Tell us how someone gets banned from the Queen Mary. Rented out. Queen Mary. They don't do like rent outs like that at the time. So I had convinced them it was a wedding, and this party was absolutely insane. The Queen Mary was completely thing. Almost got shipwrecked. The guy that I convinced when he came in and saw that it wasn't a wedding, the look of disappointment on his face to me was so sad. So they put me on a very serious band list.
They're working for DJ AM, he's with Travis Parker on his Lear 35 a jet. The jet crashes.
I had stopped working for them five months prior. The plane went off the runway. It was a very rough situation.
Welcome to In Search of Excellence, where I get to meet some of the most successful, iconic and interesting people in the entire world today. My guest is one of my closest friends, Don turzian, who's the co founder and runs the H wood group, which owns 11 incredibly successful and iconic nightclubs and restaurants around the world, including Bootsie bellows and nice guy delilahs, and they have six more they're building on the horizon. John, thanks for being here. Thank you. Welcome to in church
of excellence. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. I always start my podcast with our family, because our family helped shape our values, our personality and our future. Your dad, Dick was a lawyer who represented the city of Malibu, among other things. Your mom, Kathy, was a school teacher. What was it like growing up in Westwood, and how did your family influence your future?
Yeah, my, I grew up in a you know, it's funny, I was like, didn't realize it till later, but I was kind of like the black sheep of the family. My, you know, my mom's a teacher, music teacher and fourth grade teacher my whole life. My dad's an attorney. Loves the law. That's why I ended up going to law school. My brothers will die hard lawyer
and so, you know, they, I think the whole life, I was the only one that was a little different. I was an artist, you know, I was in sports, you know, things like that. But at a you know, they really shaped me. Because at the very end of the day, you know, the best people, they were the absolute best people. And that was the only thing they asked of me, is to be a good human so that's something that it's really like stuck with me and kind of who I want around me as
well. I mean, I've met your parents several times at our charity event. They're incredibly proud of you, and it's fun to just see them veiling. If I can use a Jewish word of or, you know, ask my son out there, look at Yeah, look at what he's done in his life. Yeah. Well, they thought I was, you know, look, it's nice that now they thought I was insane. When I got out of law school and didn't pass the bar, I went to
work for a DJ. So they, at that time, thought I was absolutely out of my mind and thought I was going nowhere. So I think it's good now that they're like, they can be proud of me. You're very cool guy. You make fun of me that I'm not that cool and I'm not that cool, but when you were I appreciate your non coolness. I think it's a good aspect. It's a good attribute. Why is that a good attribute? I think it's better to be that way, just natural. It's funny, because
you'll make fun of me that I'll pass 10 o'clock at night. Which which I do on
so often. You get you take it. I take it. You take it. Late Night,
yeah, when Madison gets all dressed up, and then I, you know, we've been at nightclubs in Vegas who've been to some of your players, and I'm in there for half an hour, and it's like, you know, why do you want to go home if I got all dressed up and we're here for the night? So I think it's amazing. I take it now. What were you like between ages three through 10? I don't think
I've ever really changed who I am, which is pretty i, which is pretty interesting in the sense I've kind of always been the same way. You know, I'm interested in what I think, why I think I whatever success I've had in hospitality, I think has to do with my natural liking of a lot of different things. I have a, you know, love of art, and a love of sports, and, you know, love of history. Like, I'm in like, different pockets of like, life, and I've been that way since I was a little kid, you
know. And so I think, you know, my thing was always, even when I was a little kid, I remember even at like, six and seven, I was always the one to bring everyone together. So if it was my family, I was the one to make them all laugh. I was the one doing skits. I was the one, you know, and then that went, that went into elementary school, in high school, like my house, and what I did was always the glue of everyone around me, my
friends and family. It was like my thing was always like being kind of like the center of bringing everyone together. You know, that's kind of always how I've been. You know, at some
point you picked up a football, yep, and you must have been pretty good at football, because you started for a very competitive High School in LA, why don't you tell us about when the first time you picked up a ball? Well, I
played, you know, basketball was my main sport my whole life, and I absolutely, like, loved it and lived and breathed it. And then, you know, one day I was like, I want to try, you know, in flag, or whatever it was, I can't remember, I think, seventh grade. And, you know, while I while I don't have the speed I had, I had a good arm, you know, I just was naturally able to do it, which a lot of people, I guess, aren't, and I had. Up going into it and loving it, you
know. And so played at Harvard Westlake, and I think it really shaped a lot of what I do, because of, you know, as a quarterback, and at the end of the day, it's, it's very that the skill set for that has to do a lot with being a leader in business, in life. And then I went on, and was a walk on, on the USC team, right? You know, as a quarterback, as like six string wit, right?
