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Years ago, I had the crazy/stupid opportunity to start a night club in San Francisco. My dad said it would be a terrible idea, the business was hard, etc... but

Years ago, I had the crazy/stupid opportunity to start a night club in San Francisco. My dad said it would be a terrible idea, the business was hard, etc... but he also said he would help me out. Go dad, I'm lucky to have him. He had a piece of property that we could get a loan against, so we found a mortgage company that would give us the loan and went ahead. Well, he was totally right, after years of trying, the business totally flopped and I had lost all of the money, as well as a ton of my own. It set my finances back at least a decade or more. Luckily, my dad has a lifelong friend who was willing to buy out the loan when it looked like the company was going to default, so now my debt was really to my dads friend. Fast forward many years... my dad has retired and needs money. He's had trouble selling the property (although it looks like that is happening now in the next month or two). The property gained a lot of value over the years, so that is good. He will have enough to pay back the friend in full and a bunch left over for himself. I've been paying my dad back as I can over the years and in recent times, reached the principle amount of the loan... now I'm paying the interest (the principle has ballooned more than 2x). My current payments have been a lifesaver for him. It worked out that being able to pay him back now when he needs money the most, has been really helpful for him. Had I paid him back in full earlier, it might have been harder for him to come to me asking for a loan, now he has some steady cash flow from me. When the property sells, his friend will get paid back first and I'll just owe my dad the rest of the interest. This has weighed on me for a long time and is something that I think about almost daily. It sucks owing money. I have no other debt than this. Some day, I'll be free of it and I can't wait for that day.

poisonarena 4y ago
may I ask what was the name of the club?
- latchkey 4y ago
  I'd love to know how that relates to the story first.
  - poisonarena 4y ago
    i used to DJ in SF a decade ago
    - latchkey 4y ago
      I got downvoted for my response asking for clarification, classic HN. My tenure was more than a decade ago, but the space was on 11th and folsom and has brick walls on the inside. The space next to the corner venue. It has been several different venues since I had it.
      - poisonarena 4y ago
        ahh I guess mine too, I was DJ'ing/LivePA from 2008-2011 at clubs all over SF. Seems like a lifetime ago. Was also the doorguy/email boy at Vessel SF when it existed. Was a really fun time to be in SF, I had a room at 16th + mission for 450 a month. I got to experience so many different types of weird nightclub culture, every from live electronic music, to weird burning man crowds, gay italo disco parties, hip hop/turntablism, marina and bridge and tunnel crowds at the mega clubs, and everything in between. I really enjoyed it all!
        latchkey 4y ago
        I started clubbing and raving in SF around 1994. I definitely saw everything you noted, but much earlier versions of it all. I'm glad you had such great experiences. The whole lifestyle of everything in SF opened my mind more than I care to even admit. In fact, the scene changed and morphed a lot over the years. While I'm sure that people will find ways to have their own kinds of fun, I don't think it'll ever get repeated in the same way again. Mostly because of the fact that we all have phone/cameras along with social influencers now... it changed everything, and that's ok too. It'll be interesting to see how to changes again in the next decade or so. My ownership period was more in the 1999-2005 range, so you were just after that by a few years. Thanks for sharing your story.
reducesuffering 4y ago
Reminds me of how Jamie Zawinski (jwz), the creator of Netscape Navigator and Mozilla, has been struggling to keep DNA Lounge in SF afloat for a couple decades. Dude could've been obscenely rich, but his personality isn't for that and it's obviously a tough passion project.
- latchkey 4y ago
  Yes, my venue was on the same street and I went through a lot of the same/similar drama that he has made very public as well as some other drama that is a book worth of story time. If I had instead invested my dads money in say... property in the east bay (at the time, it was pretty low compared with today), then I would have been 'rich' as well. Live and learn.

poisonarena 4y ago

may I ask what was the name of the club?

latchkey 4y ago
I'd love to know how that relates to the story first.
- poisonarena 4y ago
  i used to DJ in SF a decade ago
  - latchkey 4y ago
    I got downvoted for my response asking for clarification, classic HN. My tenure was more than a decade ago, but the space was on 11th and folsom and has brick walls on the inside. The space next to the corner venue. It has been several different venues since I had it.
    - poisonarena 4y ago
      ahh I guess mine too, I was DJ'ing/LivePA from 2008-2011 at clubs all over SF. Seems like a lifetime ago. Was also the doorguy/email boy at Vessel SF when it existed. Was a really fun time to be in SF, I had a room at 16th + mission for 450 a month. I got to experience so many different types of weird nightclub culture, every from live electronic music, to weird burning man crowds, gay italo disco parties, hip hop/turntablism, marina and bridge and tunnel crowds at the mega clubs, and everything in between. I really enjoyed it all!
      - latchkey 4y ago
        I started clubbing and raving in SF around 1994. I definitely saw everything you noted, but much earlier versions of it all. I'm glad you had such great experiences. The whole lifestyle of everything in SF opened my mind more than I care to even admit. In fact, the scene changed and morphed a lot over the years. While I'm sure that people will find ways to have their own kinds of fun, I don't think it'll ever get repeated in the same way again. Mostly because of the fact that we all have phone/cameras along with social influencers now... it changed everything, and that's ok too. It'll be interesting to see how to changes again in the next decade or so. My ownership period was more in the 1999-2005 range, so you were just after that by a few years. Thanks for sharing your story.

reducesuffering 4y ago

Reminds me of how Jamie Zawinski (jwz), the creator of Netscape Navigator and Mozilla, has been struggling to keep DNA Lounge in SF afloat for a couple decades. Dude could've been obscenely rich, but his personality isn't for that and it's obviously a tough passion project.

latchkey 4y ago
Yes, my venue was on the same street and I went through a lot of the same/similar drama that he has made very public as well as some other drama that is a book worth of story time. If I had instead invested my dads money in say... property in the east bay (at the time, it was pretty low compared with today), then I would have been 'rich' as well. Live and learn.