We wanted to be north of Cesar Chavez because we needed the convenience of moving materials down the Third Street corridor through town so this location right off of Third Street is a major win for us. This building has the same footprint as our old space but it has a better layout so we have about 35% more inventory.<br />
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We love this neighborhood and try to source as many services from here as possible -- printing, photography, etc. We are an active member of the new <a href="http://www.dbasf.com/">Dogpatch Business Association</a> as well.<br />
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Dogpatch is very San Francisco. The entire neighborhood is like that Cheers TV show -- I can't walk more than three blocks without seeing someone I know and stopping to chat. Feels like everyone here is rooting for each other to succeed and has the "how can I help you mentality".<br />
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
I would love to buy a city block and have Center Hardware on the street level with a trade school above. But I guess that is still doing a version of this!<br />
<br />
So maybe I would indulge my passion for what I call junking -- finding treasures and restoring them. I love to collect from pre-1945 era. I live in a Victorian that I bought from the family that built it. I love the history of that and finding items to fill it.indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com03003 3rd St, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA37.7510418 -122.387132712.425205800000004 -163.6957267 63.076877800000005 -81.0785387tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-10015884024370331782017-09-26T08:25:00.000-07:002017-09-26T08:37:49.301-07:00The Thrill of the Hunt: Meet Carlos and Christine Villalta of MidCentury Modern Finds<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0G2sgTaDX3sFkU83uMMUg34BWzs_j2pFTd9D2gP13iuSbCp4vw4ubQba8qrhp2zV13_u9h2w9la1tyLQBZmImHB5jENV8ROuT5eAsLfPI87njc4RxhKbID31OA4ZJg0oLSR-cp5rELco3/s1600/MidCentury_Modern_17L2217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0G2sgTaDX3sFkU83uMMUg34BWzs_j2pFTd9D2gP13iuSbCp4vw4ubQba8qrhp2zV13_u9h2w9la1tyLQBZmImHB5jENV8ROuT5eAsLfPI87njc4RxhKbID31OA4ZJg0oLSR-cp5rELco3/s1600/MidCentury_Modern_17L2217.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carlos and Christine Villalta of Dogpatch's Midcentury Modern Finds with some of their products at their headquarters in Dogpatch, San Francisco. </td></tr>
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As long time fans of all things <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-century_modern">midcentury modern</a>, we enjoy wasting time surfing the internet for furniture we no longer have room for and accessories that we just might find a spot for. <br />
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We were pleasantly surprised to happen upon the website <a href="http://www.midcenturymodernfinds.com/">Midcentury Modern Finds</a> (MCM Finds) -- not just because they have a great selection of midcentury furniture and accessories, but also because they are located in Dogpatch.<br />
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MCM Finds is located in the <a href="https://www.storagesanfrancisco.com/self-storage-san-francisco-ca-f4324?utm_source=GoogleLocal&utm_medium=WRLocal&utm_campaign=f4324">San Francisco Storage building</a> -- the same large storage facility at 23rd and Illinois where one-time Dogpatch business, <a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2013/09/liquid-courage-meet-tim-obert-and-clint.html">Seven Stills</a>, started and customers of <a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/search?q=dogpatch+dance">Dogpatch Dance </a> still boogie, dance and twerk.<br />
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Married couple Carlos and Christine Villalta run MCM Finds together. For Christine, it is her full time endeavor and for Carlos, a part time labor of love on weekends and in the evenings after he finishes work at the SFMTA where he has worked for many years. <br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">MCM Finds looks for designs from such American designers as George Nelson, Harry Bertoia, and Florence Knoll; Brazilian Modern Designers such as Joaquim Tenreiro, Sergio Rodrigues and Jorge Zalzupin as well as French designers such as Raymond Loewy, Pierre Paulin and Charlotte Perriand.</span><br />
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MCM Finds primarily sells to interior designers who know they will find a highly curated line of furniture and accessories to chose from for their clients. They also sell direct to the public. <br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
<br />
<b><i>Christine</i></b><br />
I enjoy the different forms and materials of the items we find. We often have to research our finds to discover the designer and the background of the piece. I love the research. You never know what you will find. We both really love the unique pieces -- we would rather have a great piece by a lesser known designer than a well known piece by a brand name designer.<br />
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Brazilian midcentury modern is one of our favorite styles and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9rgio_Rodrigues_(architect)">Sergio Rodrigues</a> and others made some amazing pieces. Brazilian modern uses a lot of jacaranda wood in its pieces which is similar to rosewood.<br />
<br />
As a kid I was always painting and making things for my room. I grew up in Sausalito and went to school in Santa Cruz where I focused on fine art with an emphasis on ceramics and photography. I also studied in Mexico City and eventually moved there in 1996 -- to me as a young student it was much more exciting and culturally rich than Santa Cruz! In Mexico I modeled to pay the bills but a friend let me use part of her shop space as a gallery and I curated the art and put together shows there.<br />
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In 2001 I was ready for a change so I moved to Barcelona where I taught English, among other jobs. I then moved to Paris for a few months but headed back to the U.S. later that year. Now that I have two young children I marvel that my parents let me do all that traveling on my own!<br />
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I met Carlos in 2001 at a Salsa concert at the Great American Music Hall and we were married in 2005.<br />
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We started going to flea markets together and bought furnishings for our home. We loved changing the items we had so when we were done with one item we would sell it on Craigslist. We didn't realize at the time that what we were buying was called midcentury modern -- we were just buying what we liked and looking for high quality products. We had success selling on Craigslist and we soon realized we had an actual business so in 2009 we officially started Midcentury Modern Finds.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtNhNyH4hfDrD3xq3DkPXTmk7XJpXYkC6ohz-MRa3BobTkKUSXaDCkMVQ2HB5SvbdYvLM1gGig0acGNAQAxJBNify0xpWr8zz6WCZLOs6YxS7EdXBpNXeWw-CAf23P7N5o1Y-Ey9G9J95/s1600/MidCentury_Modern_Finds_17L2230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtNhNyH4hfDrD3xq3DkPXTmk7XJpXYkC6ohz-MRa3BobTkKUSXaDCkMVQ2HB5SvbdYvLM1gGig0acGNAQAxJBNify0xpWr8zz6WCZLOs6YxS7EdXBpNXeWw-CAf23P7N5o1Y-Ey9G9J95/s1600/MidCentury_Modern_Finds_17L2230.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Jens Risom Chair and Arthur Umanoff Magazine Rack from Midcentury Modern Finds </td></tr>
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<b><i>Carlos</i></b><br />
I love the thrill of the hunt and the feeling that I have found something special. We work with a network of pickers who are always looking for items for us but I also go to flea markets and auctions to find inventory. <br />
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I also really enjoy knowing where our pieces end up. Customers will often send us photos of the pieces in their home. <br />
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I grew up in El Salvador but came to California when I was 17. I took lots of art classes at the <a href="http://www.missionculturalcenter.org/">Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts</a>. I particularly liked the silkscreening classes and took classes from <a href="http://www.michaelroman.net/about.html">Michael Roman</a> as well as other classes from <a href="https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Rene-Castro/63FF22F3D9E770F7">Rene Castro</a>. They really inspired me. I actually got a job working for the city of SF in their silkscreening department back when they used to silkscreen all the street signs. Technology has taken over that process so I made the move to the department of parking and traffic. I've been with the city for 26 years. <br />
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My grandmother in El Salvador had Danish style furniture from the 1960s and I loved the clean lines of that furniture. Because the furniture is so well known now people often forget that when the furniture came out in the late 50s and 60s just how unusual the designs were from what came before. These designs are so knocked off now that some people don't realize the great craftsmanship of this furniture.<br />
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
We have lived in SF for a long time so we knew about the Dogpatch neighborhood. <br />
<br />
We originally stored all the extra furniture in our garage but we quickly ran out of room. We found a storage unit at Cesar Chavez and Indiana. We stored the furniture there and met clients there but we still had to bring it to our house to photograph each piece so we were going back and forth a lot. <br />
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We actually found our current space when we brought over a piece to photograph in front of the brick wall at the Potrero Power Plant. We are in our second space at this location. We are in about 1000 square feet. It is so great to have enough space to store the furniture and also take photographs of them in this space. And there is a loading dock so trucks can pull right up to our space<br />
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We also love that this facility is family owned. We feel good about meeting clients here in this space. We like the feel of the neighborhood as well -- it's still a working class neighborhood.<br />
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
<b><i>Christine</i></b><br />
Probably something in interior or furniture design. When I was in school I wasn't aware of industrial design so I would love to explore that area of design. We would like to add to our business perhaps with designs of our own. And I might get back into ceramics -- Carlos just found me a kiln so who knows! <br />
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<b><i>Carlos</i></b><br />
Since I have a full time job I love the creative outlet that this gives me.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Editor's note: Items in first photo from left to right</b></span><br />
<div class="gmail-p1" style="font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;">
<span class="gmail-s1"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fritz Hansen chair by Frederik Sieck (Danish)</span></span></div>
<div class="gmail-p1" style="font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;">
<span class="gmail-s1"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">‘Globe 2000’ Floor lamp by Frank Ligtelijn for Raak (Dutch)</span></span></div>
<div class="gmail-p1" style="font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;">
<span class="gmail-s1"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Angelo Lelli for Arredoluce floor lamp (Italian)</span></span></div>
<div class="gmail-p1" style="font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;">
<span class="gmail-s1"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">C. Jeré lamp on top of vintage walnut side table (American)</span></span></div>
<div class="gmail-p1" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-size-adjust: auto;">
<span class="gmail-s1">Norman Cherner for Plycraft chair (American)</span></div>
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indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA37.7591221 -122.3895377999999737.734014099999996 -122.42987829999997 37.7842301 -122.34919729999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-2622684513836333372017-06-27T08:51:00.000-07:002017-06-27T09:02:48.987-07:00Stop the presses!: Meet Joel Benson of Dependable Letterpress<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4t5vKM8JpTSZbK4PVT-0hz58-5mq_eAKk_TybrJ2yZL4861E_MdJirtHw_mVsxnu8owzExnxKA9d6jq6V2XIPZXq3oXp59E39U3kxFLEDNxUE8ZFvhTfIivIuJNbXD6XXwOxAJk__Ypzf/s1600/Dependable_Letter_Press_17G9453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4t5vKM8JpTSZbK4PVT-0hz58-5mq_eAKk_TybrJ2yZL4861E_MdJirtHw_mVsxnu8owzExnxKA9d6jq6V2XIPZXq3oXp59E39U3kxFLEDNxUE8ZFvhTfIivIuJNbXD6XXwOxAJk__Ypzf/s1600/Dependable_Letter_Press_17G9453.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joel Benson of Dependable Letterpress with his Heidelberg Press at his San Francisco location in the Dogpatch Neighborhood.</td></tr>
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As an avid fan of old movies, when we set the day to check out the <a href="http://www.dependableletterpress.com/">Dependable Letterpress</a> shop I had visions of a cluttered, dim and dingy room full of noisy, whirling printing presses as men with cigars clenched between their teeth and with ink under their finger nails, quickly and expertly moved around a printing press room setting type and cursing as they banged on the presses.<br />
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We didn't exactly find that the day we met with Joel Benson, owner of Dependable Letterpress located on Illinois Street. The light filled and tidy room was fairly quiet with only one press in use by the young staff.<br />
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The printing press room and those who operate them may look different but the presses and the process of Letterpress hasn't changed much. Letterpress printing is a centuries old process and was the first widely-used and reliable method of printing. This type of printing involves manually arranging type and designs and pressing them onto high quality paper or other materials. The hands-on human component gives this type of printing an artisan image in comparison to mass produced digital printing.<br />
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And it turns out that Benson was a reluctant craftsman but in the end, the pull and the process and maybe even the magic of letterpress won him over.<br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
<br />
It suits my personality. It is physical labor but it also requires attention to detail and a love of process. I enjoy working within those limitations. It might be my most and maybe my only marketable skill!<br />
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It is very satisfying and takes skill and a bit of mindfulness. Letterpress is very exacting -- it teaches you to get better and better -- if you make a mistake you start over. <br />
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Although I was born in Puerto Rico, I grew up in the Bay Area. We left Puerto Rico so my dad could go to grad school. He taught wood working and furniture design in public high schools as well as at the <a href="https://www.cca.edu/">California College of the Arts</a>. My mom was a textile artist and did weaving and costume making as well. She also taught in public schools. I have one younger brother who lives in New York and works in the computer industry.<br />
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I swore I would never be a craftsman like them. I saw the constant struggle they went through to get people to appreciate what they did and then also a struggle to get customers to pay you for the work -- to know the value. They both tease me now that I'm a craftsman!<br />
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In high school I thought I would pursue an academic career so at UC Santa Cruz I studied philosophy and ancient Greek -- the classics. But I decided I didn't like it. It was all "in the head" all the time -- no actual doing was involved.<br />
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I had to take an elective so I took a class in book arts taught by a rare book dealer. He brought in samples of amazing books to show the class. I was really intrigued by the books more as beautiful objects than in the contents of the books themselves. Here was important text in a beautiful vessel. The books had become treasures.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6ZEe1g8fwjYjYMeAjTJmTZsYm3zHuQeo77CKMYQwXHVLRu-x063cW4DmI2rN6BLmIW7prweC45smtkspSBS2tKjsLFupMN7haLpKBSmbhgLHrXTsQFg62drMrMkwjB7MqL36eYJZ6kn3/s1600/Dependable_Letter_Press_17G9417.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6ZEe1g8fwjYjYMeAjTJmTZsYm3zHuQeo77CKMYQwXHVLRu-x063cW4DmI2rN6BLmIW7prweC45smtkspSBS2tKjsLFupMN7haLpKBSmbhgLHrXTsQFg62drMrMkwjB7MqL36eYJZ6kn3/s1600/Dependable_Letter_Press_17G9417.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A close-up of the Dials on a Heidelberg Press at Dependable Letterpress in Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA</td></tr>
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I changed my major and took more print classes -- fonts, type, lithography -- and fell in love with the making of books. But of course I still had to graduate on time! UC Santa Cruz had a make your own major program so they were flexible. I designed a major that was an art degree with an emphasis on book arts.<br />
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A pivotal event for me was when I took a semester to work at <a href="http://yollabollypress.com/yollabollypress/index.html">Yolla Bolly Press</a> in Mendocino County. James and Carolyn Robertson were graphic designers who worked in Los Angeles but decided to go back to the land and moved to rural Northern California -- but instead of farming they made books. Even their newsletter was called Bookfarm! They had a beautiful print shop in a barn and they lived in a house across from it. It was beautiful and idyllic. <br />
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I had grown up with the trial and tribulation and the lack of appreciate for the life of a craftsman but I saw that they had figured it out and were living so well and had such joy in their work. They showed me that you could be a craftsman and get all of that out of your life and work after all. And perhaps my parents did as well but as a kid I didn't see that part. My time with them changed my life.<br />
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When I graduated though I went to work as a gallery assistant for a year in New York while I figured out what do to with my life.<br />
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I came back to San Francisco in 1990 and worked for a printer in SF -- <a href="http://www.julieholcombprinters.com/">Julie Holcomb</a>. I was there about six years. She decided to specialize in wedding invitations so I moved on -- I didn't want to only do one type of printing plus I was ready to do something different.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtFCkbg3-OqhCM4DZjt1bEg4u6Vuhy3QpNbx3dkAEw4PCgauBZIZtzozV_ol4CUa_7PYTClfQrbOQFBsATo2ZlFpy5bhliEBSMcyEaZXrE9-rWJahoe_Idg7-Grf0uxPa092z-v10de8c9/s1600/Type_Dependable_Letterpress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtFCkbg3-OqhCM4DZjt1bEg4u6Vuhy3QpNbx3dkAEw4PCgauBZIZtzozV_ol4CUa_7PYTClfQrbOQFBsATo2ZlFpy5bhliEBSMcyEaZXrE9-rWJahoe_Idg7-Grf0uxPa092z-v10de8c9/s1600/Type_Dependable_Letterpress.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Type at Dependable Letterpress in Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA.</td></tr>
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I took a break from the printing world and worked several different jobs including one as a database analyst. Very different but the job still involved problem solving and collaboration.<br />
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My daughter was born and I decided I needed to get focused about what I was going to do with my career. I knew I didn't want a corporate job -- the one I had was a soul killer. Printing was really all I knew so I interviewed for printing jobs but I was thought of as too arty given my letterpress background even though I knew with training I could do any type of printing job.<br />
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Finally I reached out to friends in the printing business and they pointed me to someone who had a small press that they wanted to give away to the right person which turned out to be me. And I still have it!<br />
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I put the press in my basement and started to take on jobs. This was in 2002. I primarily worked with designers to print their own designs. I put all the money I made back into the business so that I could purchase more presses. My first purchase was a <a href="http://www.apa-letterpress.com/T%20&%20P%20ARTICLES/Press%20&%20Presswork/heidelberg%20wind.html">Heidelberg Windmill press</a> -- you can only do one color per press so the more presses you have the more colors you can print.<br />
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In 2003 I moved out of my basement to a location in South San Francisco for about a year before we made the move to Dogpatch in 2004. I now have five presses and a staff of six.<br />