We'll get to that in a minute. But what did you do to train to become a quarterback? I mean, I have a great arm as well. I can throw a professional ball 50 yards with tight spiral with some heat. I could have never played because I couldn't take a hit, and I wasn't that athletic, and I was very thin. I mean, you're small for a quarterback as well, and you were playing at a major, major high school,
you know, one thing I did, I have, I have an insane work ethic, you know, much like, much like you from who I know, and I had that at a young age, and I didn't know how, I mean, I'm a crazy work ethic. And I just, were I, you know, I was, I was doing, you know, morning trainings and weekend trainings and, like, everything you know, under the sun of what it would take to be a quarterback. And, you know, I didn't have that in my family.
No one was in sports, no one was in no one was in that, really. So it was really me learning that and just working my ass off, you know.
So you went to USC on an art scholarship, but you didn't take the art scholarship, and as you said, you were a walk on to the football team.
I went, I was gonna go to Michigan. I got an art scholarship to Michigan. Man, you made the wrong choice. I accepted. I went to Michigan, and it was, I know you're, you're, you're a Michigan guy. My entire life, I grew up on the Fab Five, and I was obsessed with going to Michigan, because my whole family went to USC I was I was like, I had to do something opposite. And I just love Michigan, and I go to Michigan, good. It was fine. I was going to do it, and I was
going to do art there. I was going to give up football, because the only ones that were really interested in me in football were very small schools, so I had to make a decision if I'm going to go on to be football or if I'm going to go on to have a normal college career. And so that's, you know, that's I decided to do. And, you know, art was still is my passion, you know. So I was like, Okay, I'll do that.
And then I had a friend was a little older than me, or a year older, and was like, come down to a party at SC and I went to USC, and I called my parents, and I'm like, I don't know why anyone would not go to this school. I'm not going to Michigan. And they were like, well, you're, you've already
accepted. I'm like, I because I had applied to like, five schools, and USC was one of them, and I had gotten in, and I was like, I there's, this is the only school I'm going to so once USC and wasn't on the football team or anything, but I get a call midway through my like freshman year from the from the
coach. I thought it was a prank call, to be honest, but the coach at the time, Hackett, was his name, and they wanted my the tight the starting tight end for me was the star of the country for in high school, Alex Holmes. Alex, yeah, and they wanted him so bad. And he said he'll only go if I play, if I walk on. So I was like, Look, I'll take it. So I walked on. And, I mean, it was
grueling. I was the, I was the lowest totem pole, but it was really good, you know, I have to say, looking back on it amazing. But, you know, 5am workouts every day, then practice, then class, then practice and film like, I mean, it was, it was intense, you know, and I you don't get a red shirt when you're as low totem pulled so, I mean, you get annihilated.
Great student. Think you had a 3.7 GPA at USC, yeah. And one of your roles there was to help recruit the players. Yep, so tell us, Hey, John, this is Coach Hackett. We got some guys coming in. We'd like you to take them out to restaurants and nightclubs.
No, yeah, it didn't. It didn't exactly look at that, but it like morphed into that, you know, which is interesting, because I do credit almost everything that I'm doing today with stem from that, actually, because basically, the coaches started to recognize that this, like, fifth string football player who was never going to play in the actual
game. I was friends with all the players, like I was hanging out with them, and they were like, you know, you have a good like, You're from LA, you kind of know the thing where you get along with all the players. And you know, we're we're in the we're in the hunt on recruiting. Why don't you take out, I can't remember at the time, the first person take this person out, he's coming in town. We really want him. And so I did, and I really got along with that
family. And they were like, whatever you did was amazing. Could you do that more to me with with incoming recruits. And so I did, and I ended up, like, really, putting together a program with Alex, to be honest, homes of, like, taking these recruits out, having, like, a really good time showing them, like, showing them like, what it what it's like to come to LA USC, you know everyone you know. One of the big things is being homesick your kid from Georgia or Florida or whatever it might
be. It's like, see, they got to feel a family, you know. And I learned that at a young age, and I and it really grew big, and like, what I'm doing today with hwood, a lot of it grew out of that thing, because I did that for years, and that's how that came about today,
the best players go for the money, right? N, I L, they have Michigan paid Bryce Underwood, number one player in the country, reportedly, ten million there are all kinds of people who got involved with that. Back then, it was different. The players could not take money. And one of the things I wanted every school, and I know this from players and coaches, the recruits would come, and part of the fun of the party was helping the recruits have sex with women. I mean, that was going on everywhere.
Yep. Did you see any of that at USC?
I really didn't, actually, I know that's a big thing. Now, you would have parties where you'd have, like, girls and whatever. But I really didn't see anything as crazy as
that. In that regard, I think that was, like, a lot of, like, older years of things, but that was not anything that, like, went down with, like, what I was, we were involved with ours was more like entertainment, fun, like, you know, you would take, it's funny, you would take, like, a restaurant that, like, was like, dead on a, you know, late night, and we just fill it with, like, the, you know, fun people and, you know, in college, so it's like, you know, you create a little, a
little fun vibe, and that's really what it was, and more hand holding on, like their family and stuff. But, you know, back to your point on the people take the money. That is only I have learned, because I'm pretty active in the in the USC and I L world. What I've learned is, is that goes for a certain top person where, you know, be tough to tell a kid to, like, not take ten million you know, or whatever it is, but those only, there's only a few of that. Everything else under, under
that. I will say there, this still comes down to, like, having the right feel and the right people. And it's not just about the money. And I And I've met, I've met, you know, good amount of these kids and, like, and their families. And I think, if I think more, I think it's, I have to say, I think it's swung back a little bit that it's, yes, you need some aspect of the money. It can't be nothing
anymore. But I do think it's more about the right fit, you know, which gives some hope, because the NFL world is out of control.
You were throwing parties in college and you were basically bringing people to restaurants, including celebrities. So how on earth does a kid in college know celebrities well enough to say, hey, come join us, and we're going to have a fun time at this restaurant.
Well, I didn't know, you know, this first of all, way back then, totally different time. There wasn't, it wasn't even paparazzi, you know. And so part of my, part of something that I'm fortunate about, was I was from, I'm from LA and a handful of my friends started to become pretty big, you know, celebrities acting and music and things. And so when I was doing parties and bringing people together, they would come just because they're my natural friends. It became a thing, you
know. And so that's really how it worked then. And you know, at the end of the day, even to this day, you know, Mo like, it's a natural thing. It's a genuine relationships, you know, that's, that's the way it works best, you know. So,
who are some of these people back then, when you're in college, who became celebrities as, and you were bringing to these parties? I
don't know if it was bringing to them, but it was more like the ones that were around were like, you know, the Paris Hiltons of the world at the Olsen twins. And, you know, they were, they were all in the same, you know, circle of friends, you know, if you will, you know, and so that's, you know, Lindsay Lohan, you know, like that. At that time, it was like everyone was around, and then you'd have, you'd have a good mix of people, and, like, kind of went from there, you know, there's a
concept that goes on at restaurants and nightclubs, nice, nice restaurants and nightclubs that restaurants will actually pay people to bring in beautiful women and models and they eat for free. And that's a foreign concept for people who don't live in LA or New York, was
that? Was that happening? Was that part of the deal is you're going out, and wrangling is the word that I hear lots of times where you're a promoter, and hey, you know your job is to find beautiful women and bring them in and get paid for it. Well, I
was a promoter, a promoter, for a lot of years. I don't think, I don't think, I don't it's not so much for restaurants, for nightclubs, nightclubs, you nightclubs, you you get paid to bring people in for restaurants, it's pretty rare where you're paying, I don't know of anyone paying to bring bring people to restaurants, but they eat for
free. A lot eat for free. Yeah, my wife said that she never paid for meal in New York, a lot eat for free. That is crazy. I said, Gosh, that's so unfair. That's discrimination. I guess, guys,
that's different, because. Is that that would be, you know, first of all, New York is a different, different, different situation. But yeah, they would do tons of comps. You know, celebrities get comped all the time too, right? You know, so that's, that's part of it
all. Do yours pay when they come into the nice guy in Delilah, yeah, everyone, it's, everyone pays. It's too
hard to like, It's too hard. The nightclubs are different. The nightclubs. You the nightclubs, you comp a lot of people, you, you, you have to, you have to do that to create a party. So
if Bieber's coming in a nightclub, he gets a table, he's got the alcohol, and he's not paying it's
more about whoever is a friend of mine, you know, and that is there, you know, I think that's, that's more of how, of how it is, or me, or my partner, Brian, like one of us, if we're, if we're, if it's the right thing, then, then, yeah, you know, but that's very that's the nightclub world versus the restaurant world. Tell
us how someone gets banned from the Queen Mary
is, how'd you know that? Did I tell you that? No, oh my gosh, that's so good. The Queen Mary, I think I'm still on their ban list. He's sad, actually, because my wife, my wife one year or one of us, was like, we should take the kids there. I'm like, in my head, I was like, I don't know if we can go there
Vegas, where you can't go back, because I've got your your photo somewhere.
