Jul 13, 2023
We open Part 2 with a discussion
on the nature of neighborhood bars. An opportunity arose for John
when he left the corporate world. His then-wife, Sommer Peterson,
reminded him of his idea to open a bar when she also left the 9 to
5. Sommer researched spots in the general area of Divisadero and
stood in lines at City Hall.
After scouting a couple other
locations, they found the current spot, which looked like it would
work. Sommer and John worked out an agreement with the landlord and
they got to work building the space out to become a bar.
John's childhood friend, Nerius
Mercado, asked to be part of this new adventure, and came on as a
co-owner, which he remains to this day. Molly Bradshaw, whom you might
remember from our episode this season about Mission Bowling
Club, was a good friend of Sommer's growing up. Molly knew
bartending and also wanted in. The four formed a partnership and
signed the initial lease in early 2008.
John and I go on a sidebar on
Divisadero neighborhood history at this point in the recording. We
also delve a little into John's personal history. He lived at
McAllister and Masonic as a kid before his family moved, first to
the Inner Richmond and then to Anza Vista.
We trace some history of the
Mini Bar location. When they signed the lease, there had most
recently been an artist who lived there and effectively turned it
into a live/work studio. Before that, it was a produce market. And
before that, according to one patron, it used to be a Black video
store run by her dad.
Sommer and John had talked about
making it a community space and the importance of art that comes
from the neighborhood. They talked with neighborhood groups about
their plans to get feedback and share their plans.
Shortly after signing the lease and
starting the build-out, they ran into issues. A neighbor wanted
money to drop his protest of their opening, which put the approval
of their liquor license on hold. They were forced to stop the
build-out while they waited for an ABC hearing in Sacramento. At
the time, Mark Leno was SF's rep in the state legislature, so John
reached out to his brother to see whether they had any connections.
Leno sat on the SF Nightlife Commission then.
The very next day, John got a call
from ABC to let him know that they would issue a provisional
license and work on the build-out could resume. A week later, on
Friday, August 15, 2008, Mini Bar opened its doors to
patrons.
They hadn't yet established a price
list, a little hiccup in the face of the enormous task of building
a bar from scratch. John asked his partners to call nearby bars and
restaurants to see what the market rate was, which pushed the
opening back by a whole hour. No bigs.
John ends the podcast talking about
the importance he places on having clean bathrooms. That's where
patrons spend alone time, after all. "Respect them in their alone
time, and they'll respect you back," he says. Not a bad way to run
a business.
Check back next week for Part 3 with
Mini Bar's bar manager and one of its two art curators, Erin
Kehoe.