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I enjoy collaborating with customers on a design and then see it to completion. Often customers will come in with a slim idea of what they want and we help them flesh it out. Or they come in with an idea but don't realize how expensive it would be to print. We work with them to help make it happen and get them close to their vision without breaking their budget. That is the fun part -- planning the project as well as actually producing the product.<br />
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In 2015 I hired a graphic designer, Nicole Baker, so now we can produce our own designs as well as have an expert onsite to help customers with their ideas.<br />
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Digital printing in contrast to letterpress is limited. We can print on thick paper, soft paper, wood and many other materials that digital printing can't handle. For example, one of my favorite clients is the <a href="http://www.museemecaniquesf.com/">Musee Mecanique</a> in San Francisco -- the largest collection of coin operated mechanical penny arcade machines from the 20h Century. We print the fortunes for their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_teller_machine">fortune teller machine</a>. The paper must be just the right thickness to print on those old machines.<br />
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
<br />
I moved the business from my home in 2003 to a location in South San Francisco. The space didn't have the professional image I wanted so we started looking around for another space. Even though I leave nearby in the Mission I didn't know much about the Dogpatch neighborhood when we started looking for a new space. <br />
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I heard about available space in the <a href="http://www.aicproperties.com/">American Industrial Center</a> (AIC). When I took a look I knew it would be the perfect space for this business. This location is my third within the AIC complex. We started in a small space then shortly after moved to a bigger space. We were on a higher floor and when this ground floor space became available we jumped on it. One of the conditions that our landlord had for us moving to the ground floor was that we needed to have a retail component to accommodate walk in traffic.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjalv4BGF2tdw9QQ2-GcWN6QeUn9QM5SW_7zP2q8Q-CtG3pXSJKrn0SjfMYR3FSIVIFCDh_L-LBJma2hn06mmdyGBv-z95xVSbKwJfpnCsSfszzHZKdXf0IWx_-5zpqnklh3QYB95osLoz8/s1600/Negative_Space_Gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjalv4BGF2tdw9QQ2-GcWN6QeUn9QM5SW_7zP2q8Q-CtG3pXSJKrn0SjfMYR3FSIVIFCDh_L-LBJma2hn06mmdyGBv-z95xVSbKwJfpnCsSfszzHZKdXf0IWx_-5zpqnklh3QYB95osLoz8/s1600/Negative_Space_Gallery.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Negative Space Gallery at Dependable Letterpress in Dogpatch.</td></tr>
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Right now our retail space is a gallery called Negative Space Gallery where we hope to feature a variety of artists. We also hold events there. Eventually we will have cards and notepads and other paper products printed right here that will be available for purchase. <br />
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We feel like we are part of a like-minded community of businesses that are locally owned and operated -- we are all in the same boat. <br />
<br />
<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
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I have this fantasy of operating one of those giant construction cranes. I would do one thing at a time all day long -- pick up something, put it down and repeat. My business can be hectic so at times that seems like a very appealing business!<br />
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<br />indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-34116549412448345702017-04-06T07:24:00.000-07:002017-04-07T10:44:26.787-07:00"Make Stuff First": Meet John Liston of J. Liston Design<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXTKKCwlxyzC2RspalGNSGWVlz28-6JNtA3rTWFU-t86mDhmCdDV9-FZo5096Pgt9dQR7-MCSRYLXXU98FOdCxTQWszQ-npbyBIGTELrI96vUuXk_gs94W81AJOMQ4hq-qA-k3W7pAZI0/s1600/John_Liston_Design_17D3574.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXTKKCwlxyzC2RspalGNSGWVlz28-6JNtA3rTWFU-t86mDhmCdDV9-FZo5096Pgt9dQR7-MCSRYLXXU98FOdCxTQWszQ-npbyBIGTELrI96vUuXk_gs94W81AJOMQ4hq-qA-k3W7pAZI0/s1600/John_Liston_Design_17D3574.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Liston with one of his custom lamps in his workshop at ShopFloor Design in Dogpatch. His experience with glass and metal come together in this design.</td></tr>
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Not long after moving into our <a href="http://srkheadshotday.com/headshots-san-francisco/" target="_blank">new photo studio space</a> in the <a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2015/11/art-function-meet-david-and-christina.html">ShopFloor Design </a>building at Minnesota Street and 26th, I stopped to admire a chair in their showroom that was brightly colored metal and looked like ribbons welded together -- almost in a wide basket weave pattern. From the other side of the showroom in the actual shop floor came a voice that assured me it was ok to try it out. "It's ok to sit on it -- it is a chair after all and very sturdy." The voice belonged to John Liston of <a href="http://www.jlistondesign.com/">J. Liston design</a>, the designer of what I soon learned was appropriately named, the <a href="http://coupdetatsf.com/product/ribbon-chair-by-john-liston/">ribbon chair</a> (see photo below). I also found out during this interview that one of his ribbon chairs is part of the permanent collection in the <a href="https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/research/luce/browse_advanced?artist_id=37452">Brooklyn Museum</a>. And don't think he was bragging -- I had to pull that fact out of him. <br />
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It is hard to characterize Liston's furniture designs because while one piece can be a brightly powdered coated metal chair, another is a brass and glass floor lamp that to me looks like an architect's compass vector (see photo above) and yet another is a cabinet made out of metal and charred wood. One thing they all seem to have in common is that they are meant to be used -- functional pieces -- and they all have clean lines.<br />
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Although a conversation with Liston can cover a wide range of topics -- the man is knowledgeable! -- he isn't one to brag about his accomplishments. Throughout our conversation I was struck again by how the artists I have had the pleasure to interview for this blog are influenced by where they grew up and how they took inspiration from each job they had along the way to achieving their eventual success. And also of course how none of the success came overnight but only after years of hard work and long hours.<br />
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All of that is true of Liston and then some. He could be one of the hardest workers I have met and certainly one of the most committed artists to his craft. And to top it all off, he also can bake a mean pie.<br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
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To get an idea in my head of a design and then to be able execute it -- I love the creativity of that experience. </div>
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I grew up a military brat -- my dad was a navigator in the air force. I was born in England and we lived outside a military base there. We lived in England and Germany until I was ten when my dad retired and we moved to upstate New York. </div>
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My parents loved living overseas so they could take advantage of all the opportunities to explore other countries. By the time I moved to the U.S. I already had 21 different country stamps on my passport. And my mom was fearless -- even when my dad was gone for six months at a time she would pack up my older two brothers and sister and me and head out to explore.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This experience certainly gave me a bigger worldview of people and places. We didn't have much money so we did a lot of free stuff -- churches, gardens, castles, etc. As a result, I have a particular love for architecture and I think that shows in my design. </span></div>
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When I was a sophomore in high school I failed french class. They gave me the choice of taking it again or I could take a music or art class. I decided to take a jewelry class. My stuff was very organic -- sea pods and shells -- very different from my current designs! For some reason my professor took an interest in my work and encouraged me. </div>
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After high school I went to RIT (<a href="http://www.rit.edu/">Rochester Institute of Technology</a>) -- both of my brothers had gone to RIT -- the school has a great reputation for their photography program as well as their crafts program. At RIT I focused more on sculpture and less on jewelry. I liked working on larger scale projects. I graduated with a BFA in metalwork and jewelry design.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5hmWsihXH7HLSUJ-zRFVENvodmmOZQwaXVHNNz6rFkqvIJVPDm14O5Alauc8Rva61TbwqsQ1TxO7Kqa3GHtISpV9CPmgjqtqp5JUKV0xWm-d6uG_xVuYiV4AjpNldQLgX3FbJRoooAPU/s1600/John_Liston_Design_17D3527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5hmWsihXH7HLSUJ-zRFVENvodmmOZQwaXVHNNz6rFkqvIJVPDm14O5Alauc8Rva61TbwqsQ1TxO7Kqa3GHtISpV9CPmgjqtqp5JUKV0xWm-d6uG_xVuYiV4AjpNldQLgX3FbJRoooAPU/s1600/John_Liston_Design_17D3527.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Liston at work in his shop.</td></tr>
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After college I worked at <a href="http://www.polichtallix.com/">Polich Art Works</a> -- a bronze metal foundry located outside of NYC that worked with many major artists including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Stella">Frank Stella</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Lin">Maya Lin</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Bourgeois">Louise Bourgeois</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiki_Smith">Kiki Smith</a>. I got to meet them and discuss with them what they needed from us to complete their sculptures. </div>
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It was a pivotal time for me -- in working directly with the artists on their designs I realized that these famous artists are human and that made me more confident in my own art and design.</div>
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By this time I was 23 and had never lived away from my family or the East Coast. My supervisor at the foundry told me about other foundries on the West Coast so in 2001 I moved to Berkeley. I thought at the time that given my nomadic upbringing I would stay a few years, get bored, then move to Seattle or Portland but the Bay Area was all I wanted and more. </div>
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I worked at the <a href="http://www.artworksfoundry.com/">Artworks Foundry</a> in Berkeley and worked with many famous local artists. I learned how to work with many different materials and became well versed in working with molds and wax castings. The owners decided to outsource to Mexico so I left to work at a custom decorative hardware shop called <a href="http://www.sokostudio.com/">Soko Studio</a>. The owner, Cari Jaye Sokoloff, had her own line and designs -- I eventually ran the shop for her. </div>
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It was another pivotal time for me -- I was working on a more functional aspect of design than I had done before. I also realized that she was making her mark without having a ton of experience. </div>
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While I was working at the foundry and then Soko Studio, I was also working at night at the Academy of Art as an instructor. I initially was an assistant instructor but then later became the main instructor of a bronze casting class. </div>
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I eventually joined <a href="http://johnlewisglass.com/">John Lewis Glass Studio</a>. I was there for about nine years -- I actually just left there in 2016. It was a good experience -- they were glad to have my expertise in glass casting and metal fabrication and they left me alone to do my work. I was a good solo worker and a good problem solver. </div>
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About this time I started getting the itch to design jewelry again. I did some pieces and the fine art gallery <a href="http://www.lireille.com/about-us">Lireille</a> in Piedmont accepted my pieces to sell. I made about 15 pieces then stopped. I proved to myself that I still had the hand skills and that was enough for me. </div>
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I then got the bug to make furniture for my house. David Whippen, one of the owners of <a href="http://shopfloordesign.com/">ShopFloor Design</a>, had done an independent study with a professor I knew at the Academy of Art. This professor said that when I was ready to have a studio space of my own that I should check with David. David and I hit it off right away and the space was a good fit for me. At this point I was still working full time at John Lewis Glass and teaching at the Academy of Art so I could only get to the studio on some weeknight evenings and the weekends. Given how frugal minded I am -- I knew that if I rented the space I would commit to being here and working in any spare time that I had on my own designs.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii6HsZgVXYWrx7oVTW4tJZcXzgp1BE3TY2sGo3vnkWZwGatd4owCFeGlyyMNvl2WHHtVLIHS6NjMNdbQzS0NlHxWKuSS63VUZs_QE_xYP0y_73qA9l4bYRKPfcSDJElIrLp8sV0K00-YRj/s1600/Ribbon_Chair_17E4759.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii6HsZgVXYWrx7oVTW4tJZcXzgp1BE3TY2sGo3vnkWZwGatd4owCFeGlyyMNvl2WHHtVLIHS6NjMNdbQzS0NlHxWKuSS63VUZs_QE_xYP0y_73qA9l4bYRKPfcSDJElIrLp8sV0K00-YRj/s1600/Ribbon_Chair_17E4759.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Ribbon Chair by J Liston Design on the showroom floor at ShopFloor in Dogpatch.</td></tr>
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Another pivotal moment for me came when a professor from college, Leonard Urso, saw my designs and insisted I apply for the <a href="https://craftcouncil.org/">American Craft Council Show</a> in 2012. They accepted me into the show and I sold 90% of my designs. I was blown away!<br />
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I decided I just might have a real business and J. Liston Design was cast.<br />
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I get inspiration from all kinds of architecture -- buildings, bridges -- I love the engineering of structures of how they are put together and I love the industrial feel of them. But I also love the functionality -- I want my furniture designs to be used. Another huge inspiration for me is the work of <a href="https://www.artsy.net/artist/bernd-and-hilla-becher">Bernd and Hilla Becher</a> -- their work documenting industrial structures reflect that form and function in design I admire.</div>
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<a href="http://coupdetatsf.com/">Coup d'etat</a> gallery in San Francisco represents my designs. They sell to designers, architects and direct to the public. One of my next goals is to get more galleries to carry my designs.</div>
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<b>What do you like about having your studio in Dogpatch?</b></div>
It's great to have David here and the ShopFloor space is also home to other local designers and artists. We don't get in each other's way but if anyone needs help someone is always ready to lend a hand.<br />
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I really like that Dogpatch is such a great walking neighborhood and the food in the neighborhood is incredible. One of my favorites is <a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2013/02/give-me-some-sugar-meet-greg-mindel-of.html" target="_blank">Neighbor Bakehouse</a>.<br />
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<b>So we hear you are also a professional pie baker?</b><br />
Not really! In 2012 a friend sold his glass blowing business and was looking to start another business. He decided on a pie business. I wanted to be part of it and I agreed to be the baker. My mom wasn't a good cook and she said if we wanted cookies or other treats when we were growing up that we had to bake them ourselves. So I learned to bake from cookbooks. My specialty was a rhubarb pie. We got a food truck and called our business Fault Line Pie. We lasted about 8 months -- in the end I was doing most of the work -- I would work all day then bake pies at night. Not a sustainable schedule!<br />
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
I feel like I'm finally where I should be -- all the jobs and all that I have learned has led me to finally having my own design firm. It's only been since May 2016 that I left my job at John Lewis Glass so I'm ready to see where this goes.<br />
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But sometimes I think that being a long-haul trucker would be a good idea. I mean given how I grew up that would allow me to finally see more of the U.S.!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(editor's note:</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;">"...art schools used to put the fear of God into their students by asking them "Can you make a living out of that?" We wanted just the opposite and simply told them to make stuff first and then we'd go from there." </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "lato";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">quote is from </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.artsy.net/artist/bernd-and-hilla-becher">Bernd and Hilla Becher</a>)</span><br />
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indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-89300630080125755802017-02-21T08:25:00.000-08:002017-02-21T09:59:41.589-08:00Natural Skincare Products -- From Hippie to Hip : Meet Julie Kim of Saison Beauty<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNTylPBGHZobvsrBbwA_iUDovcIbRbvl4fNAwK4QPLm8WBeIX9Lk5iWr3-M4CQmDZJ-74h75UkWU3Z0zjXPLN4G8OSDldHJDsloisg3tu7pyv1r6wscevhxgHPl2tZ2Wrpzhohp13zAD9/s1600/Julie_Kim_Saison_Beauty_17B5951.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNTylPBGHZobvsrBbwA_iUDovcIbRbvl4fNAwK4QPLm8WBeIX9Lk5iWr3-M4CQmDZJ-74h75UkWU3Z0zjXPLN4G8OSDldHJDsloisg3tu7pyv1r6wscevhxgHPl2tZ2Wrpzhohp13zAD9/s1600/Julie_Kim_Saison_Beauty_17B5951.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julie Kim of Saison Beauty in Dogpatch makes natural beauty products based on ingredients from the four seasons. </td></tr>
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Natural skincare and beauty products have long had more of a hippie than hip image with products found in the aisles of the local Whole Foods or natural health food stores instead of in department stores or chic salons and boutiques. But in the last decade and especially in the last few years natural skincare lines have grown from a niche market into a rapidly growing full-blown industry. And many of those companies striving to bring natural and safe skincare products free of preservatives and using high quality plant extracts to market are located in Northern California including <a href="https://www.100percentpure.com/">100% Pure</a>, <a href="https://www.eoproducts.com/">EO</a>, <a href="https://www.juicebeauty.com/">Juice Beauty</a> and now <a href="http://www.saisonbeauty.com/">Saison Beauty</a> located in Dogpatch.<br />
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Saison (pronounced say sawn) is French for season and the changing seasons and how each season can affect our skin was the inspiration for Saison Beauty founder Julie Kim's product line. Her products are categorized not only by the seasons, but also by skin type and product type to make it easier for customers to find the best fit for their skincare needs. And Kim doesn't just offer products to purchase on her website -- she also offers beauty bonus tips and DIY beauty recipes (pumpkin ginger face mask sounds delicious!). <br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
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I love the challenge of experimenting with ingredients to formulate products. Then to actually produce the product and be able to offer it to someone to solve a skincare need is such a joy for me.<br />
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I always knew that I wanted to start my own business but I didn't know what that business would be. I was born in Korea but came to California as a baby. I grew up in Southern California and went to college in San Diego where I eventually studied communications. I was particularly interested in international studies. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWSA9s8NzPyXFZqGIXUt8xFph2NWZJghwrREj9Ea7nAFBTNU8Zj5aLe8xmuJg2P-6m7_x3Cv7z14s3_hcogBUVdbJsxnHKiQQ1AGBwpSEfsM0owelSrgeS09ftI8I1MZJ2aQelCsha4ZSr/s1600/Julie_Kim_Saison_Beauty_17B5965.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWSA9s8NzPyXFZqGIXUt8xFph2NWZJghwrREj9Ea7nAFBTNU8Zj5aLe8xmuJg2P-6m7_x3Cv7z14s3_hcogBUVdbJsxnHKiQQ1AGBwpSEfsM0owelSrgeS09ftI8I1MZJ2aQelCsha4ZSr/s1600/Julie_Kim_Saison_Beauty_17B5965.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saison Beauty Seasonal Body Lotion is manufactured by Julie Kim in Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA</td></tr>
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My first job while in high school was for a trendy hair salon. That was my first taste of the beauty world. They had a talented makeup artist there as well as the hair stylists. I loved it! My first job out of college was in London for a PR agency that specialized in beauty. I learned to work with models and editors and had the opportunity to work with beauty brands that were just starting to be available in Europe such as <a href="http://www.shuuemura-usa.com/">Shu Uemura</a> and <a href="http://www.aveda.com/">Aveda</a>. Aveda was one of the first companies to focus on the importance of what was in their products. One of my projects I worked on was a program for departments stores to train their cosmetic department employees how to apply makeup on different skin types. That is common now but was cutting edge then in the 1990s.<br />
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I left after nine months -- I felt that I had to decide if my future was in Europe or the U.S. so I chose to come back home. Back in Los Angeles, tech was all the rage so I dove into the tech world and worked as an account manager at an agency. I decided I wanted to broaden my skills beyond public relations so I moved to Northern California to pursue an MBA at USF. I also worked full time while pursuing my MBA at NEC Electronics where I worked as a branding specialist. While there I learned a lot about international product launches which lined up nicely with my goals to get more experience in international business. <br />
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After graduation I worked at Gap Inc. where I helped build their e-commerce business for all of their brands --- Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy. I learned so much about digital marketing, product fulfillment, SEO and so much more. I really was fortunate to learn the ins and outs of retail at a complex level.<br />
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I like to think that my career choices have always been very deliberate with my goal of owning my own business very much my priority. As such, my career path hasn't always been about my next promotion but more about what new skills I could acquire that might some day help me in my own venture.<br />
<br />
While working at the Gap, I started craving a more holistic approach to my lifestyle. All that traveling for work, long hours and just the aging process had started to take a toll. I decided to get healthy. <br />
<br />
I experimented with diet and exercise as well as what the skincare and beauty products I used were doing to my body. I always felt that skincare products are another way that we "feed" our bodies. In fact, skin can absorb up to 60 percent of what we apply to it. We eat seasonally and I think we should think of skincare in the same way. I look back at my work with Aveda and I think the seeds were planted then in my mind that skincare products should do no harm. My mom worked on cosmetic formulations in Korea so she understood my passion. Much of my mother and grandmother's beauty rituals were holistic so perhaps I come by the science and beauty combination naturally!<br />
<br />
I started taking classes after work and on weekends about how to formulate products. It started out as just a hobby. I loved creating a database of herbal properties and figuring out how to solve various skincare issues using them. My brother-in-law is a doctor and he was very patient with me as I asked him tons of questions about various skin issues.<br />
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I started making products and worked with a third-party lab to verify my results and to make sure the products were safe. It took three years of nights and weekends to create the product line. The green beauty community is a close knit group and everyone has been so supportive and helpful.<br />
<br />
By 2015 I was ready to quit my position at the Gap. My products and website were ready so it was time to launch! The first year was all about testing and learning. The second year about sales and how to get the products on shelves in boutiques and to learn about wholesaling and year three might be about hiring my first employees. <br />
<br />
<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
<br />
I had to find a place that would allow me to formulate and package my products. There aren't too many places that allow that in San Francisco. Thankfully the <a href="http://aicproperties.com/about-us/">American Industrial Center</a> (AIC) does! On Craigslist I saw a listing for someone who wanted to share their office space in the AIC. They were a food business so they had the perfect space for me to start out in. A space by myself on the second floor soon followed and then nine months ago this space became available. I love the natural light and the views from this office. <br />
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The creativity, energy and sense of community in the AIC and in the neighborhood is just incredible. I love being part of the maker community which is thriving in Dogpatch. And I'm certainly eating my way around the neighborhood!<br />
<br />
Sometimes I miss the social aspect that being part of a large company gives you but I find the AIC gives me that connection to a larger community.<br />
<br />
<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
<br />
My goal is to have a balanced, independent and creative life and Saison Beauty gives me all of that.indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA37.7591221 -122.3895377999999737.734014099999996 -122.42987829999997 37.7842301 -122.34919729999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-48004247324444564112017-01-31T08:06:00.000-08:002017-01-31T08:06:53.509-08:00Not Afraid of A Sticky Wicket: Meet Alan Ashworth of UCSF Cancer Center<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFsFAXyasc2cXmELBXk0ozPV_LH9DbHDJrnlelL9HLpYCoD4HfDLZRWN1Ahr1QpJi5wwV9LpHaGx1-QtFKNL_A5RsHq4DPbMteuvToUtldETJ2NLdfpfMvi0WbSb2lr2P9bVoRYUgVT0X/s1600/Alan_Ashworth_17B0911.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFsFAXyasc2cXmELBXk0ozPV_LH9DbHDJrnlelL9HLpYCoD4HfDLZRWN1Ahr1QpJi5wwV9LpHaGx1-QtFKNL_A5RsHq4DPbMteuvToUtldETJ2NLdfpfMvi0WbSb2lr2P9bVoRYUgVT0X/s1600/Alan_Ashworth_17B0911.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dogpatch resident Alan Ashworth stands in the UCSF Mission Bay lab he heads in his fight against cancer. </td></tr>
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The immense growth of UCSF in Mission Bay has been a cause of great concern for Dogpatch residents as neighborhood leaders and residents grapple with such issues as the encroachment of the campus into the Dogpatch neighborhood, parking problems and the unsightly cigarette butts left on Dogpatch streets by UCSF staff who are not allowed to smoke on the 100% smoke-free campus. <br />
<br />
But of course UCSF is neither all bad nor all good and the access to a top medical facility and the best researchers and doctors benefits so many people locally and world-wide.<br />
<br />
In the interest of building bridges instead of walls, we sat down with Alan Ashworth, president of the <a href="http://cancer.ucsf.edu/">UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center </a>who also happens to be a Dogpatch resident.<br />
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Ashworth, who joined UCSF in December of 2014, is probably best known as part of the team of scientists who in 1995 discovered the gene <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRCA2">BRCA2</a> which is linked to an increased risk of some types of cancer -- for xample, breast cancer -- and is now used to identify women at high risk for the disease. <span style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> </span></span>In 2005 he identified a way to exploit genetic weaknesses in cancer cells which led to a new approach in cancer treatments. <br />
<br />
Although he is a scientist and not a surgeon, Ashworth demonstrates a real talent for identifying and tackling difficult health care issues and with surgical like precision, zeroing in on how to solve the problem by finding the right people and the needed funding to help overcome any obstacles to the solution. One example is the recently announced <a href="http://www.sfcancer.org/">San Francisco Cancer Initiative </a>(SF CAN), a major public health effort to reduce cancer in San Francisco.<br />
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We met with Ashworth in his UCSF office one very rainy day. But our complaints about the rain were met with a laugh from Ashworth who in his British accent said that where he grew up in Northern England they had 200 different words for rain and what we were experiencing barely qualified as rain. He seemed very glad to not have to use those 200 words anymore.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGvpk6VX9NU4RUodS-LnpYHW8m8Z_g0_Tg10VOEa9aM1jBrwiKXj-2bpucba279RJWTe2n2k7WyKsZ_qexGnH3BXEpTENMwA7QuNUo3o3CmOMbsLAAl91maVFcyPs0VTlH9JxByvoOji6/s1600/Alan_Ashworth_17B0924.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGvpk6VX9NU4RUodS-LnpYHW8m8Z_g0_Tg10VOEa9aM1jBrwiKXj-2bpucba279RJWTe2n2k7WyKsZ_qexGnH3BXEpTENMwA7QuNUo3o3CmOMbsLAAl91maVFcyPs0VTlH9JxByvoOji6/s1600/Alan_Ashworth_17B0924.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Petri dishes in the UCSF cancer lab headed by Alan Ashworth.</td></tr>
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<br />
<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
The feeling you get when you meet someone who survived because of a treatment you discovered is pretty great. To know that you impacted someone's life in that way is incredibly moving and motivating. I want to keep doing that kind of work.<br />
<br />
So my work experience motivates me but also personal experience motivates me. My dad died of lung cancer several years ago. He told me not to go to the doctor appointment with him where his treatment was going to be discussed. Of course I went with him. And of course my dad was in such shock that he heard practically nothing that the doctor said that day. It is so important to have someone help you through a cancer diagnosis. People are afraid and they also fear the lack of control over their life that comes with a cancer diagnosis. I knew everyone in cancer research and I couldn't do anything to save him. My dad died but I know today we could get him into an immunotherapy drug trial and he would have had a chance of survival.<br />
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I grew up in Northern England in a post-industrial textile town. My mom still lives there. It was a working class town but the schools were good. I was the first person in my extended family to go to university. I attended Imperial College of Science and Technology in London. I thought I would go into medicine but I chose chemistry instead. I received my PhD in Biochemistry at University College, London. I joined the Institute for Cancer Research in London as a researcher and eventually became CEO.<br />
<br />
Then UCSF called me about being the director of their cancer center.<br />
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No one was more surprised than me when I accepted. It took me a long time to decide and I still didn't know what my answer would be when UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood called to ask me for my decision. <br />
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In the end the decision came down to asking myself "Why Not?" The Bay Area, San Francisco, UCSF -- this is the universe for innovation and excitement in cancer research and patient care. There is a feeling that anything is possible here. And that has turned out to be more true than I even thought it would be. I have never regretted my decision.<br />
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I'm proud of the fact that UCSF is a public organization and as such we have to see everyone. Our goal is long-term remission or cure. But the goal is also treatments that give a better quality of life -- more gentle treatments.<br />
<br />
One of my projects is the building of the Precision Cancer Medical Building which will be located at Third and 16 Street. It should open to patients in 2019. This 170,000 square foot cancer outpatient clinic will be like no other. This clinic is my baby. The center will deliver the best possible treatment for cancer and this clinic will be very patient centric. Patients will be treated like they matter. We want people to feel in control of their treatment and involved in the decision making. Even the design of the building will be created with the patient in mind with natural light, related treatment rooms in one area instead of spread out all over the facility so patients have to race from one floor to another for appointments. I would rather lose efficiency than patient focus.<br />
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One of my other projects is SF CAN -- the San Francisco Cancer Initiative. This program aims to reduce cancer in SF that can be reduced by better screening and early interventions. My second week here I had a germ of the idea for this program. I went to a retreat which ended up being about the issue of race in medicine and health. I found the topic fascinating. There was so much I didn't know. I had no idea that there was such big disparities. I wondered how a program could be put together for an entire community -- the San Francisco community. The idea is completely measurable and we want it to be. It took 18 months but we launched the program in November. SF is where people come together to do big things like the work done to fight HIV. The idea is that UCSF will provide the scientific backbone while city public health and nonprofit agencies supply the staff and physical space to reach at risk populations. And it is a real partnership with the SF community. Our logo isn't even on the marketing materials.<br />
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As you can see, my work reflects my passion for the development of personalized cancer treatment.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4K08QqmPJIh321kJ9If00iydUQJsSefCD89nrQdZse-INTpp9mFDhsOIvF0hccYp4Zk80ZzSuQXCNl2qpykO3ofuKQ2niU0avp094r0WXsKs8HPfdsKeqBLy8ks7Sna7j4A5r8cBeBjGV/s1600/Alan_Ashworth_17B0926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4K08QqmPJIh321kJ9If00iydUQJsSefCD89nrQdZse-INTpp9mFDhsOIvF0hccYp4Zk80ZzSuQXCNl2qpykO3ofuKQ2niU0avp094r0WXsKs8HPfdsKeqBLy8ks7Sna7j4A5r8cBeBjGV/s1600/Alan_Ashworth_17B0926.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
We were introduced to real estate agent <a href="http://www.anneherrera.com/index.php">Anne Herrera</a> -- she works with a lot of UCSF people who are trying to find a home to buy. She was so honest and helpful about the process of buying in the San Francisco real estate market where there is little inventory and prices are high. <br />
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We looked at many neighborhoods in SF and while many of them, were beautiful we were looking for a more diverse neighborhood. We also wanted to live close to Mission Bay where my office is but not too close!<br />
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I had arrived in the U.S. before my wife so I got the chance to wander around Dogpatch a bit. I thought it was quite nice. I liked the diversity I saw and it felt like a real neighborhood with all the shops and restaurants. We weren't sure we could afford to look here but with Anne's help we were able to find a small condo to buy which just happens to be on the same street as where Anne lives. So she definitely knew the neighborhood!<br />
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We enjoy walking around the neighborhood and being greeted by neighbors. It is very different from our London neighborhood where you really didn't get to know anyone because people didn't stay too long there. And of course the proximity to Mission Bay was perfect.<br />
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We have settled in nicely although you can't find much cricket here. <br />
<br />
<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
There is nothing I enjoy more than the work I am doing. It is serious work but that work is helping people in a big way. <br />
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<br />indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-60706501701064329712017-01-10T11:12:00.000-08:002017-01-11T16:15:59.635-08:00"A little sweat ain't never hurt nobody": Meet Kafi Payne of Dogpatch Dance & Yoga<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBd_rquYaan76pq_NmZ0ZrQgHWBaiW65JZZegVedlWrhel7u2QR_7HFD0gZfbkvWf5KcslTgYylj9Pyy-MwMkJnFsihYQfBNtNLitmBeITFOcB3KXgHWNfatBEH-VzoSoeJz9qrLOnZchX/s1600/Kafi_Payne_16L4830.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBd_rquYaan76pq_NmZ0ZrQgHWBaiW65JZZegVedlWrhel7u2QR_7HFD0gZfbkvWf5KcslTgYylj9Pyy-MwMkJnFsihYQfBNtNLitmBeITFOcB3KXgHWNfatBEH-VzoSoeJz9qrLOnZchX/s1600/Kafi_Payne_16L4830.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kafi Payne of Dogpatch Dance and Yoga in her studio in Dogpatch. Kafi's studio has classes in many diverse programs like roller dance, twerk and Bollywood. </td></tr>
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When prominent San Francisco industrialist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claus_Spreckels">Claus Spreckles</a> built his <a href="http://sf-planning.org/sites/default/files/FileCenter/Documents/780-Central_Waterfront_Context.pdf">California Sugar Refinery</a> along what is now 23rd Street along the waterfront in 1881 -- we are certain he never dreamed that one day one of the last two remaining sugar warehouses would be home to a dance studio. <br />
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Especially a studio that offers unusual ways to get you moving including such classes as After Work Twerk, Dance Hall, Roller Dancing, Heels (dance in your high heels!), Burlesque, Bollywood dancing and so much more. Yet that is what you will find at <a href="http://www.dogpatchdance.com/">Dogpatch Dance & Yoga</a> now opened for business on the second floor of the building now known as Storage San Francisco at 435 23rd Street.<br />
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And what a gem of a space it is. The 3,500 square foot space now outfitted with full-length mirrors is full of light and has an amazing view of the bay. Owner Kafi Payne opened the studio in August 2016 and her goal is for the studio to be busy morning to night. Sounds like a sweet plan to us.<br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I find joy in movement and that is what I want for everyone. I think dance is healing. <br />
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We have busy lives. We grow up, we go to school and we work. And work! We may love the work but not the working. And then we come home and we have family responsibilities.<br />
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When I was a kid there wasn't much money for dance classes so I took dance classes whenever I could. I never really thought of myself as a dancer. It was just something I loved to do. After college I took all kinds of dance classes as a way to relax after a long day at work. I also took yoga classes -- I think yoga helps dancers be able to dance longer! I eventually trained with <a href="http://www.yogatreesf.com/teachers/annie-carpenter/">Annie Carpenter </a>to become a Yoga instructor.<br />
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I'm from the Caribbean but grew up in New York and Atlanta. I met my husband who is from the Bay Area at college -- Emory University. We moved to this area after college. We both became educators. I worked for the Oakland School District training teachers and also as a Spanish teacher. And I still work in the education field. I also received my Masters in Education from SFSU and I'm working on my Doctor of Education from Berkeley. I know what learning looks like!<br />
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I have two young boys and one day one of my sons asked me if I could do anything I wanted to do what would that be. I told him I wanted to open a dance studio! He was surprised. My kids thought of me as serious -- they even said that I never laughed. That is NOT how I wanted to be remembered by them!<br />
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My kids are so proud that I'm realizing my dream. I love showing them that you can work towards a goal and make it happen.<br />
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The studio is still a work in progress of course. When I decided to open the studio I asked several of the dance instructors that I knew if they would join me. They agreed but then dropped out when the studio became a reality. That forced me to step out of my comfort zone and approach instructors I admired but didn't know. That experience also reminded me that is ok to ask for help. We should all remember that!<br />
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I love being able to work with these amazing instructors and help them realize their artistic vision as well. Instructors such as <a href="http://www.rollerdance.com/">Richard Humphrey</a> who is known as the father of Rollerdance and who taught Dr. Oz to roller dance is teaching at my studio! A good teacher is everything and we have the best.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-y5XRpZYQlASYkGO-6avNqgXwQdYI0_EUiMjxAZh_FK94gLu3xvJVv7keoWyJYJiBj1ldz5VnHS075VClSScGNqH-K8ja-WhBuswTeGtJiz4G_EGEduzG33DBy-x7t7W59fIa936RXyn2/s1600/Kafi_Payne_16L4838.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-y5XRpZYQlASYkGO-6avNqgXwQdYI0_EUiMjxAZh_FK94gLu3xvJVv7keoWyJYJiBj1ldz5VnHS075VClSScGNqH-K8ja-WhBuswTeGtJiz4G_EGEduzG33DBy-x7t7W59fIa936RXyn2/s1600/Kafi_Payne_16L4838.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
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<br />
<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
<br />
After I decided to open a studio I did my research about the best location for it. I live and work in Oakland but it seemed to me that Oakland was saturated with dance and performance spaces.<br />
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Not San Francisco -- I was amazed how few dance studios there are in SF. There are places where you can rent space for dance groups but not that many places where you can book a class.<br />
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I saw a listing for this space on Craigslist and it was the first spot I looked at and I knew it would be perfect. I just knew that dancing needed to happen here. I knew that Beyonce would be ok rehearsing here!<br />
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I met and spoke with many community leaders in Dogpatch. Everyone was so welcoming and I felt like they wanted me to be successful and would help me in any way that they could to make that happen. <br />
<br />
<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
<br />
I will always be dancing and teaching!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*thanks to Beyonce for the lyric: "A little sweat ain't never hurt nobody"</span>indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-76977680649360786972016-10-04T09:37:00.002-07:002016-10-04T10:43:33.791-07:00From Seed to Sale: Meet Robert Watson of Dutchman's Flat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv7UALQbSt0XRTtK1xRUhEh-U-PBDXrulx4UHmur4kj5gnVs7H0tUBoqcHo19hQGRXV4ot_X2hROhz4qsp1loG8ZGf9sRQNTV7z_iEVdQCcY7lgb0_o_mR-CLlbePkpMH5JztAAGkC8swf/s1600/Robert_Watson_Dutchmans_Flat_16J5064.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv7UALQbSt0XRTtK1xRUhEh-U-PBDXrulx4UHmur4kj5gnVs7H0tUBoqcHo19hQGRXV4ot_X2hROhz4qsp1loG8ZGf9sRQNTV7z_iEVdQCcY7lgb0_o_mR-CLlbePkpMH5JztAAGkC8swf/s1600/Robert_Watson_Dutchmans_Flat_16J5064.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Watson founded Dutchman's Flat medical cannabis dispensary in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood. His clean comfortable space offers a wealth of knowledge to buyers. </td></tr>
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We hadn't yet checked out <a href="http://www.dutchmansflat.com/about/">Dutchman's Flat</a> -- <a href="http://theweedbusiness.com/what-is-a-medical-marijuana-collective/">the medical cannabis dispensary</a> -- recently opened on Third Street (across from <a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2014/02/smokestack-lightning-meet-dave-mclean.html">Smokestack</a> Restaurant -- how fitting) so when neighbor <a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2012/09/art-for-commerce-meet-susan-eslick.html">Susan Eslick</a> introduced us to owner Robert Watson as he left <a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2012/04/to-serve-protect-meet-dames-shouman-of.html">Reno's</a> one evening, we were quick to ask him if we could stop by to chat and check out his new spot. After all, with the guard at their front door it wasn't exactly a place you could just stroll into without the appropriate paperwork.<br />
<br />
We didn't know what to expect but the modern, airy brick loft space that looked like a loft in the Esprit Building or a hip retail space in Jackson Square was a bit of a surprise. But then again, so was Robert Watson. Then I realized that I hadn't exactly ever interviewed anyone in the cannabis industry -- well, not one who actually was licensed by the city of San Francisco to open a legal business dispensing cannabis so all expectations promptly went up in smoke (sorry). <br />
<br />
What we discovered was that cannabis has a lot in common with other artisan businesses like the wine, chocolate or coffee industries with similar rituals and nuances. And we discovered that Robert Watson is a farmer at heart. <br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
<br />
Most of what I have done in my life all come together in this business. My engineering, farming and art background made it possible. I enjoy figuring out how to to breed different strains to help with different medical conditions. That is the farming and engineering part and the art part is presenting something I made to the public.<br />
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I grew up in Modesto in farm country -- many of my relatives were farmers. My grandparents had a dairy farm and a cousin had an organic walnut farm. Many of my summers and after school time was spent working on the farms. At home, my mom had my siblings and I plant and tend a <a href="https://bonnieplants.com/library/planting-plan-for-homemade-4-x-4-foot-salsa-garden/">salsa garden</a>. Later I realized that many of the salsa garden plants had the same growing season and soil <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH">pH</a> as cannabis! My mom taught me how to make fish fertilizer which I hated doing as a kid but that knowledge ended up being very useful to me later.<br />
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My dad was a contractor and I also helped him out doing construction work -- working with his badass workers certainly toughened me up.<br />
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I wanted out of Modesto so went to UC San Diego for college. I wanted to study something that was as completely different from farming as possible so I picked the visual arts. My parents weren't too thrilled about me studying something that they couldn't see would lead to a job.<br />
<br />
I had injured my back from the construction work and it only got worse while I was in college. My doctor had me on Vicodin and other pain medication but nothing worked to alleviate the pain and I didn't like the side effects. This was in 1998 and at that time most medical doctors wouldn't give you a prescription for medical marijuana so I decided to grow my own. California had passed the <a href="https://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/MMP/Pages/CompassionateUseact.aspx">Compassionate Use Act in 1996</a> (Proposition 215) so I could legally grow it for my own medical use and for others who were part of my collective.<br />
<br />
I roomed with a chemical, bio and electrical engineer and I was an art major and together we nerded out on how to grow it in our apartment and on plant genetics and what medical conditions each type of plant would work well for. I would go to a local plant nursery to learn about soil -- I loved the smell -- it smelled like home. I spent tons of time with a local <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroponics">hydroponic</a> gardener asking him all kinds of questions about how to grow my "tomatoes." He mainly grew orchids and he answered my questions and spent a lot of time with me even though I didn't have any money to buy anything from him. He probably knew why I was asking so many questions but he never asked me details! I had my hydroponic garden in my closet -- half the plants died and my girlfriend wasn't too thrilled about the situation. <br />
<br />
I moved back to Modesto after graduation and worked with my dad who had changed careers and was now a real estate appraiser. I knew my mom wouldn't approve of my hydroponic garden so my brother and I set it up in a crawl space in our house. Unfortunately our dog kept following us and gave us away! My cousin let me set it up on his walnut farm.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk8GZeeMqdhYOE8WapDxnyGJjPVshEIECNJFYLjJr8KqVd2pZ3RR_NwDg3v3Y9E7dLwKiFrEHRrshQ3wOmwgpxxfTVPSbt5kwpZEY0bZoXABoFKrg45uNDAieMjFZcg_QJUiTfvW2gE9tt/s1600/Dutchmans_Flat_16J5069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk8GZeeMqdhYOE8WapDxnyGJjPVshEIECNJFYLjJr8KqVd2pZ3RR_NwDg3v3Y9E7dLwKiFrEHRrshQ3wOmwgpxxfTVPSbt5kwpZEY0bZoXABoFKrg45uNDAieMjFZcg_QJUiTfvW2gE9tt/s1600/Dutchmans_Flat_16J5069.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Led Zeppelin III is one of many vinyl LPs that entertain customers at Dutchman's Flat Medical Cannabis Dispensary in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood.</td></tr>
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I decided I was interested in criminal law so I interned at a law firm in Modesto with the idea of going to law school. It was exciting -- I was in court every day. I moved to San Francisco and got a job as a part-time law assistant and a job as a part-time building engineer. I quickly learned that not all lawyers spend time in court but mostly behind their desks. That wasn't for me so I went full time working with a guy named Donald as a building engineer. So my life then consisted of watching Latin soap operas with Donald, fixing things in the building and cultivating my garden in my apartment.<br />
<br />
I then went to work with a commercial contractor as a project engineer. I was there for about five years. One of the building managers we worked with wanted to get their multi-tenant building <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership_in_Energy_and_Environmental_Design">LEED</a> certified and I volunteered our company to figure it out for them -- much to the dismay of the owner. It was extremely complicated and I learned a ton but we successfully got them LEED certified.<br />
<br />
I then went to work for Lynn Simon -- she founded Simon & Associates (now called Thornton Tomasetti) one of the first sustainable engineering firms in SF. I was there for seven years and I actually just left there three months ago. I loved it and learned so much there.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, I was still cultivating my plants. I was gaining more and more plant knowledge now that I was in SF and had access to cannabis clubs where I could buy plants and experiment. In 2004, California passed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Senate_Bill_420">SB420</a> further clarifying the regulations for medical marijuana. I really wanted to participate in cannabis competitions like the <a href="http://www.cannabiscup.com/">Cannabis Cup</a> and you have to own a dispensary to participate.<br />
<br />
I would go to Amsterdam every three years or so to gain more plant and technical experience. I rented five acres in Sonoma from a farmer and built a greenhouse to increase my production. We also have production in SF. <br />
<br />
I finally reached the point where my back was getting worse and I needed a job where I wasn't sitting down all day. I worked on opening Dutchman Flats while I was still at my full time job and about three months ago made this my full time job. Sean Devlin is my business partner and given his experience in managing restaurants and bars -- operates as the front of the house manager. I'm more comfortable with the details of growing the plants and he is much better at customer relations!<br />
<br />
We grow everything we sell -- seed to sale. All of our staff is well versed in what to recommend to customers with various medical conditions. <br />
<br />
I'm looking forward to the cannabis competitions but also to offering courses in sustainable gardening to the public. Now that we have been open for a few months we know what the community likes and we are working on a special strain for Dogpatch that might be called Dogpatch Haze.<br />
<br />
<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We looked for two years for just the right spot. I had gone to college with two of the owners of the <a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2013/09/where-everyone-still-knows-your-name.html">Dogpatch Saloon</a> and they encouraged me to look at Dogpatch. They said it was an amazing and supportive community. I already knew about Dogpatch from my trek from my Sunset neighborhood to <a href="http://www.serpentinesf.com/#about">Serpentine</a> for their burger and had spent more time in the neighborhood since the Dogpatch Saloon opened. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The owners of this building are the people behind <a href="https://nicecollective.com/">N.I.C.E Collective</a>. They had used the space for their clothing business but they had decided to open a retail spot across the street in the <a href="http://aicproperties.com/">American Industrial Center</a>. <br />
<br />
I really appreciated how organized the neighborhood association was and how upfront they were about what they needed and expected from our business. We knew there would be concerns about a business like ours opening in the neighborhood so we spoke at the Dogpatch Neighborhood Association, held open houses and addressed all the neighbor concerns that came our way. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So many of the other business owners have been supportive and given us guidance on how to open a business in the neighborhood. We tried to use as many local resources as possible -- we were fortunate that the folks from <a href="http://www.lundbergdesign.com/about">Lundberg Design</a> just down the street agreed to work with us as did others in the community. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9qip3zMEUK-vksBeRLwzLNsOocLOWHJqW6ZuH16rEd80Z0wB7D1G48Pl-46HDrhmNqC0Q18C4mWwnyxB1BQvcp92HK04KMqlfAdkTS6GyyMrkgy9BdjDAcBpeWeAf0ksNssmTPd-fjabV/s1600/Dutchmans_Flat_Coin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9qip3zMEUK-vksBeRLwzLNsOocLOWHJqW6ZuH16rEd80Z0wB7D1G48Pl-46HDrhmNqC0Q18C4mWwnyxB1BQvcp92HK04KMqlfAdkTS6GyyMrkgy9BdjDAcBpeWeAf0ksNssmTPd-fjabV/s1600/Dutchmans_Flat_Coin.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The winning coin from the Flip that won the name Dutchman's Flat is in the bathroom floor at the Cannabis Dispensary in Dogpatch.</td></tr>
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<b>What's with the name -- Dutchman's Flat?</b><br />
<br />
Our original choice for a business name was Dogpatch Collective but our landlords, N.I.C.E Collective, thought it was too similar to their business name and that it might be confusing. When we found out that another nickname for Dogpatch is Dutchman's Flat we couldn't believe it. I couldn't type fast enough to check if that name had been registered with the city. I was so excited when it wasn't taken given the connection to Amsterdam because much the inspiration for our shop comes from the Amsterdam Coffeehouses (AKA Cannabis Clubs) as well as so much of our technical and agricultural knowledge.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, even though it wasn't registered there was another person who had started the registration process but hadn't finished it. They contacted me and we agreed to flip a coin for the name. We met at the Dogpatch Saloon and we agreed to flip a coin just one time to decide who would get to use the name. Well, I won but then they asked me to flip again -- I won -- they asked again -- I won. I won all of them -- tails won! <br />
<br />
If you look in our bathroom you will notice that we have tiled the floor using pennies except for one coin -- the winning coin and it is tails up!<br />
<br />
Much of the design is inspired by Amsterdam. The big sliding door bears three vertical crosses honoring the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Amsterdam">Coat of Arms of Amsterdam</a>. Touches of the color orange -- <a href="http://goamsterdam.about.com/od/planatrip/a/color_orange.htm">the color of the Dutch Royal Family</a> -- is used throughout the space and our logo is a boat. <br />
<br />
<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
<br />
If it hadn't been so hard on my back to sit all day I would have stayed at my last job. Great people and I loved the work. Great view of Alcatraz from the office! So I would have stayed there and I most likely would have pursued a degree in Environmental Engineering. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
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indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-56057852170785906762016-09-06T08:44:00.000-07:002016-09-08T08:03:23.825-07:00I'm Hungry -- Let's Have a Drink: Cocktails from our Favorite Dogpatch Drinking Establishments<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhymA7r85tf25gI0X_qfYwYjj8UQjILnAaxpZUMByMs9CF3K81LJtSrxPnr1SiILLaezW71rbynMS-cYI_-A2RhXNmTQHu9T6Btok8ttwaXZgPdV69wcOD9gEpByIRQ3FCKYkWxZh10AuEg/s1600/Veronica_Nye_Dogpatch_Saloon_16H3989.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhymA7r85tf25gI0X_qfYwYjj8UQjILnAaxpZUMByMs9CF3K81LJtSrxPnr1SiILLaezW71rbynMS-cYI_-A2RhXNmTQHu9T6Btok8ttwaXZgPdV69wcOD9gEpByIRQ3FCKYkWxZh10AuEg/s1600/Veronica_Nye_Dogpatch_Saloon_16H3989.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Veronica Nye of Dogpatch Saloon Creates The Illinios and 22nd Cocktail. It's one of four Dogpatch Cocktails featured in this indogpatch post.</td></tr>
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When we aren't photographing and asking our indogpatch interview subjects "Why do you do what you do?" We like to kick back and relax at several of our favorite Dogpatch drinking establishments. <br />
<br />
We have learned a lot of cocktail tricks from three of the best bars in the neighborhood. We decided to ask our favorite bartenders at each establishment to create a drink specifically for the Dogpatch neighborhood. Here are their drinks and the backstory -- in their own words -- for each one. Feel free to mix one up at home or head on over to their establish to have them mix it for you. Either way -- sip and enjoy.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Illinois & 22nd</span></b><br />
<br />
<b>Drinking Establishment: </b><br />
<a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2013/09/where-everyone-still-knows-your-name.html">Dogpatch Saloon</a><br />
<br />
<b>Bartender: </b><br />
Veronica Nye<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<b>Drink: </b><br />
Illinois & 22nd<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-3ptL6lN_-O9DP3uGfpuXU-jLUF_WC-ddAm-q95OBXpahGCMsH9nc30sLCFkIEVZymDjKwDRj_W6S8H7-eewSWXrH3Kjy3RA69ulIe7yuNtSXPj-8Yt7a9pbPzq85cedYoWibooBPI5-g/s1600/Illinois_22nd_Cocktail_16H4013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-3ptL6lN_-O9DP3uGfpuXU-jLUF_WC-ddAm-q95OBXpahGCMsH9nc30sLCFkIEVZymDjKwDRj_W6S8H7-eewSWXrH3Kjy3RA69ulIe7yuNtSXPj-8Yt7a9pbPzq85cedYoWibooBPI5-g/s1600/Illinois_22nd_Cocktail_16H4013.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Illinois & 22nd Cocktail by Veronica Nye of Dogpatch Saloon features Sutton Cellars Vermouth and Cucumber for a refreshing drink to share with friends at Dogpatch's friendliest watering hole.</td></tr>
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<br />
<b>The Recipe:</b><br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">2oz <a href="http://suttoncellars.com/">Sutton Cellars</a> Brown Label Vermouth, </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">6-8 slices of a small cucumber</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">.50 oz <a href="http://innajam.com/">Inna Jam</a> Meyer Lemon Shrub</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">.25 oz <a href="http://www.mandarinenapoleon.com/">Mandarin Napoleon </a>orange liqueur</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">2 dashes <a href="http://www.sevenstillsofsf.com/">Seven Stills</a> Cocktail Blood Orange Bitters</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">2 dashes <a href="http://www.angostura.com/">Angostura </a>Aromatic Bitters</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">1oz <a href="http://cocknbull.us/">Cock 'n Bull ginger beer </a></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Put all ingredients except the ginger beer in a cocktail tin, add ice and a couple of light shakes, pour into a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collins_glass">Collins glass </a>that already has the ginger beer in the bottom. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<b>The Backstory:</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">When this drink came to mind I was reminiscing about the times I've spent with friends, in my many years in both Texas and New York, sitting outside talking, drinking, laughing. In that spirit, I wanted a nice afternoon cocktail or punch that would be fun and wouldn't hurt if one were to accidentally consume three or four. All of the fun I've had living and working in the Dogpatch the last 4 1/2 years came to mind, especially at Sutton Cellars drinking wine and some of Carl Sutton's awesome concoctions. So, I decided to put together a cocktail using Sutton Cellars vermouth, which I really love. Serendipitously the day I began testing the cocktail, Carl Sutton stopped by the bar and acted as Guinea pig. Now, I've got a cocktail I'd enjoy drinking with friends at a backyard bbq in Austin, on a stoop in Brooklyn, or a street corner in Dogpatch. </span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span>
<span class="s1" style="font-size: large;"><b>The Dogpatch Porch Sipper</b></span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span>
<b>Drinking Establishment: </b><br />
<a href="http://www.serpentinesf.com/#about">Serpentine </a><br />
<br />
<b>Bartender: </b><br />
David DeRinzy<br />
<br />
<b>Drink: </b><br />
Dogpatch Porch Sipper<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiti9l7oVHznp5mdjzYdSGsYdB50GS-nSHuWYuMgt9ngBGg4sMhHaBu__MFkOY0DidqGd928CTKWXzKRkotj0fKtWaQkbhOQQuqij6jOs8joox8781-naw9UTv0L24kh1JjVyeEHvD33SOj/s1600/Dogpatch_Porch_Sipper_16H8829.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiti9l7oVHznp5mdjzYdSGsYdB50GS-nSHuWYuMgt9ngBGg4sMhHaBu__MFkOY0DidqGd928CTKWXzKRkotj0fKtWaQkbhOQQuqij6jOs8joox8781-naw9UTv0L24kh1JjVyeEHvD33SOj/s1600/Dogpatch_Porch_Sipper_16H8829.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Dogpatch Porch Sipper Cocktail by Serpentine's David DeRinzy uses his own Ginger Root Syrup to create this drink which ties San Francisco and New Orleans together.</td></tr>
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<b>The Recipe:</b><br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">2 oz. <a href="http://www.redemptionrye.com/">Redemption Rye</a></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">1 oz. <a href="http://www.purelysyrup.com/">Purely Syrup</a> Ginger Root</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">1 0z. fresh Lemon Juice</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">3 dashes Peach Bitters</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Shake all ingredients in a cocktail tin for 10-12 seconds, double strain over fresh ice in cocktail tumbler, garnish with aged Maraschino Cherry.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw6aKXPFIF1cIghU-y2WZ5UrOddhlri9jNdIhFyQtqUTcUygg9PSq__uMDZdQULyDXXhozJbMkx3M0SQ-bdeTB2uxpix5VStOe7vmO4HjJgYU8r7s9Wpjky4n81lIQfJrZG04qjsKF-1HT/s1600/David_DiRenzy_16H8797.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw6aKXPFIF1cIghU-y2WZ5UrOddhlri9jNdIhFyQtqUTcUygg9PSq__uMDZdQULyDXXhozJbMkx3M0SQ-bdeTB2uxpix5VStOe7vmO4HjJgYU8r7s9Wpjky4n81lIQfJrZG04qjsKF-1HT/s1600/David_DiRenzy_16H8797.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David DeRinzy of Serpentine Makes a Dogpatch Porch Sipper that reminds him of New Orleans and Dogpatch in one cocktail.</td></tr>
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<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>The Backstory:</b></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">This drink was inspired by my recent trip to New Orleans for the annual <a href="https://talesofthecocktail.com/">Tales of the Cocktail </a>event. New Orleans reminds me a lot of San Francisco. Both New Orleans and San Francisco are foodie and cocktail towns and the Dogpatch neighborhood also has the distinction of being one of the few sunny neighborhoods in San Francisco. So sit back on whatever goes for a porch for you and enjoy a Dogpatch Porch Sipper.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<i>Editor's Note</i>: In addition to being the bar manager at Serpentine, David is a partner in <a href="http://www.purelysyrup.com/">Purely Syrup</a> -- a line of certified organic simple syrups. He uses the Ginger Root Purely Syrup in this recipe. <br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The 601</span></b><br />
<br />
<b>Drinking Establishment: </b><br />
<a href="http://thirdrailbarsf.com/">Third Rail</a><br />
<br />
<b>Bartender: </b><br />
Jeff Lyon<br />
<br />
<b>Drink: </b><br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The 601</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ndSd4PJefXVxkp4ZTcYoQFBIyeRqHupbWjQjpdVh5MLHIkfbn6-tBcm24ETI2sYCYv3nAOTz9tb9uOhayQ3_GzGyzrOl2BLu0r8TzmILO_kX6969BtXNgd-wEtBDNYD8LAF5YN4iS8nt/s1600/Jeff_Lyon_Third_Rail_16H8017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ndSd4PJefXVxkp4ZTcYoQFBIyeRqHupbWjQjpdVh5MLHIkfbn6-tBcm24ETI2sYCYv3nAOTz9tb9uOhayQ3_GzGyzrOl2BLu0r8TzmILO_kX6969BtXNgd-wEtBDNYD8LAF5YN4iS8nt/s1600/Jeff_Lyon_Third_Rail_16H8017.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeff Lyon of Third Rail makes his cocktail called The 601 at the popular Dogpatch Cocktail Bar that is also known for its gourmet jerky.</td></tr>
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<div class="p1">
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Recipe:</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">1.5 oz. <a href="http://suttoncellars.com/">Sutton Cellars</a> </span>Brown Label Vermouth</div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">1 oz. <a href="http://www.aperol.com/">Aperol</a> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">1/2 oz. lemon juice</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">1/2 oz. <a href="http://fourrosesbourbon.com/">Four Roses </a>bourbon </span><br />
<span class="s1">Seltzer</span><br />
<span class="s1">Rosemary</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span><span class="s1">Shake in a cocktail tin and pour into a Collins glass over ice.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Top with seltzer and g</span>arnish with rosemary.</div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn1OYiL5UXV5TPPtPlsGchWDyVE4B5oUO_iaNlNKXTGDDQWi23OHPcqzJ2ha1gwDpD24K7xIKua18u3t7ySKb33qwvlavJP2jLaLV2dYc_pVOyFmTfDOpA-OLqtOv_aQFfB5R5QL_RWPbK/s1600/The_601_Third_Rail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn1OYiL5UXV5TPPtPlsGchWDyVE4B5oUO_iaNlNKXTGDDQWi23OHPcqzJ2ha1gwDpD24K7xIKua18u3t7ySKb33qwvlavJP2jLaLV2dYc_pVOyFmTfDOpA-OLqtOv_aQFfB5R5QL_RWPbK/s1600/The_601_Third_Rail.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 601 Cocktail from Third Rail Owner Jeff Lyon gets its name from the address of Sutton Cellars maker of the Vermouth used in the drink.</td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><b>The Backstory:</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">The name is taken from Sutton Cellars' address -- 601 22nd Street -- and it reflects the neighborhood because it features Carl's vermouth so prominently. </span><br />
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: large;"><b>The Photographer</b></span><br />
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<b>BONUS DRINK!</b><br />
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<span class="s1"><b>Drinking Establishment:</b></span><br />
<span class="s1">The Kline Home in Dogpatch</span><br />
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<span class="s1"><b>Bartender:</b></span><br />
<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.scottrklinephoto.com/About/1/caption" target="_blank">Scott R. Kline</a></span><br />
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<b>The Drink:</b><br />
The Photographer (Blonde Rum Negroni)<span class="s1"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7S4Hwe0Jw-MZ0C_7lf1clU8xArr4_9s-CRpHu4M8Q4ctHp8DsAiWiIqpk1B1-6cifq1A1fCDyXXfu2NLl6AaYtPGq_d0du1EfyhkLpwpoVR7yeIdlei73twaevmrwqKx3iF893BFYP7K/s1600/The_Photographer_Cocktail_16H4101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7S4Hwe0Jw-MZ0C_7lf1clU8xArr4_9s-CRpHu4M8Q4ctHp8DsAiWiIqpk1B1-6cifq1A1fCDyXXfu2NLl6AaYtPGq_d0du1EfyhkLpwpoVR7yeIdlei73twaevmrwqKx3iF893BFYP7K/s1600/The_Photographer_Cocktail_16H4101.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cocktail called The Photographer could best be described as a Blonde Rum Negroni.</td></tr>
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<span class="s1"><b>The Recipe:</b></span><br />
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<span class="s1">2 oz. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flor_de_Ca%C3%B1a">Flor de Cana</a> 4-Year White Rum</span><br />
<span class="s1">3/4 oz. <a href="http://www.alpenz.com/images/poftfolio/dolinvermouthfacts.htm">Dolin Blanc</a> Vermouth</span><br />
3/4 oz. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocchi_Americano">Cocchi Americano</a> Blanco<br />
2 Dashes Orange Bitters<br />
Lemon slice<br />
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Stir in a glass beaker with ice and strain into a coupe. The vintage coupe pictured is from <a href="http://www.industriouslife.com/shop-2/">The Industrious Life</a> shop located in Dogpatch. Garnish with lemon.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUhvTaqg11FSkqmgsJrePsByfW9UZa_VatX7JXreTddMrOplANIyQdGLwMmVU_Ay4lDPq6VRXKnDqe7BR6_F3Lt03NB-zTa9Y7jlqxnRZ8rgpVfcfG9V1GM4xSerjwohLLaeaq6mZEqM52/s1600/The_Photographer_Cocktail_16H4085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUhvTaqg11FSkqmgsJrePsByfW9UZa_VatX7JXreTddMrOplANIyQdGLwMmVU_Ay4lDPq6VRXKnDqe7BR6_F3Lt03NB-zTa9Y7jlqxnRZ8rgpVfcfG9V1GM4xSerjwohLLaeaq6mZEqM52/s1600/The_Photographer_Cocktail_16H4085.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dogpatch resident and photographer Scott R. Kline puts the finishing touches on his creation, The Photographer.</td></tr>
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<b>The Backstory:</b><br />
Hanging out with the bartenders in Dogpatch and talking cocktails is a great experience. In talking to the professional cocktail craftsman in the neighborhood, I learned that a lot of drinks are created by substituting elements. Having loved the Negroni and liking rum a lot, I tried a Negroni with rum. The Campari overpowered the rum, so I substituted Cocchi Americano. Red vermouth was too sweet, so I substituted Dolin Blanc, a somewhat sweet white vermouth. The resulting blonde color and mild sweetness resulted in a very balanced drink I called the Blonde Rum Negroni. When I shared the recipe with David DeRinzy of Serpentine, it was re-dubbed "The Photographer".<br />
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Editor's Note</i>: the title of our post is inspired by one of our favorite lines from the 1936 movie, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_the_Thin_Man">After The Thin Man.</a></span></div>
indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-35681019781825460872016-08-08T16:43:00.001-07:002016-08-08T16:46:10.553-07:00Where Hospitality is Top Priority: Meet Jason Alonzo, Jordan Keao and Cheryl Liew of ‘āina<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJdw5WC2nt5sziwMVP0xC5ib0IHCGanG9QFKY4f1yBhgNzsBRHIG88UhSGBmWkST61eTpCqERr0Q6_9PsYnjMmyDEfjYNEw1MuC6heH0mzZpBO6azmTLnemGvCebPZjZQrOgJfSDDInHsq/s1600/Aina_16G5545.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJdw5WC2nt5sziwMVP0xC5ib0IHCGanG9QFKY4f1yBhgNzsBRHIG88UhSGBmWkST61eTpCqERr0Q6_9PsYnjMmyDEfjYNEw1MuC6heH0mzZpBO6azmTLnemGvCebPZjZQrOgJfSDDInHsq/s1600/Aina_16G5545.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The owners of ‘āina in Dogpatch created an innovative Hawaiian themed menu of food and drink. They include Cheryl Liew, Jason Alonzo and Jordan Keao (Standing).</td></tr>
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A change in ownership or concept in the restaurant business is not unusual but we were sad to see Joshua Shertz's hard fought efforts to convert his Cup of Blues cafe into <a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2013/02/blue-no-more-cup-of-blues-ready-for-its.htmlen">Ensoleille Restaurant</a> not work out after only a few months.<br />
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When the official SF notification of a change in owners was posted on the closed restaurant door in September 2015, we were excited to learn more about their plans. The corner of 22nd and Minnesota is such a prime spot in Dogpatch that it seemed a waste not to have a business there.<br />
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Cheryl Liew, Jordan Keao and Jason Alonzo might be the new tenants but they are not new to the restaurant business. They were the force behind the pop-up, ‘āina (<a href="http://ainasf.com/">ainasf.com</a>), the weekend-only Hawaiian inspired brunch spot that had a successful but short run in the Bernal Heights neighborhood. ‘āina was so successful they decided to shut down and put their efforts behind searching for a permanent spot -- they couldn't stand having to turn people away. Their dream was to have a restaurant that could be open for both brunch and dinner for more than two days at a time. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYozAbyqipY_QFWBdm1z2EipbEbqBbZa6rYYC5bD2Q8gYRHZ1VKaYQVAyAtLqEkbr4_eZ2h9oUJiaL_w972tTHPIHob3qC66Wq63fEEmMRWe-DQ_j0GeRTG0xrMOelfd0qE3oCtnjc66-T/s1600/aina_entrees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYozAbyqipY_QFWBdm1z2EipbEbqBbZa6rYYC5bD2Q8gYRHZ1VKaYQVAyAtLqEkbr4_eZ2h9oUJiaL_w972tTHPIHob3qC66Wq63fEEmMRWe-DQ_j0GeRTG0xrMOelfd0qE3oCtnjc66-T/s1600/aina_entrees.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The offering at ‘āina includes Kalua Pork Belly (front), Kalbi Loco Moco and Breakfast potatoes.</td></tr>
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To say the last few months has been a whirlwind for them would be an understatement -- not only did they find the restaurant space, work through the usual SF red tape, and then build out the restaurant doing much of the work themselves, they did it while holding down full-time jobs. In addition, married couple Liew and Keao who already have one young child, welcomed their second child to the world.<br />
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Life isn't slowing down since they opened their doors to the hungry public in April -- the sidewalk in front of their restaurant is frequently crowded with folks hoping to get one of the tables that they keep open for walk-ins. (neighborhood tip -- early spots during the week are often available without a wait). The ‘āina team hopes to start dinner service in the Fall and also has a few other creative ideas they are working on to make sure we all have our fill of <a href="http://www.eater.com/2016/2/21/11082418/what-are-malasadas-hawaii">malasadas</a> and more.<br />
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We have dined at ‘āina numerous times and were impressed not only with the food and innovative bar program, but also by the warmth of everyone there. They genuinely seemed like they were having a good time amid the chaos of a busy restaurant. We often felt like they would sit down and join us for a leisurely chat despite the evidence of a packed restaurant and a line out the door that would prevent such an act. True hospitality seems to fuel the ‘āina experience.<br />
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<b>Jordan Keao, Chef and Owner</b></div>
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I love the instant gratification I get when I see that a customer has been changed by something that we have done -- by creating this great meal and experience for them. When we see a customer's smile then we get to see the real benefits of what we do -- why we work so many hours. When a customer is enjoying themselves in a space we created with food we created that is a powerful thing to us.<br />
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I grew up in Hawaii but moved to Boston when I was 13. You might say I'm a balance of city and country. I returned to Hawaii when I was 18. I did a lot of fishing and thinking and decided to focus on becoming a chef. I went to culinary school in San Diego -- it was a more affordable place to live while going to school. The goal was always to move to the SF Bay area. I wanted to be part of what was happening in the food and restaurant scene here. After culinary school I moved to this area -- to the East Bay where I helped to open a sushi restaurant. From there I dove into a more serious food and restaurant environment when I joined <a href="http://www.lafolie.com/#intro">La Folie</a>. I was there for three years where I learned to prepare high quality food in a fast paced environment. That's where I met Jason Alonzo who was in charge of the bar program there.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLS3Sim84BhHMaUJVSj9jGsBOmxwQXmFCEEGDiZUVwlRBXV-A0D5ji6B7pL3V8-kGrH-yCfA3wsZpGOz2VSIs8AvOZEb6PBQtMAUyOzvsYKzvuxZH43ZZi5jdjzgtbv4RqGb9QeFeGZymU/s1600/aina_malasades.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLS3Sim84BhHMaUJVSj9jGsBOmxwQXmFCEEGDiZUVwlRBXV-A0D5ji6B7pL3V8-kGrH-yCfA3wsZpGOz2VSIs8AvOZEb6PBQtMAUyOzvsYKzvuxZH43ZZi5jdjzgtbv4RqGb9QeFeGZymU/s1600/aina_malasades.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't miss the Malasadas - Portuguese style donuts - filled with guava custard at ‘āina in Dogpatch.</td></tr>
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I then joined a restaurant management group who managed the food service for Google. I learned so much there -- I realized that there are many different skill sets needed in the restaurant world in addition to having a great chef. Marketing, finance and more are needed to run and manage a large team.<br />
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Eventually I left Google for Airbnb -- we had a newborn and the commute from where we lived in SF to Google became just too much. I was still interested in working with a technology company but wanted to work with a smaller company so that I could really be involved in building and growing their food program. I really liked that Airbnb didn't contract out their food program but made it part of their company culture.<br />
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While at Airbnb we got the idea to do a brunch pop up on the weekends. Jason and I had always talked about doing a side project together.<br />
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We called our project, ‘āina, which is a Hawaiian word which means "the land that feeds us." The name reflects how we approach our work. To be mindful and to take just what you need. <br />
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From the start the project felt right -- we weren't forcing it to come together. Cheryl heard about a pop up Ramen spot in the Bernal Heights neighborhood that was open Monday-Friday and they were interested in letting us do our project on the weekends. It was a lot of fun but a lot of work. Social media and word-of-mouth made it a success but ultimately we just didn't have time for it so we closed. <br />
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We realized that we might as well have a full time restaurant than only a part-time pop-up. We all agreed on our direction and we all trusted each other.<br />
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<b>Cheryl Liew, CFO and Owner</b><br />
<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Well, keep in mind that I work full-time at a recruiting firm and love my work there. I wanted to support Jordan's dream of owning a restaurant. I look at the three of us as being the three pillars that will make ‘āina a success -- management, creative bar program and amazing food. It all comes together in our desire to provide a great experience for our customers.<br />
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I have always been a major foodie. I was born in the U.K. but grew up in Singapore which is a food obsessed country. Jordan and I first met as foodie friends -- we wanted to try all that the SF Bay Area had to offer. I went to school for economics and my original goal was to work for the World Health Organization or for the U.N. I thought I could use my expertise in economics to help developing countries. I did an internship at an investment banking firm in Singapore. It was intense but I loved it although I knew I didn't want to do that type of work long term. I then worked in media including stints at CNBC and ESPN. All of this experience led me to the recruiting industry -- I love the combination of finance and psychology. I so enjoy hearing other people's stories. I moved to SF in 2010 and started working in recruiting for technology positions. Jordan and I were married in 2012.<br />
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I knew he wanted to start a restaurant some day. I met the chef of a Ramen restaurant in Bernal Heights and that's how we found our weekend spot for ‘āina. At ‘āina I was the server, the host, whatever they needed me to be and almost always with our son strapped on my back!<br />
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We started looking around for a full-time space and a friend who lives in Dogpatch told us about Ensoleille and Joshua. It all started to come together after that.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaLWT18AtNVOHWAi5cSE30FcauTth_4gm1mYKI8nBA-Dd7ARn3Txq5AMwSdGydfJk28VlI2onK6K2pZY8TkYGFmIhLP5QlIMtCEWXf8iF0s3UvckoKyEcrHX4hedFk92JNS88JBPckTJrs/s1600/aina_cocktails.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaLWT18AtNVOHWAi5cSE30FcauTth_4gm1mYKI8nBA-Dd7ARn3Txq5AMwSdGydfJk28VlI2onK6K2pZY8TkYGFmIhLP5QlIMtCEWXf8iF0s3UvckoKyEcrHX4hedFk92JNS88JBPckTJrs/s1600/aina_cocktails.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jason Alonzo of ‘āina mixes up a great menu of brunch cocktails at the Dogpatch restaurant.</td></tr>
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<b>Jason Alonzo, General Manager, Owner</b><br />
<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I like making people happy. Hospitality is our top priority. To me, food is love. <br />
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I grew up in Boston but didn't meet Jordan there although it turned out that we had friends in common. We had an immediate trust with each other when we met at La Folie. <br />
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I started in the beverage business in Boston when I was 19. I was a bar back and learned the old school ways. I then became bar manager. I also worked at the Liberty Hotel where the chef there, Joseph Margate, was amazing -- he was doing California inspired food in Boston. I became interested in creating specialty cocktails to complement the food we were serving and to even use in the drink program some of the same ingredients that the kitchen was using to create their dinner menu.<br />
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Boston is a good place to be from but I always felt that I was born on the wrong coast. I had thought about moving to Southern California but moved to San Francisco when my then girlfriend decided to attend the Academy of Art. I moved here in 2011 and went to work for La Folie. <br />
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I took over the bar manager program at La Folie. I felt strongly that what the chef is doing with ingredients should also influence the beverage program and they supported my passion for crafting that type of bar program. <br />
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At ‘āina we have a low-ABV license which means I get to be creative with low proof alcohol like lillet and sparkling wine and use herbs, fruit and other seasonal ingredients to create drinks to complement our menu.<br />
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
We were looking for a neighborhood where we felt we could make our own mark -- that wasn't yet too well known. We looked in the inner Richmond, East Bay and South Bay. We didn't know a lot about Dogpatch but a friend who lives in the neighborhood told us we should look at the Ensoleille space after it closed and we made contact with owner Joshua Shertz. We liked that it was still a "hidden" neighborhood -- not yet totally discovered but well on its way. It reminded us of where we had our pop-up restaurant in the Bernal Heights neighborhood. This neighborhood also feels like an East Coast neighborhood where everyone knows their neighbor and are vocal about what they like and don't like. All the pieces started coming together here. We really felt like we could be part of the changing face of the neighborhood in a good way.<br />
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
JA: I would be a session musician I play guitar, bass, and drums.<br />
JK: A professional windsurfer. I did a lot of it as a kid in Hawaii.<br />
CL: Well, I'm also still working full time at a recruiting firm so I think I would find some balance in my life. Two jobs, two kids and a husband is plenty for me right now!<br />
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indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-17699013442419340792016-07-20T20:33:00.000-07:002016-07-20T22:01:44.108-07:00The Marriage of Food and Merriment: Meet Adam Mendelson of The Pearl<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYeebnCP_U_JyFzratpgHUyu0BA76UrjtgKYO-l6p_9UB5_oqL-cZjNEBz3sR2t2AQLATMbtxT_FcHVOh7svkyak6Wp0hMXhjDwgbusvOYlrkYNdb2NcxY5bZy6RX0QycKGS8S56Jxd6Je/s1600/Adam_Mendelson_16C9138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYeebnCP_U_JyFzratpgHUyu0BA76UrjtgKYO-l6p_9UB5_oqL-cZjNEBz3sR2t2AQLATMbtxT_FcHVOh7svkyak6Wp0hMXhjDwgbusvOYlrkYNdb2NcxY5bZy6RX0QycKGS8S56Jxd6Je/s640/Adam_Mendelson_16C9138.jpg" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adam Mendelson of The Pearl in front of the metal facade depicting Dogpatch's iconic cranes - Nick and Nora. </td></tr>
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Anyone walking by the Ace Boiler and Welding Works industrial space at 3rd and 19th would certainly not have had the image of a pearl and the beauty that word conveys. Many times we would rush by not wanting to disturb the ever-present guard dog that lurked in the open warehouse door and who looked none too friendly. <br />
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But if we think about the definition of the word Pearl (the finest example of something) or indeed how a Pearl is formed (something beautiful coming from an irritation), we might be closer to the newest incarnation of the Ace Boiler and Welding Works building into the event spaced named <a href="http://thepearlsf.com/">The Pearl</a>. <br />
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And it is a beautiful space -- including the outside of the building which is now clad in metal and etched with renderings of the cranes perhaps from the nearby future park, Crane Cove Park. The artwork outside and inside is by the artist and one of the partners of The Pearl, <a href="http://www.alexislaurent.com/">Alexis Laurent</a>. We long ago nicknamed the cranes Nick and Nora and were delighted to find that the yet unfinished bar in The Pearl will be named Nick and Nora. (We think bar seats should always be reserved for us.)<br />
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When the project was first announced, the concept included a distillery, event space and a restaurant. The concept has changed a bit -- the distillery is no longer part of the project and the restaurant space is still being figured out -- but the primary purpose of The Pearl is to be a destination for events and given the amount of activity we have seen on that corner in recent months, is already a success. The 8,000 square foot space is split into three levels including a rooftop space -- all of which can host a diverse range of events. As mentioned, a small bar space is still under construction as is a yet to be named restaurant. The restaurant model is still a work in progress but the hope is to have it ready by December 2016.<br />
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For many months during the long construction project we would see Adam Mendelson, managing partner of The Pearl, seemingly overseeing every second of the transformation. In fact, we weren't sure if he ever left the building. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adam Mendelson in the main event space at The Pearl while it was still under construction on March 28, 2016.</td></tr>
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
I'm in love with all things related to food and the theatre of making a great event happen. I'm continually amazed and gratified by the impact a good experience can have on someone versus the short-term impact of a purchase. I love the pull of an experience that seems seamless -- where the customer doesn't see all the effort involved. <br />
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I grew up in Ohio and went to high school in Pennsylvania and college at Washington University in St. Louis. I had a double major in finance and painting. I became interested in the intersection between the environment and commercial development. I worked in Latin America on social and economic projects then returned to the U.S. to attend grad school at The John Hopkins University. I returned to Latin America to work for the Inter-American Development Bank to try to make an impact from within. I worked on several small infrastructure projects there. I fell in love with the idea of working on renewable energy projects and co-developed wind projects with a focus on Latin America. In 2008 I moved to California to work on large solar projects in the U.S. for SunPower Corporation. After three years I decided to take a sabbatical to figure out what I really wanted to focus my passion and energy on. I moved to the east coast but moved back to California in 2012. I moved here with my fiancee -- neither one of us had jobs. Three days before our wedding our car was hit by a drunk driver. Thankfully, neither one of us was injured. The accident solidified for me that I only wanted to pursue something that I was truly passionate about. <br />
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I realized that all of my free time -- reading, traveling, etc. was around food so I decided to make it my life. I wanted to be part of something that was excellent and that was in the hospitality industry. <br />
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I was inspired by a friend who had opened a winery in Brooklyn. I loved the marriage of food and merriment and how the business had ties to the local community. I invested in a small hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee and saw just how much work it was to build and operate that business. But I was inspired by all of it. <br />
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I had met The Pearl partner <a href="http://chefstablegroup.com/team">Kurt Huffman</a>, a Portland based chef and restaurateur, through a colleague at SunPower. He was interested in developing a project that was more than a restaurant space. <a href="http://www.biritemarket.com/who-we-are/the-bi-rite-family-of-businesses/">Sam Mogannam of Bi-Rite Market</a> also loved the idea of an event space that his business could be a part of. Alexis Laurent had an unofficial event space that had to close so he was interested in putting his talents and energy to work with me. The food industry in SF is amazing. It is highly competitive but I found that everyone shares their expertise in the hopes of making the experience an excellent one for the consumer. I put together a 56 page business plan and with that and my passion I got my foot in the door of the food world and The Pearl started to take shape.<br />
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
Once the project started coming together we looked not only at the local real estate market and what was available, but also where light industry and public assembly were allowed to happen. We looked at Dogpatch, Mission Bay, Pier 70 and the Outer Mission. We knew about the Dogpatch neighborhood but didn't know it very well. Once we started looking at the neighborhood, we realized that Dogpatch had what we were looking for -- urban mixed used development, great weather, and an amazing list of developments that were approved and on the way and so it became ground zero for our search.<br />
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We met with the property manager of the <a href="http://aicproperties.com/">AIC</a> and he mentioned that the old Ace Boiler and Welding Works industrial space at 3rd and 19th was for sale. <br />
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
I would continue to find a way to work with local stakeholders to create something lasting and that reflects what people want to see in their neighborhood. I love finding the best people and then helping them to do what they do best. I love the role of the producer in making this happen.<br />
<br />indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-8517853573116491952016-04-18T16:06:00.003-07:002016-07-20T22:03:33.322-07:00Always Something New to Learn: Meet David Netzer of The Wine House<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Netzer of The Wine House in Dogpatch loves wine and passes along his passion to customers. </td></tr>
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The area known as SoDoPa (south of Dogpatch and not to be confused with DoReMi) is quickly becoming a bustling corridor along 26th Street with <a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2015/11/art-function-meet-david-and-christina.html">ShopFloor Design </a>and <a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2015/08/harmonic-convergence-meet-craftsmen.html">Harmonic Brewing </a>as anchors off of Minnesota and <a href="http://www.winesf.com/index.asp">The Wine House</a> off of Third Street. <br />
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The Wine House might be a newcomer to Dogpatch but the company has been in San Francisco for almost 40 years. The Wine House sells direct to consumers and also has a thriving distribution business. The company started as a French importer with a focus on Bordeaux but has widened its focus through the years to include wines from Italy, Germany, Austria, South Africa, California and more. Today the company enjoys a reputation as a place where the staff is knowledgeable and friendly and the wine selection is highly curated.<br />
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<b>Tell us about The Wine House</b><br />
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I became president of The Wine House in 2009 but I joined the company in 1984. John Carpenter started the company in 1977. He grew up in Maryland but taught history in France -- in the Bordeaux region He caught the wine bug when he was there and started the Wine House when he returned to the U.S. He offered a small group of investors wine at cost if they invested and it is still the same small group that owns the company today along with myself. John isn't active day-to-day in the company now. We have a staff of four and most of them have been with me ten years or more.<br />
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John was one of the pioneers in focusing on Bordeaux and on grower champagne long before it was popular to do so. Grower champagne is produced by the farmers who grow the grapes -- not a big luxury consumer company who owns a champagne producer. That is anything but artisan. The goal of the luxury champagne producers is for every bottle to taste the same. Someone sees an orange label and they know what to expect every time. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Wine House team really knows wine. Right to left: Anya Balistreri, David Netzer and Peter Zavialoff </td></tr>
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In contrast, we want to work with small producers, with the farmers. Producers like Pierre Gimonnet and Pascal Doquet. We work with people we like.<br />
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We have lots of wine from some very obscure places. But we aren't stuffy wine people. When you come in to our shop we don't ask you how much you want to spend but instead, we ask what you are serving it with. We don't take ourselves too seriously. We are here for the wine lovers and the foodies because that is who we are as well. We recommend what we would want to have.<br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
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I adore wine. It really is a miracle that you can grow grapes and get something amazing like wine from them. I love the conviviality of the wine and the miracle of it existing.<br />
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It's something that I've never gotten tired of learning about. <br />
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I also grew up in Maryland -- in the D.C. area. It was a very aware place to grow up and it was also a very diverse place. I studied music composition and piano at the University of Maryland. <br />
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I had my wine epiphany at a restaurant with a 1973 Red Burgundy that I still remember to this day. I had never tasted anything like it. I started studying wine and reading everything I could about it. I read all the book by the master of wine, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Broadbent">Michael Broadbent</a>. </div>
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I went to every retailer who had a tasting room and went back time after time. Many of the owners got sick of me showing up but some answered my questions and mentored me. I developed my wine palate with the classics -- Bordeaux, German Riesling, Burgundy -- there were no California wines in our area at that time. Every bit of my disposable income went to wine and books and I even started a tiny cellar in my parent's basement. <br />
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My girlfriend wanted to go to business school in California so we moved together to Albany in 1983. I had decided I wanted to focus on the retail side of the wine business and not the wholesale side because I thought I would learn more. When I got to California I went to every fine wine retailer in San Francisco but didn't have any luck landing a job. But I did however meet John Carpenter of the Wine House but he wasn't hiring.<br />
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So, I ended up at Liquor Barn in Albany. Not quite my dream job but the wine buyer there took me under her wing and brought me to tastings and introduced me to the right people in the wine industry. John offered me a job two months after I started at Liquor Barn but I turned him down -- I felt bad leaving so soon. But after a few more months they cut my hours and luckily John called again and this time I took the job. The job at The Wine House was only my second job in the wine industry and I'm still here and still learning.<br />
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b></div>
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John opened The Wine House in a 3300 square foot space on Bryant in SOMA in 1977 which then was simply called, South of Market. He was there for 22 years until we were pushed out by the dot-com boom. Our landlord was a great guy but our lease was month-to-month and he told us to take our time but that we needed to find another space so he could accept the lease of a dot-com for our space. </div>
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We found a 7200 square foot space in Potrero Hill and moved but unfortunately the company that wanted our Bryant space backed out of the deal and that space sat vacant for three years. That dot-com is long gone. Well, we were in Potrero Hill for 14 years and again our landlord was a great guy but we had a month-to-month lease. The San Francisco market got hot again and the landlord wanted to build condos on that land so we were once again looking for a home. </div>
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We told our real estate agent we wanted to stay in this general area so we never really looked anywhere else. We love the feel of this area and already knew several of the shops like Piccino Restaurant who we sell wine to, Olivier's Butchery and <a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2012/05/sweet-success-on-their-own-terms-meet.html">Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous</a> ice cream shop. There are so many hidden gems in this neighborhood just like in Potrero Hill. We loved 22nd Street but at first worried that this location on 26th Street was too far south but we saw that Bayview was just exploding with cool new spots so grabbed this location. Each move has taken us further south and I joke that we will soon be on a barge out in the Bay!</div>
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But the good news is now we have a ten year lease and 11,000 square feet which is perfect for our retail and distribution spaces.</div>
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b></div>
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Well, only my lack of talent keeps me from my goal of being the second baseman for the SF Giants. </div>
indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA37.7591221 -122.3895377999999737.734014099999996 -122.42987829999997 37.7842301 -122.34919729999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-45425386540016795542016-03-07T09:12:00.000-08:002016-07-20T22:05:18.829-07:00Pick. Bottle. Enjoy: Meet Carl Sutton of Sutton Cellars<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sharon and Carl Sutton of Sutton Cellars at the winery in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco, CA. </td></tr>
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It's the laugh that most people hear first. That slightly maniacal, yet full of glee hoot that makes you wonder exactly what is going on in the warehouse space at the corner of 22nd and Illinois. But don't let the trademark laugh of Carl Sutton of <a href="http://suttoncellars.com/">Sutton Cellars</a> fool you into thinking that he doesn't take winemaking seriously. Underneath that laid back demeanor is a great intensity which comes out in full force when asked about his wine.<br />
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Sutton Cellar's <a href="http://suttoncellars.com/on-the-bar/">offerings</a> include cider, a house red, rose and a digestif wine. But their most popular offering might just be their Dry Vermouth which is the basis for the very refreshing Sutton & Soda -- vermouth with a splash of seltzer and a grapefruit twist. <br />
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His tasting room, which is located in the <a href="http://aicproperties.com/about-us/">American Industrial Center</a> (AIC) looks like a winery but it also feels like it might be your living room or at least one furnished in slightly shabby yet chic couches, chairs and tables. And that is the vibe Sutton and his wife and business partner Sharon Sutton have worked hard to create. There is a definite sense that you are welcome to hang out and drink wine as long as you want but if you want to learn about the wine you are drinking then just ask and an education will be had.<br />
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Sharon, who joined us at the end of our interview with Carl, is in charge of quality control at Sutton Cellars -- she makes certain anything with their name on it is a quality product. The couple met in 2001 and married in 2004. Her position as a senior design manager for Old Navy's international franchise operations has her traveling 2-3 weeks each month so her time at the winery is limited. Her business travel and her travels with Carl inspired many of the products they produce -- their trip to Italy inspired their vermouth product; the rose and their digestif were inspired by travels to France and their house red by a trip to Milan. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carl Sutton puts the finishing touches on the Sutton & Soda made with Sutton Cellars' dry vermouth. </td></tr>
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<i>Here is our interview with Carl:</i><br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
Well, I generally answer that question by saying that I'm unemployable elsewhere. But the truth is that I find winemaking very fulfilling -- I'm still discovering how you can take grapes and have something delicious come out of the winemaking process. That's still a big accomplishment to me.<br />
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I grew up in a town in Monterey County -- outside of Salinas -- where the only culture is agriculture. San Francisco of course was the Big City and once I had a car, I spent all my time in SF. I knew I wanted to live here someday. My high school teachers inspired me to pursue my love of creating art and I spent more than three years at Sonoma State studying fine art and photography. But it was when I interned at a winery during one summer that I knew I had to switch gears. I loved the work. I did everything at the winery -- vineyard work, winery work, tasting room. <br />
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I went back to school at <a href="http://ag.santarosa.edu/">Santa Rosa Junior College</a> and earned a certificate after four years there in vineyard management and wine marketing. I learned so much there -- their <a href="http://shonefarm.com/">Schone Farm</a> has more than 100 acres of experimental and commercial vineyards. While I was in school I also received even more hands-on experience by working at various wineries including DeLoach Vineyards and Cline Cellars. <br />
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I became a pretty serious home winemaker and I like to say that it got a bit out-of-hand as it started to take all my time and resources. So in 1996 I started Sutton Cellars. By 1996 I felt that I knew the nuts and bolts of winemaking and I knew that if I kept working for other wineries I would never be able to make a wine that was totally my vision of what I thought it should be. <br />
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My vision, which was really unusual in 1996, was to make wines with very little intervention -- no yeast, unfiltered, no preservatives. Basically: Pick. Bottle. Enjoy. Oh, and don't mess it up! I wanted to make wine that tasted like the grapes.<br />
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And I felt it was important to sell direct to the customer so I could explain to them that they should treat wine like they treat milk. They should enjoy it right away because it is alive and won't keep. But of course my intentions don't mean shit if customers don't like the wine. So my end goal is to have people enjoy the wine while I educate them.<br />
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
I feel like Dogpatch chose me, I didn't choose it and I'm so glad it did! I had been living in San Francisco since 2002 but commuting to Sonoma to make the wine. About seven years ago I started talking to Dave McLean (<a href="http://indogpatch.blogspot.com/2014/02/smokestack-lightning-meet-dave-mclean.html">Smokestack</a>) and Scott Youkilis (<a href="http://www.hogandrocks.com/">Hogs and Rocks</a>) about coming together to do a project in San Francisco that was a winery/BBQ/brewery all under one roof. We wanted a destination place. We looked in a lot of places including SOMA and Bayview. <br />
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Michael Recchiuti (<a href="https://www.recchiuti.com/">Recchiuti Confections)</a> and Erin Rooney (<a href="http://www.serpentinesf.com/">Serpentine Restaurant</a>) -- who both have their businesses in the American Industrial Center in Dogpatch -- encouraged me to talk to Greg Markoulis, one of the owners of the AIC. Greg suggested a smaller place for just my winery and as soon as I saw this space I knew this was it. It was a beautiful space -- the light was streaming in from the windows and it had a huge roll up door. I decided then and there that I would take this space for my winery until the plan with McLean and Youkilis came together. That venture didn't end up happening although I do a lot of joint events now with Smokestack.<br />
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I finally opened in December 2010. We really feel like we opened in Dogpatch before the neighborhood started to change. I felt like if I got in to the neighborhood and hung on through all the changes good things would happen and they have. It feels like everything is happening on the 22nd Street corridor. Mark Dwight (<a href="http://www.rickshawbags.com/">Rickshaw Bagworks</a> on 22nd Street) and I decided that we are the bookends of 22nd Street.<br />
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
I would most certainly be driving a forklift at Costco. No, this is it for me! Sharon and I would like to see more of the world - not as an observer but as a participant -- to merge wine and travel together. One idea we have is to lease space from wineries in different countries and produce a local vermouth from their local wine and brandy. I want to continue to take an agricultural product and turn it into an amazing beverage. Really, it's no different than making ketchup.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Menu Board at Sutton Cellars is headlined by their famous Dry Vermouth.</td></tr>
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<br />indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-40799846272965246412016-01-26T07:32:00.002-08:002016-01-26T07:32:55.583-08:00An Art Gallery that is Open and Thriving in SF: Meet Theodora Mauro of Ampersand International Arts <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggKS_kNvN9y9x72vRDmxM2jhX8yFkwPg1UImV5MnW2J74z_7WVW5oIwLb4YChNtuKSyTRcCTS4g7g9FMaJSXwd0NxELqVfikFQkNfXS67aIAATQtv2pw1C5EgG1Smwth7lhq4rW63zs9KN/s1600/Thea_Maura_Ampersand_Gallery_16A6932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggKS_kNvN9y9x72vRDmxM2jhX8yFkwPg1UImV5MnW2J74z_7WVW5oIwLb4YChNtuKSyTRcCTS4g7g9FMaJSXwd0NxELqVfikFQkNfXS67aIAATQtv2pw1C5EgG1Smwth7lhq4rW63zs9KN/s1600/Thea_Maura_Ampersand_Gallery_16A6932.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Theodora Mauro of Ampersand International Arts in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood in the gallery with her dog Yoko.</td></tr>
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We had seen the art postcards next to the dog treats at <a href="http://piccino.com/coffee-bar">Piccino Coffee Bar</a> but our attempts to visit the art gallery on Tennessee Street with the unusual name of <a href="http://www.ampersandinternationalarts.com/">Ampersand International Arts </a>were met with a "now closed" sign. Just when exactly was this gallery opened we wondered. It took awhile but finally one day a sandwich sign out front proclaimed that the gallery was open. Up the steep wooden stairs and into a sparse room with floor to ceiling loft windows we went. That day we met curator and owner Theodora (Thea) Mauro and was introduced to two contemporary artists whose many works were adorned with quite a few "sold" stickers. <br />
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Turns out the gallery is in a Live/Work building and the Live part of the building is occupied by Mauro's extended family and the Work part of the building is the gallery and a custom drapery business owned by her mother. Since the family lives in the building, the gallery has limited hours that it can be opened to the public. Mauro informed us that the gallery was the first art gallery in Dogpatch.<br />
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After our visit we reached out to Mauro to find out more about her and the history of the gallery. Dogpatch is quickly becoming an arts destination with the excellent <a href="http://sfmcd.org/">Museum of Craft and Design </a>calling the neighborhood home since 2013 and the soon to open <a href="http://minnesotastreetproject.com/">Minnesota Street Project </a>bringing numerous artists to the neighborhood. We wanted to hear more about this pioneering gallery and its owner. <br />
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The rainy day we met with Thea we were greeted at the gallery door by the barking of her dog Yoko -- an adorable mix who promptly jumped in my lap and briefly settled in before she was off to see what that photographer was up to.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXc82tu9e2PITfwL4NLJWtpPMzSQh5bMn362sDTIEfW5Wqa59hhCsRpoyy3mIYd5v4Am0Uh3ph4WB2q3IXRMtrPlFCjWP3YaHwRK0E9uAtxARRBbb0XMTR9CHzyv8i8dILsXzU3Enve0iq/s1600/Ampersand_Gallery_16A6918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXc82tu9e2PITfwL4NLJWtpPMzSQh5bMn362sDTIEfW5Wqa59hhCsRpoyy3mIYd5v4Am0Uh3ph4WB2q3IXRMtrPlFCjWP3YaHwRK0E9uAtxARRBbb0XMTR9CHzyv8i8dILsXzU3Enve0iq/s1600/Ampersand_Gallery_16A6918.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art by Brian Perrin and Melissa Miller at Ampersand Gallery.</td></tr>
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
<br />
Well, it's a lot of fun and I love it. I so appreciate the artists and love making a connection with them in order to get their work out into the world. I'm not an artist but a curator although I like to call myself an art enthusiast. Everyone has a different response to the art they see in the gallery. I love it if the piece can make them think and they then develop their own relationship with the artwork and the artist. <br />
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My grandmother bought this building in the 1980s for her custom drapery business, <a href="http://www.maisontenn20.com/">MaisonTenn20</a> . My mother worked in the business with her and the business is still going strong today. My sister now works in the business as well.<br />
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My father, Bruno Mauro, was originally from France and my mother from the middle east. He came to the U.S. to study art and he worked in several galleries before he opened this gallery in 1999. <br />
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I'm so fortunate to have been brought up in the gallery world. My siblings and I were gallery kids. My sister and my brother and I would often help out at openings with the food and cleaning up.<br />
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We lived in the Richmond neighborhood but in the mid-1990s we added a floor to this building to create a Live/Work space and we moved to Dogpatch to live. I was in middle school when we moved here. <br />
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I studied in California and in Paris. When I returned to the U.S. I went to work at the restaurant <a href="http://www.jardiniere.com/">Jardiniere</a> in Hayes Valley where I stayed for about five years. I did many jobs there with one of them being front of the house which helped me learn how to engage with the public which has been a big help in the gallery business! <br />
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My father passed away in 2012. The last show at the gallery before he died was in 2011. Before he passed away he asked me to consider running the gallery. He believed in me and he knew I could do it. I had actually already curated a show at the gallery with several of my friends in 2009 and we eventually curated three shows. We called ourselves the Young Ampersands. Even so I wasn't ready to take on the running of the gallery without my father.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Theodora Mauro of Ampersand International Arts with artwork from Brian Perrin.</td></tr>
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But in 2014 a light bulb went on and I left Jardiniere to reopen the gallery. My light bulb moment was realizing that so many galleries were having to close in San Francisco because high rents were forcing them out of the area. Ampersand didn't have to be one of those galleries. I had the space and the knowledge to keep it open. I also wanted to offer a space to other curators to show the work of the artists they represented since so many of the spaces they used were now gone.<br />
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I've keep the focus similar to what my father envisioned -- we feature conceptual art as well as more commercial art. Often the conceptual art is more about the story behind the piece than the actual piece itself. The public might not get the chance to see that type of work anywhere else. I like to also focus on many mediums -- not just one style. <br />
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Now that so many galleries are calling Dogpatch home, it would be great to have a regular event for the public similar to the First Thursday that takes place among Downtown SF galleries.<br />
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We are limited by the hours we can be open but I hope to eventually work with other artists and curators in other galleries. And as the name of the gallery indicates, we feature local artists but we also extend our reach internationally and hope to do more of that.<br />
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Currently I don't do any fund raising to support the gallery. We rely on the commissions from each show to keep us going. I also have other part time jobs as time allows.<br />
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<b>Tell us more about growing up in Dogpatch</b><br />
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Well thank goodness for the 22 bus because when we moved here in the 1990s there wasn't much here! No T-line and not many shops. My siblings and I were not allowed to even go from our house to 22nd street by ourselves. But it was a true neighborhood in the sense that we got to know all of our neighbors and still do. <br />
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In the early days of the gallery if someone came to the gallery it was because they truly wanted to be here -- we were certainly off the beaten path of the art scene in San Francisco! Once they were done there was no place else for us to tell them to visit in the neighborhood. <br />
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Now of course there are so many things to do here. I love the Museum of Craft and Design, <a href="http://workshopresidence.com/">Workshop Residence </a>and all the restaurants and shops.<br />
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
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I would probably still be at Jardiniere! It was a lot of fun and the people were wonderful and the food amazing. But I would most likely be in the art world in some way -- either working in a gallery or a museum.<br />
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But Ampersand is where I want to be and need to be. I'm not a political person, that's just not me, but I feel keeping the gallery open is my response to other galleries being pushed out. <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Note: Ampersand International Arts is located at 1001 Tennessee Street. The gallery is open Thursday & Friday noon-5pm and by appointment. Their current show is open until February 19 and features the artists <a href="http://inclinegallerysf.com/info/">Brian Perrin</a> and <a href="http://www.melissamillerart.com/">Melissa Miller</a>.</i></b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roses at Ampersand International Arts in San Francisco's Dogpatch</td></tr>
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<br />indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-87395634697593881882015-11-05T13:52:00.001-08:002015-11-05T13:52:56.417-08:00Art + Function: Meet David and Christina Whippen of ShopFloor Design<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_RXAW7RNVvo-UKW1ScNfe2opfbDYjvil8_wFtGUmoMUpR745dAPAEnyWCVBIHRdkr2Rw30t-2kOgWK9kt2PiefjU1-RJRHo0xfFCE2Z7g4SPYBBuIDNpkNt8jC-SJfR0mXCtnM_Uafy5W/s1600/Shop_Floor_15B7546.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_RXAW7RNVvo-UKW1ScNfe2opfbDYjvil8_wFtGUmoMUpR745dAPAEnyWCVBIHRdkr2Rw30t-2kOgWK9kt2PiefjU1-RJRHo0xfFCE2Z7g4SPYBBuIDNpkNt8jC-SJfR0mXCtnM_Uafy5W/s400/Shop_Floor_15B7546.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ShopFloor Design focuses on custom metalwork, fine art sculpture, metal fabrication and machining. Here are owners Christina and David Whippen sitting with their Modular Side Table and Modular Cabinet.</td></tr>
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Although the look of the Dogpatch neighborhood has changed tremendously over the past few years, it is still home to many artists and craftsmen. Finding out how to stay in the neighborhood calls for a long term vision and the willingness to adapt to changing market conditions. <br />
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<a href="http://shopfloordesign.com/">ShopFloor Design</a> is one such business that has figured out how to create and thrive not just for their own business, but also for local designers as well. <br />
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Located in SoDoPa (south of the Dogpatch!) at 26th and Minnesota, the ShopFloor building is home to just opened (and already much visited) <a href="http://harmonicbrewing.com/">Harmonic Brewing</a> as well as other designers and artists. <br />
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Founded by David Whippen seven years ago and expanded by David and his wife Christina over the past two years, ShopFloor Design focuses on custom metalwork, fine art sculpture, metal fabrication and machining. <br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
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<b>David</b>: <br />
I can't imagine doing anything else. I like the idea of using my fine art background in a practical way. I moved to San Francisco from New York to attend grad school in 2004 -- I received my MFA from the Academy of Art in sculpture. I love working with metal and the precise nature of machined parts. I was initially inspired by my grandfather who started a machine tool shop after WWII. After grad school I worked on several public art projects in Tomales Bay and commuted to my home in SF.<br />
I enjoyed working on the projects but became focused on finding a way to work closer to home. It was also becoming obvious that many of the artists I had graduated with were having a terrible time finding and keeping studio space. They needed a spot they could rely on to be there long term and a landlord that wouldn't charge them huge fees to use the machines. When I found this building I knew I could have my own studio as well as be a resource for my fellow artists. I own all the equipment and charge a flat fee to other artists to use the machines.<br />
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<b>Christina:</b><br />
This business is a good mix of my creative nature with my sales and marketing side. I started my professional career at Google in marketing and sales but left to pursue my passion for pastry. I graduated from the pastry program at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa and together with another pastry chef opened a pastry catering company called Bicyclette. I actually had a commercial space across the street from ShopFloor. I bring my creative skills to the design part of our business but also my precise pastry nature to sales and marketing. <br />
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Right now we design and manufacture custom furniture and design pieces and sell them primarily to architects and designers. We are refocusing our company to also sell direct to the consumer. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu94digNhg-62FrP8ZHX2A43Cs5QK5ReBAPi1diAsghmh-VSzyIV9XRTDG1TwcIgDzUfRhLiZXR6YXxjak62LE1LlqMszOaKRM3S4td5YU-VBU9d_uT0MveVDjaNFWyieqB71bCDSloW_a/s1600/Shop_Floor_15B7588.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu94digNhg-62FrP8ZHX2A43Cs5QK5ReBAPi1diAsghmh-VSzyIV9XRTDG1TwcIgDzUfRhLiZXR6YXxjak62LE1LlqMszOaKRM3S4td5YU-VBU9d_uT0MveVDjaNFWyieqB71bCDSloW_a/s400/Shop_Floor_15B7588.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael Walsh sands a table at Shopfloor in Dogpatch.</td></tr>
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
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<b>DW:</b> <br />
Even seven years ago there were few places available to rent for a commercial machine shop. We were fortunate to find a landlord who is fair yet business minded. It is a family owned business and they are in it for the future so they weren't opposed to giving us a long lease. Our business fit the current zoning and usage for this neighborhood so the city gave us the go ahead.<br />
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We love the neighbors -- it feels like a small town within the large city. We even sometimes lend tools to our neighbors or produce small jobs for them on the machines. <br />
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I had a vision for a space with large windows that would showcase the industrial space within. I had seen a similar space years ago on the East Coast. I wanted a showroom that would showcase how these pieces were made right here and by me.<br />
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We started to renovate the rest of our space several years ago with this vision in mind. We did a lot of the work ourselves. I wanted the space to look old and established, like it had been here a very long time. <br />
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The result is our showroom just for our custom furniture designs. We had originally planned to put a commercial kitchen space that could be rented in the other part of the large space but when Christina decided to join the company we decided we wanted a different type of a business there like a distillery or brewery. We are very pleased that Harmonic Brewing is in that space now.<br />
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
<br />
<b>DW:</b><br />
I'm already doing what I love, where I want to do it with people I enjoy working with. But if I had to pick something else I might do well as an architect.<br />
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<b>CW:</b><br />
I've already sampled enough careers and I'm very pleased with what I have ordered this time!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLi55AVzSHXKfB3gMFXsAwtOXJuopEqZV0tT6PUfZ9qVnmXPIXw734y2KAHgICXTVxPI24OYkVcKlzJkXNDbF1bNcSvcAQ3X1YnL2NwfgNTHNi7mR7WA2cyA-iM0kk_8K01toRGTnt_bV/s1600/Shop_Floor_15B7525.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLi55AVzSHXKfB3gMFXsAwtOXJuopEqZV0tT6PUfZ9qVnmXPIXw734y2KAHgICXTVxPI24OYkVcKlzJkXNDbF1bNcSvcAQ3X1YnL2NwfgNTHNi7mR7WA2cyA-iM0kk_8K01toRGTnt_bV/s400/Shop_Floor_15B7525.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shopfloor Design's Christina and David Whippen at their Weldsafe Platen Table in their shop in Dogpatch.</td></tr>
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<br />indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-55593833043529614682015-08-12T12:00:00.000-07:002015-08-12T13:24:01.720-07:00Harmonic Convergence: Meet the Craftsmen Behind Harmonic Brewing<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The founders of Harmonic Brewing in their new brewery and tasting room are (l to r) Eric Tisch, Jon Verna and Eddie Gobbo.</td></tr>
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<a href="http://harmonicbrewing.com/">Harmonic Brewing</a>. The name alone makes one feel calm and ready for a brew. And so does the sleek, industrial yet modern space with its gray painted walls and sleek table tops. The 5,000 square foot space carved out of a larger warehouse space includes a brewery visible to the public, a small tap room and seating with office space overlooking the entire operation. The site of a former nut factory, Harmonic Brewing subleases this part of the warehouse from <a href="http://shopfloordesign.com/">ShopFloor Design,</a> a metalworking shop that designs high-end furniture and sculptures. </div>
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With the arrival of <a href="http://www.winesf.com/index.asp">The Wine House</a> down the road and all the new businesses planned for the area around 26th and Minnesota, it seems that this area of Dogpatch needs its own designation, maybe -- SoDoPa -- Southern Dogpatch. </div>
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Eddie Gobbo, Jon Verna and Eric Tisch -- partners in Harmonic Brewing would prefer BrewPatch but we will let the denizens of Dogpatch decide.</div>
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The small, privately funded brewery hopes to ramp up production to 1,000-2,000 barrels and will sell to local SF bars like the <a href="http://dogpatchsaloon.com/">Dogpatch Saloon</a>. They will have six to seven beers to start and consistently on tap. They also hope to offer seasonal offerings and special brews as the inspiration strikes them. </div>
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Although the brewery will not offer food for sale, the partners hope to have food trucks onsite as well as bring in soft baked pretzels from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/saltpointpretzelcompany">The Salt Point Pretzel Company</a>. And of course with a name like Harmonic, live music is a possibility in the future. </div>
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Gobbo and Verna met long ago when they both lived on the East Coast then reconnected when they moved to California. Tisch and Verna met through their online marketing careers. All shared a common interest in home brewing. And all three partners kicked off the dust of their corporate lives to form Harmonic Brewing. </div>
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With the smell of grape nuts in the air, we sat down with the partners and sipped their flagship Rye Old Fashioned Pale -- a nod to the classic American cocktail.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipqxm4EJiEAxunxKbr4Jysabf5Rcw4VOeOd0a2k35CJPHZQ5gHrjdMtCl0FS6BfWQnFYf4w_EG1S-b1kfj-V28N7cQkrItt8gDIgu80h1cHWS8o6cQiOob0y9wYpvF1scCw51EclYquymU/s1600/Harmonic_Brewing_Dogpatch_Z6493.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipqxm4EJiEAxunxKbr4Jysabf5Rcw4VOeOd0a2k35CJPHZQ5gHrjdMtCl0FS6BfWQnFYf4w_EG1S-b1kfj-V28N7cQkrItt8gDIgu80h1cHWS8o6cQiOob0y9wYpvF1scCw51EclYquymU/s1600/Harmonic_Brewing_Dogpatch_Z6493.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harmonic Brewing Co-Founders Eddie Gobbo and Jon Verna at the Harmonic Brewing tasting room in Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA.</td></tr>
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
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<b>EG</b>: I'm a chemical engineer and scaling home brew to major production was very similar to my previous career of scaling drug processes from lab to production. I love the science aspect of the work -- to tinker with the recipes and see what works and what doesn't work. And then the creative aspect of creating something and sharing it with customers and to get that feedback whether good or bad. I want this to be a place where people want to come again and again -- to make it their hang out. I want it to be like the old school places in San Francisco that we used to go to when we first came to SF and that we feel are now disappearing. We know we have to earn that and we are up for it! <br />
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<b>JV</b>: It feels so great to be making a tangible product versus working on spreadsheets and being in client meetings and chained to a desk. I love interacting with people who care about the product we are making. <br />
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<b>ET</b>: This is strictly a passion project for me. It is what I always enjoyed doing when I wasn't working so the opportunity to turn this into my career was a no-brainer for me. I feel so fortunate that a hobby has translated into a career.<br />
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
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<b>JV</b>: This neighborhood is the perfect vibe for us. It's industrial but it is also a real neighborhood. We love how neighbors have stopped by while we were under construction to wish us well and to welcome us to Dogpatch. Everyone is so friendly and wants us to succeed. It is perfect for us. <br />
Eddie did a pub crawl here with his wife and had a chance to explore the neighborhood. We looked for more than eight months for a place for Harmonic and we were getting discouraged. We finally saw a listing on Craigslist from ShopFloor Design and the way the listing was worded, it almost seemed liked they were looking for a tenant like us to share space with. We signed our lease in November 2015.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJMMYckuKqrWTiX42g_X_qBAYYCIGuvMNn8SoyrMIrxDTKkHM8spr-g3TogDOmmGs9nmFPhBJrW2kjPyA_E-j40RnTrj9RrrBF2WnFRe16V10Xv3WJqVQMG1fHdbc-pRRWbs2djyRUs8Uq/s1600/Harmonic_Brewing_Dogpatch_Z6483.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJMMYckuKqrWTiX42g_X_qBAYYCIGuvMNn8SoyrMIrxDTKkHM8spr-g3TogDOmmGs9nmFPhBJrW2kjPyA_E-j40RnTrj9RrrBF2WnFRe16V10Xv3WJqVQMG1fHdbc-pRRWbs2djyRUs8Uq/s1600/Harmonic_Brewing_Dogpatch_Z6483.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harmonic Brewing Co-Founder Eric Tisch oversees the process at the brewery in Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA.</td></tr>
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
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<b>EG</b>: Make my living as a musician -- form a band and play bass.<br />
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<b>JV</b>: I would be a music promoter like Bill Graham which is what I originally came to California to do!<br />
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<b>ET</b>: This is the only thing that I want to be doing -- this is it, no other option!<br />
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<b>Why did you decide on the name Harmonic Brewing? </b><br />
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Well, we are all music lovers so the name reflects that but it also refers to the fact that we want all our offerings to be in balance -- smooth -- not too bitter or too strong of an alcohol taste. <br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Editor's Note: Harmonic Brewing passed their final inspections and is now open for business!</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Business Hours: Thursday & Friday 3pm-11pm, Saturday noon-11 pm and Sunday noon-5 pm</span></b><br />
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indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-25379395960952684882015-06-30T07:36:00.000-07:002015-06-30T07:51:52.352-07:00Dogpatch Warriors has a nice RING to it: Meet your neighborhood Warriors' Ambassadors<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKCQfgfZ5YtDFUIhuHv_zuMHKKNxxNEIwZAG_Oow6u_9rqW6yXR32cy-CVxcK8S05scfsWZ_nWRvF3qC1OsWRAa-NagMbH6_nxxkbw1zN0y7e7MHisRRMtcK6KN6WQgRL1rbkQumgnkYiN/s1600/Dogpatch_Warriors_Y8183.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKCQfgfZ5YtDFUIhuHv_zuMHKKNxxNEIwZAG_Oow6u_9rqW6yXR32cy-CVxcK8S05scfsWZ_nWRvF3qC1OsWRAa-NagMbH6_nxxkbw1zN0y7e7MHisRRMtcK6KN6WQgRL1rbkQumgnkYiN/s1600/Dogpatch_Warriors_Y8183.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three Dogpatch residents who support the new Golden State Warriors Arena in Mission Bay pose at the site which is at 16th and 3rd in San Francisco. Left to right Scott Van Horn, Vanessa Aquino and Adam Gould.</td></tr>
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The proposed move by the <a href="http://www.nba.com/warriors/?tmd=1">Golden State Warriors</a> to Dogpatch Flats (aka Mission Bay) has been met by much excitement by many in Dogpatch but also with some concern about the resulting increase in traffic and worries about even more parking woes. <br />
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A movement to help educate the communities located around the arena about the move to SF has been dubbed (yes, I said it) by the team as <a href="http://warriorsgroundsf.nationbuilder.com/">Warriors Ground SF</a>. Warriors Ground SF is a group of Dogpatach neighbors and business owners who act as ambassadors to help spread support for the Warriors Arena and for the entertainment center and offices that will also be part of the complex.<br />
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In Dogpatch, Scott Van Horn, Vanessa Aquino and Adam Gould are part of the Warriors Ground SF coalition. Two days after the Warriors were crowned NBA Champions, we sat down with Van Horn, Aquino and Gould over pies from <a href="http://longbridgepizza.com/">Longbridge Pizza</a> to chat about all things Warriors.<br />
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You can find out the details about what the Warriors management is proposing for the site at Third and 16th Street <a href="http://www.nba.com/warriors/sf">at this link </a>as well as some of the concerns that have been put forth in this <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Debate-over-Warriors-SF-arena-sharpens-it-s-6310427.php">SF Chronicle article</a>. We wanted to hear why these three were offering their public support.<br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do -- how did you get involved with the Warriors move to San Francisco:</b><br />
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<i>Vanessa Aquino</i>: As a huge sports fan and a native of San Francisco as well as a resident of Dogpatch for more than ten years, I was of course excited when I heard that the Warriors were considering a move to SF. I had first heard of the move when Warriors management came to the Dogpatch Neighborhood Association to present their plans for the arena and to discuss how their move to SF would affect Dogpatch. <br />
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<i>Scott Van Horn</i>: I grew up in the East Bay and I started following the Warriors during the "we believe" team which was in 2007. I met some of the Warriors organizers through various community events and offered to volunteer my time to help educate the community about the issues surrounding the arena. For the Warriors to be the powerful franchise that I think they aspire to be they really need to be in SF. A new arena in SF will allow them to have luxury boxes and more to offer corporate sponsors. This in turn will allow them to pay more for the top players. <br />
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<i>Adam Gould</i>: I must confess that I have never been much of a basketball fan! So I'm just now jumping on the bandwagon. My interest has been less as a sports fan and more as a <a href="https://dogpatchcapital.com/">Dogpatch business person </a>as well as a Dogpatch resident who sees a lot of benefit to the Warriors coming to our neighborhood. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3GlY2jdQ6FQTtYm1937k687fmc2QqJLZ0XxUxmckstW2u533p0IbZdzEZLMHNF9Ed-hb6eTmRueWrNQWlqrSVzaZ7ZE83g-A5KiaHNpPVKvWmtea50F2Py4O-VxbBdZyyBc2EneBxLPwN/s1600/Dogpatch_Warriors_Y8180.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3GlY2jdQ6FQTtYm1937k687fmc2QqJLZ0XxUxmckstW2u533p0IbZdzEZLMHNF9Ed-hb6eTmRueWrNQWlqrSVzaZ7ZE83g-A5KiaHNpPVKvWmtea50F2Py4O-VxbBdZyyBc2EneBxLPwN/s1600/Dogpatch_Warriors_Y8180.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The UCSF Medical Center in Mission Bay looms over the site of the new Golden State Warriors Arena. Supporters of the arena from left to right Scott Van Horn, Vanessa Aquino and Adam Gould.</td></tr>
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<b>So what are those benefits to Dogpatch?</b><br />
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<i>VA</i>: There will be people who are going to the Warriors games and to the other special events at the arena who will start their day or evening here in Dogpatch. That means more business for the restaurants and more foot traffic for the retail businesses. And all that foot traffic will bring even more energy and buzz to the neighborhood.<br />
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<i>SVH</i>: I agree that the arena and events space will bring a different sense of vibrancy to Dogpatch that the building of apartments and condos does not. I think the community will also benefit from the use of the bayfront park that is part of the project as well as access to all the new retail shops that will be part of the complex.<br />
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<i>AG</i>: What has hindered Dogpatch is the lack of services such as a grocery store and a bank. Having the arena is the best kind of growth to have and we are fortunate that the Warriors are interested in this part of SF to build their arena. Their interest and arrival will hopefully attract similar growth minded companies and Dogpatch will be the beneficiary in terms of not just more retail, but also some of these essential services. This is absolutely the right kind of growth for Dogpatch. <br />
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<b>What are some of the challenges to Dogpatch?</b><br />
<br />
<i>VA</i>: Parking of course but also there is some concern that the spill over crowd after games and events will be less than well-behaved.<br />
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<i>SVH</i>: Most people would say that parking issues are the biggest challenge but I believe that the numerous new apartments and condos that have recently been approved and are in progress will have more of a long term negative impact on parking than the Warriors arena will have. I think increased traffic during commute times is a bigger issue and the Warriors have addressed that in their plan.<br />
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<i>AG</i>: I'm not as concerned with the traffic and parking issues but I do think that there needs to be some sort of monitoring for the "rowdy" crowds that might descend upon the neighborhood after events.<br />
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<b>So, how about the name -- Golden State Warriors, San Francisco Warriors, Dogpatch Warriors...?</b><br />
<br />
<i>VA</i>: I think it should stay the Golden State Warriors. It is a more inclusive name -- this is a California team, not just a San Francisco team.<br />
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<i>SVH</i>: San Francisco Warriors!<br />
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<i>AG</i>: San Francisco Warriors. I think it would be prestigious for a basketball team to be associated with this city.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlAGsYS9FxTxsAOPvbrmcMdxqXgDqBirm4bn1dl6_lgzPtsS5bBOWlPf2G1JtZsPFrtX_qWevnMlBf7PtkEzVfsojTPXlXPSe8c3DqYq38-5BBTyB2hYrSHd-SsQrY5AguUGHtrq_lZYNC/s1600/Nick_Norah_Crane_Cove_Dogpatch_Y8191.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlAGsYS9FxTxsAOPvbrmcMdxqXgDqBirm4bn1dl6_lgzPtsS5bBOWlPf2G1JtZsPFrtX_qWevnMlBf7PtkEzVfsojTPXlXPSe8c3DqYq38-5BBTyB2hYrSHd-SsQrY5AguUGHtrq_lZYNC/s1600/Nick_Norah_Crane_Cove_Dogpatch_Y8191.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nick and Nora the cranes at Crane Cove Park in Dogpatch which won't be used for parking.</td></tr>
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<br />indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205157084425602144.post-25475433930974549352015-06-08T06:56:00.000-07:002015-06-08T06:56:40.701-07:00The Science & Art of Character Building: Meet Phil Jaber of Philz Coffee <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phil Jaber, founder of Philz Coffee, stands on the landing above the new cafe at the company headquarters in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco, CA.</td></tr>
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Phil Jaber, founder of <a href="http://www.philzcoffee.com/">Philz Coffee</a>, cuts quite a recognizable figure with his ever present fedora perched on his head and a equally ever present cup of coffee in his hand. We will be seeing a lot more of that fedora and that coffee now that Philz Coffee has opened their new corporate headquarters plus cafe on Minnesota Street (at 23rd) in Dogpatch. <br />
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For certain Jaber, whose mantra is love, faith and truth, is the soul of Philz Coffee but he is also a no-nonsense planner who has a well thought out long-term corporate vision for his company. Jaber, along with his son and CEO Jacob orchestrated and recently closed on an additional $15 million (bringing the total to $30 million) in funding from venture capitalists (including that known lover of coffee, Snoop Dogg) to help him spread the love, one cup at a time, nation-wide or as Phil also put it, "conquer the world, one cup, one city at at time." <br />
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<b>Why do you do what you do?</b><br />
I do it because I want to bring people together so we as a community can all learn how to live together. It used to be that generations of families would live together in the same town, maybe the same house but now we are all too busy in this world. I love to put people together. I want Philz Coffee shops to be a place where you can make a friend, seal a business deal, or fall in love.<br />
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But I also do this because I love coffee. I was born in Palestine (pre-1967) but grew up in the East Bay. As a kid I would drink coffee even though I wasn't supposed to and I also sold coffee to make money when I was eight. When I was 17 I opened a grocery/liquor store in the Mission at 24th Street. For 25 years, while I ran my convenience store, I also researched recipes for unique coffee blends and for a brewing method that would dissolve the acid out of the coffee. <br />
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I didn't just research coffee though. I also observed the traffic at other coffee shops and high-end restaurants. I wanted to see how long the customers lingered and whether or not the employees and managers seemed happy. For the most part I discovered that these weren't places where the customers wanted to stay longer than it took to get their coffee. That's not what I wanted, I wanted customers to think of my coffee shop as their Grandma's house -- a place full of love and where they didn't want to hurry away from. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPfBPeS-UXTzPOTxiIBpxmj4RXVWuZQDINN_dnn8eQjvSfHgtZShadQzbnu5bAaIk80o_UE3W99wgWEMkoRhNPSjEytmL1T6ZnACOwWvMtrQwqxKEW4-x3EBX5lDxFaHndauTdSYVK_Heb/s1600/Phils_Coffee_Y7979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPfBPeS-UXTzPOTxiIBpxmj4RXVWuZQDINN_dnn8eQjvSfHgtZShadQzbnu5bAaIk80o_UE3W99wgWEMkoRhNPSjEytmL1T6ZnACOwWvMtrQwqxKEW4-x3EBX5lDxFaHndauTdSYVK_Heb/s1600/Phils_Coffee_Y7979.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phil Jaber, founder of Philz Coffee crafts a coffee for us at the new company HQ in Dogpatch, San Francisco.</td></tr>
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In 2003, I was finally ready and converted my grocery store to the first Philz Coffee. I actually brought my large breakfast table from my house to use in the shop so everyone would have a big communal table to sit at together.<br />
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We offer a unique experience. I like to say that we don't have Barista's -- we have artists. Each cup of coffee is made entirely by hand and our artists adds the milk and sweetener if requested. Each customer is then asked to take a sip and say whether it is perfect or not.<br />
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We have also established a business methods and values program called "Philz University" which trains our new employees and managers to make the best coffee and best experience for our customers.<br />
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My father told me to let your life speak for you and that's what I'm doing. You treat people right then you get a good reputation and that is what has happened for our business. People want quality -- they will fly, drive or walk to quality and that is how we know that we will do well with our expansion in other cities. <br />
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<b>Why Dogpatch?</b><br />
I'm a San Francisco kid so I knew about Dogpatch. I like how this neighborhood is not too busy. When we first started I had my offices in a walk-in freezer then we moved to Potrero and 25th but we still needed more room. Dogpatch has the room for us. This neighborhood has an artistic feel to it as well as a neighborly, social vibe -- just like Philz.<br />
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<b>What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?</b><br />
I would be delivering coffee door to door like milk was delivered long ago. I would still find a way to spread the love.<br />
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indogpatchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15525748127894979425noreply@blogger.com0