I you know, my the USC parties that I was doing were got really big. Really, really big. I grew a really big company. Actually, like I did it, two of my best friends, Rick and Brandon, were with me on it, and we did this thing where we really grew this thing to be. It was a pretty massive company, and that ended up being passed down. And so we, you know, in the height of it, I basically rented out, not basically rented out Queen Mary. However, what does
that cost, by the way? I mean, that's a huge give people a sense of, people don't know what the Queen Mary is. It's in Long Beach. It's
in Long Beach. Yeah, I don't remember what it was. I want to say a few 100 grand or something.
I mean, the ship must be a football field long will feel wrong. But
it was an off night. It was like a whole, like a Monday or something, and but this is where, you know, I'll admit it, and they, you know, they don't do, they don't do like rent outs like that at the time, and so, especially not to a college kid. And especially not so I had convinced them. I really, like, went in and convinced them a whole other
story of what it was. It was a it was a wedding, and it was, like a whole thing around it, like I did this whole thing, like it was it, you know, it was, you know, looking back on it, not something I should have done in that regard. But I really wanted to do this event there, right? So rented it out, and this party was absolutely insane. It was like one of the best events we've done, I've done ever, ever. It was insane.
But the place just got, I mean, the Queen Mary was completely thing almost got shipwrecked, you know, and, and you obliterated the Queen Mary. And the guy that I convinced I'll never forget the head of it when he came in and saw that it wasn't a wedding. I mean, his he the look of disappointment on his face to me was so sad. I was like, Oh my gosh. I, like, felt really bad. And so they put me on a very serious ban list.
That's why that same night, he said, man, you're done. Oh, they, they took down. I mean, it was, it was not pretty. Did they kick everybody out that night. Or you could, they did. We
had thought we had 1000s of people there. We do. Because when I was doing this at the time, it was like ticketed events and things, you know, it was like a whole people pay
to get in, and then you make a profit based on the revenues, less the rental costs. Yeah, where they're more sponsors, whatever sponsors. So what kind of money we're making on event like that back in college, you know,
I don't remember on that event, but I was made. I was, we were making good cash at the time. Like, it was, it was real, $10,000 a party, more, more. Yeah, in college, it was great, yeah. I was like, you know, I was like, I'm, this is, like, this is the life, yeah.
I mean, my son, you know, Charlie
through law school.
Yeah. So let's talk about law school. The one here, would Charlie did what? Oh, no, he Well, you know, Charlie does a lot of things, but he is 21 now legal, and so, you know, he'll pay and high school, he'll pay 50 bucks to get into some someone rents out a house. They trash the place, by the way, so I don't know who these idiots are renting out their house. And, you know, Charlie says they're packed with people. So these guys are making, like you said, cash, you know, taking cash at the door,
you know, 100 bucks. And he said, there's 500 people there. I mean, that's 50 grand.
No, no, I was, yeah. And I had a whole system. I had a big event once a month, and then I had multiple small events during so I was making, you know, big events you'd make. You know, 1520, grand, small, small events, few 1000, you know, so it's crazy. I mean, when you're in college, it's like, you know,
you go to law school, your dad's a lawyer, your brother Jim is a lawyer, yep, and you didn't pass the bar? No, did you try? I did twice. It's. You did, and what was it you just didn't study? No, I studied, but it just wasn't your thing. It's a very big thorn in my side. Yeah, it makes, just makes you stronger. I Yeah, although I never passed,
it's a hard one, you know, in that regard. No, I really, I really did. Now, I was working, you know, I was, I was, at the time, I started to work for, upon going on to the second one, second bar, I started to work for the, kind of the first celebrity DJ, DJ AM, and his manager, Larry, and they, I was fortunate enough that they spotted me and took me in. They were like, you know, do your
thing with us. You're great. So I was kind of like an assistant and like everything for them, like, literally, and so I think on the second one was, and we were opening the first club called lax, yeah. Think on the second one I was a little ironically, I did, when you're close enough, you they send you how many points you missed. And so I was off by like nine. Like, it was crazy. First one, I clearly just didn't, you know. And then I was like, You know what? It's just not for me. I
me. I was never going to law school to be a lawyer ever. There was a chance I wanted to be a sports agent, because I worked for a sports agent, and I obviously liked that, you know, every, every, every, every guy loves, you know, has that dream of the sports agent world at some point, you know, type of thing. But I it wasn't for me. I really went, you know, my dad was pretty serious about he was, like, the one thing I ask is, you get a law degree no matter what you do. I don't care what
you do in life. Have a lot of great and I'm very thankful for that, because my mind is so artistic, like so often to artistic land, that law school really grounded it to speak, read, write and think in a processed way, like tenfold and and really speaking, it does a does a whole thing first for someone like me. And so I think that's why I'm really appreciative of that. I went, even though it was not fun for me,
right? As you know, I also went to law school. Hated every minute of it. Hated practice. I had probably the worst start to a career, three jobs in eight months, basically told to leave. Well, one's told to leave for sure, and the other move, move or leave. So I had a record. But me, I feel the same
like I today. I learned how to think in a different way, a structured way, a very focused way, that I didn't have before, but it was very painful reading everyday case law, and just like every word, I just can't stand what I'm reading and what I'm learning. But I think graduate degree is a helpful thing for a lot of people. Do you agree?
I fully agree. I think look to each their own. You know, I know a lot of successful that don't, but I do think it matters. I do think it helps you see, you see a difference. At least myself, there's a difference in level of reading, writing, thinking, you know, processing. It's definitely a big difference. So
whenever, for people, crazy shit happens. Sometimes you're working for DJ AM, he's with Travis Barker on his Lear 35 a jet. The jet crashes. Yeah. But when did you learn about that and tell us about your your fear of the PJ now, yeah,
it's, it's rough, yeah. I mean, I, we, I had left, I had stopped working for them, for AM, and them, I don't know, maybe five months prior, six months prior, and they took, he took a different like assistant on the on the trip, you know, because I didn't leave his side in that regard. And the plane went off the runway, and everyone you know passed away.
And it besides Travis and am, and really like haunting to think, you know, a I would have been on that, you know, be really brutally sad for the people on that that passed away, and their families people died in that because, yeah, they didn't die though, no, they jumped out. But it was, it was a rough scene. It was a very rough situation, and I it's been, you know, I'm better on the on the private jet now only because there's, there's, I don't know, but it's been a, it was a fear.
I mean, I would not take one for years and years and years, and to this day, I went to therapy over flying overall. To this day, and I have to travel quite a bit, and to this day, I dread every moment of getting on the plane. You planned
my bachelor party, and we'll talk about that later. For sure, that was an incredible weekend, but I remember one of the guys in the group got us a private jet, and you said, I'm not going on private jet. So you and I sat back and coach, I think, on a Southwest flight, like, you can see everyone piloting a private jet, like, you know, John's my guy. And obviously we're, we're going together. Sorry for
that. Sorry. I don't think I would do that today. Again, they were cramped. I will not take us. I'm. Mean, I sound like a I can only say this because I don't own a private jet, but I would not take, I would not go on a small one. Yeah, I go on heavy set ones only. Then I'm okay, right? But I am. Absolutely hate it, right? Hate every aspect of flying.
Madison, I we had a portfolio company. They were having a kickoff party up in San Francisco, and I couldn't make it because of the kids. I said, No, what? So one of the guys sent us a VLJ, very light jet, Honda jet Eclipse, I think it was, and it's a four seater, and I just wondered if I could get into it, because I'm very claustrophobic. And we get in, and the thing is decked out. It's very, very nice. So we get there, we fly into a rainstorm
that was coming. Okay, a little shaky on the way there, on the way back, we nearly died. We're coming into Santa Monica Airport, where, this is where people on the west side take off and land from. The jet was like a salt and pepper shaker. I've never been any I've never seen anything like that. We're going to die. I said, Madison, we're going to die. We're going to die. She's calm as can be. You know Madison very well. And I'm dying. And then I was worried the plane was going to break
apart. And the two pilots young, 30 year old, Marines, stocky, and you could see the forearms of these guys just, and I kept trying to talk to them. We okay. We okay, no response. And they were trying to get me. This was jet sweet, before they had the before they had, you could fly, Marshall, you know, they wanted you to buy into their partnership, or whatever. We get to Santa Monica, below the clouds. And I'm like, All right, this is so great. We're going to
be fine. And there's a system on these jets where the like the Mayday system comes on if something wrong is happening. So we're coming down to the runway, and the lights start blinking, abort, abort, abort. And you could see this thing going, like, three feet off the runway, four feet off the runway, we're going to land. If we're land, we're going to land on one of the buildings, the hangers. And all of a sudden, you could see these guys again, just thrusting you could see their muscles
bulging. And we get up through the sky. We're fine. We're like, that was the craziest shit. That was probably the closest I've come in my entire life to dying. We land at Burbank, and we're like, okay, so we got to get a Uber back to Santa Monica. Our car is there. It's like, one in the morning. The guy picks us up in the Uber, and he has three tear jobs coming right out of the eye tattoos. And for those people who don't know what that is, those are kills. Those are
gang guys. If you have a teardrop, that's that's a kill. So we're driving back with some guy with three tear drops, and I'm saying to Madison, like, so we pretended to get on the phone with someone fake, and said, Oh yeah, we're getting picked up. Yeah, us drivers. You see these cool you know, his name is Miguel, whatever. And you know, we're in this car, and it's like, yeah, the ride's easy, the rides we kept the phone open the whole time.
I bet you won't fly a small plane again.
No, I'll never get in that plane again. That's the that's the thing. Yeah, you know, some of our friends have planes, and it's nice. You know, we've we ride a couple times. I don't like taking things from people, I feel obligated. So we'll fly coach sometimes when people, people ask, but you know, the private jet is the ultimate luxury. Totally agree, LAX. You don't own it. You work
there and you mop floors. One of the things today that I think a lot of our generation, they don't like doing the shit work. How important was doing the shit work, like mopping floors to your career. I think
it made, I think it was the make or break for me. I have to say they, you know, and I hate to, I hate to you're right, and I hate to sound like the old guy, but I have noticed the generational issue where it's like they're skipping so many steps, but yeah, I like, you know, mopped the floors, I counted the cash, I made sure the repair maintenance, I made sure the promotions were good. Like it was, like, all of the above doesn't happen anymore at
all. And like, I don't where I think the issue is, my theory always is, you could drop me in the middle of a foreign town, and I'm gonna figure it out with my business. I'll figure out, figure out with a restaurant. I'll figure out whatever, because I had that background, I think the, I think where a lot of the new generation, I won't, I won't say everyone is there. They're skipping that major step of learning the building blocks and learning the work ethic that
goes into it, you know. And who knows, we'll see what happens and shakes out from it. All of
your venues have people who work in the bathroom full time. Most, most of your venues, you know, the nicer ones you got people who work full time in the bathroom. They're dressed nightly nicely. They have the mints there and the toothpicks and whatever else they. Tip jars there, and I like taking surveys in my head and just counting. You know, what percentage of people are leaving tips for men and women who work
in the bathroom? I mean, if you think about this, like if the bathrooms are smelly, the people are drunk, the guys are sometimes peeing on the floor. They got to clean it up. I always make sure to tip everyone 20 bucks in whatever venue that I go into. And it just, it makes me mad that everyone just ignores them. Basically, I know I agree. How hard are those jobs to fill, or how many people are applying to work full time in one of your bathrooms? You know
we I think we use outside services now on making sure to find that, because it's not easy to find, to find staff. It's not easy at all, you know. So you're it's good that you do that, because not enough people do not know people are like, treating people well like that. It's crazy.
I mean, they love me because I'm the biggest tip in the jar. And then when I come back to the bathroom. We had a few beers or whatever. It's like, you know, they're your best friend, yeah, yeah. At our charity event, you know that we had it at your venue, and we'll talk about that 100 bucks, you know, just to make up, just to make up for it, because, you know, people are just not tipping. Like, that's our, our event, you know, we invited people there, yeah. And it's like, you know, you
gotta, you got it. You got to take care of people that are working. I always really try to, like, you know, my big thing is always like, bussers. They're the ones killing themselves. Yeah, you look at a busser and there, and everyone's kind of ignoring them. So it's always really good to, like, pay attention to those, to those jobs and these places. So
let's talk about the bussers. I was a waiter in college and in law school. Cheat cheese. Cheat cheese, Olive Garden.
Oh, it wasn't olive. Oh, no, both, both.
We split Chee, Chees and olive. Yeah, you know, like chi. Chi cheese out a little tight with shirt, Spanish style with little frills on the arm. It was not the most masculine thing. I like it, though. Yeah, good, good, good experience. You really learn the services when you're a waiter. Yeah, tell us how this split works. So you got a tip. Talk about the restaurant split, and then the bottle girl split. In terms of who gets, who gets.
What do the waiters have to give to the bus boy, I give to the tip jar, to the General Staff. Well,
so one thing's very important. We cannot get involved in tips as a as an owner, so you have to be very careful on on that that's, that's number one. Number two are you're referring to. So when you saying bottle girls, that's for the or bottle that's, yeah, nightclubs, the
nightclubs. But so restaurant, like when I was a waiter, yeah, I had to give a certain amount to, I forget what percent of my tips, and then that was split between the bus boys, yeah, who don't get tips, right? And that was a big part of their comp. So
we do pooling. And so the, you know, the pool, the pool, will decide on what they're going to tip out to bussers and whatever. It honestly varies. It varies everywhere. The bartenders sometimes have their own tip pool, so it can vary. But we have to stay very careful about not being involved in the tip process, because California law so but yeah, that's, that's how it goes. And we do it. We're, we're a house tip pool. Let's talk about your first club. You actually raise money for the
stork next to a mall. Yeah? Well, attached, yeah, attached a mall. Yeah. Two story building Warhol windows. Why put those in? You put in the Warhol window, yeah? So it was an old, yeah, it was an old Carl's Jr at the side of Hollywood Highlands. I have no idea what I was thinking. I was just a complete moron, you know, but I had a vision. I think I was a little ahead of my time with it, because what I built there is really what I'm doing today with
places. But it was like an old, it was an old Carl's Jr. It was like a bad space to take, and then we rebuilt it all. And I went super, you know, had Warhol window shipped. What
does that mean? A Warhol window, I'm a big
I'm obviously big into art and furniture and stuff, and so I'm a big vintage vintage shopper, right? Sorcerer and the Warhols factory was up for auction, you know, the factory, and that he did all his art in New York. And so there was a way to get the windows, which were, like gorgeous, these gorgeous windows that did not get made today, and like, crazy colored glass, like a slightly frosted glass, like, you know, stuff that doesn't get made. It
was, like, really cool. And shipped them from, you know, New York, and did a bunch of things like that, right? And built this insane, I think it was like, 14,000 square feet, two story called The stork, which was a, you know, I've always had a love of history and history. Oracle old school places, the stork supper club in New York was like one of the cool old places. And so that was, you know, we raised money from friends and family
and and and launched it. And it was my first, my first thing, but I went a little too hardcore, like, you know, you had to recite a poem to get in the door
you had to do. Well, let's talk about the tea room separately, because that was, that was separate, right from the stork. No tea room came later, but I thought the poem was for the tea room. No, it was for, it was for in store. Okay, so that's sort of nuts. Yeah, it's nuts. So it's pretty cool. It's very cool. I mean, it's very different, very different. So how old are you at this time, at this point, when you're when you open the store? I
was 27 I think 28 it was 2007 it opened. So yeah, and you raise two to $3 million for it, yeah, yeah. And who'd you go to? I mean, your parents, right? Parents, friends and family, you know, and it's a great learning lesson. Unfortunately, didn't work out, but we built everything off of it, you know, we were always
able to bring good crowds. So we brought such big crowds that it actually became a ended up becoming a public nuisance, but the tea room that you're talking about, the tea room, was actually a pretty cool story, and why? What I think I learned from that is what we ended up kind of building off of with H hood. Can
we just go back before we get into the tea room for one second? