Co-authored with my bartender Chris Libby
I’m a small independent bar owner in San Francisco.On March 15, 2020, my industry became the first to close due to the Covid-19 pandemic. When the city of SF and state of California moved to slow the outbreak, I willingly supported the science behind the necessity of closure. Preventing adults from congregating and potentially spreading coronavirus was the civically moral and decent thing to do. My own immediate financial loss, I felt, was worth reducing the risks to human life.
I still feel that way, even as we have been closed the longest of any city or state in the nation. The sobering infection rates and the most recent spikes have made clear that closing my business remains the humane choice.
Sign up for The Bold Italic newsletter to get the best of the Bay Area in your inbox every week.
But the story should not, cannot, end there. As the virus persists, we desperately need a vision for how our financially devastated bar, nightclub, and non-food entertainment sector will recover. We need financial assistance to make our survival and recovery possible. The utter lack of any federal, state, or local leadership on this issue is what compels me to write this essay, in the hopes that we might save not only the lives, but the culture, of our city.
Every bar, every restaurant, every bar owner, every restaurateur, and every employee of my industry has their own unique story. Here is mine: I moved to San Francisco at 22 years old in 1992 with $600 to my name. I came here because I felt a pull toward this amazing city; I felt that I belonged here. The creative energy I sought as a young adult and young artist was magnetic. I have always said that San Francisco welcomed me with open arms.
In the 28 years that I have lived here, I have continually given all of myself to this city — as a bartender and as an artist. I have completed numerous public art projects. I have curated and hosted thousands of art shows — from fine art, live paintings, poetry, comedy, and live music. I was involved in the creation of Root Division, a 17-year-old arts group that created studio space for artists in exchange for volunteer hours working in low income schools.
For the past 12 years I have lived above my place of business on Divisadero Street — Madrone Art Bar, with my two daughters aged 16 and 11. The homes that I have built at Madrone Art Bar and my other venues, Pops Bar and Bar Fluxus, are inhabited by people that enrich my life, my business, and the surrounding community. I have proudly invited to my table painters, sculptors, photographers, comedians, bike mechanics, chefs, punk rockers, DJs, musicians, nurses, skateboarders, golfers, and bodybuilders, to name a few. The financial stability of my bars supports a far greater creative ecosystem that is being threatened to extinction.
As I take in the news, I see countless articles declaring that bars are the petri dishes of the virus. That may be true, for now, but we must remember that the virus is the enemy, not the business owners who have sacrificed their livelihoods to help combat it. I feel, and many would agree with me, that my businesses are essential to the culture of the city. Yes, we serve drinks, but we serve more than that: community, inclusion, and acceptance. A welcoming space for people to mingle, connect, and talk with someone different from themselves — something that we need now more than ever.
We must remember that the virus is the enemy, not the business owners who have sacrificed their livelihoods to help combat it.
If the government wants those spaces to remain closed, then on behalf of my industry, I earnestly plead for our leaders to help us. Create industry-specific relief measures — measures that answer our needs without heaping debt on top of the already staggering loss incurred by this shutdown. Our officials simply cannot put the responsibility on our industry without sharing in the financial hardships that we are currently mandated to endure.
If opening up the door to our bars is equivalent to opening up the doors to the virus, governmental financial aid is needed to help us keep our doors shut. Help us avoid bankruptcy. Help us so that we can eventually reopen and renew our role as community gathering spots, art and performance spaces, and dance venues. As small business owners, myself and many others are beleaguered by the struggle to save our and our employees’ livelihoods, and saving lives in our communities.
I am more than willing to do my part, as I am sure the entire horribly fractured hospitality industry is as well. I have taken out the necessary loans to try and keep my business afloat. However, my bills have not stopped. I have not received a pause on rent, health insurance (for myself and employees), workers compensation, power, water, waste, security, equipment and auto leases, or liability insurance. As for insurance coverage, my insurance company refuses to pay any loss of income claim due to a contractual clause that distinguishes between a closure by civil authority and a virus.
I, and thousands like me, simply want to keep my privately owned business from sinking beyond recovery. I do not feel I should be blamed, admonished, or demonized because of this goal. I am not selfish; I care deeply about my community. I work hard all day, from 6 a.m. to well past midnight. My bars were some of the most successful in San Francisco. I was conservative with my finances, saving for a chance to one day buy my building. I was confident in my ability to do so and added 10 more years to my lease. I had also finally bought out my initial investor after more than a decade and was now a sole independent business owner. That kid with $600 in his pocket was now finally 100% independent. That was February 2020. It was my best month ever in 15 years.
But now, as of July 1, I have had zero income since March 15th and I have done the morally conscientious and decent thing that you — my government — have asked of me regarding my business. We have saved lives, yet myself and my business still remain Covid collateral damage. While I am taking on debt and feverishly trying to bail myself out, I witness rampant fraud of PPP funding. All the while I am getting zero concrete assistance that is industry-specific or based on real numbers and actual loss.
Forgiveness tied to payroll does not work, because all of my employees are forbidden from working. Loss of revenue is a key factor, forgiveness based on 2020 revenue decline from 2019, will save us. Please prioritize the hardest hit industries. America’s resources should be distributed to recognize that fact. You are in possession of over a decade of my tax returns, you can see the real numbers in those pages. Our country’s free market is based upon the ability to earn, to sell one’s goods to the consumer. The shelter-in-place health ordinances completely removed and denied my business the ability to participate in the free market.
I have already witnessed the permanent closure of many bars and restaurants all around our city. San Francisco is world renowned for our commitment to nightlife, cocktail contribution, music giants, literary legacy, and other cultural assets. This beautiful city will die without your help.
So, I ask our public officials to do the morally conscientious, decent, and necessary thing by financially assisting my business, and the many other wonderful and essential community businesses who help maintain the spirit of San Francisco and our great country. I have met the standards that you have placed upon my table. With humility I ask our country, state, and city to meet me at my table. We need immediate and strong relief measures in place NOW!
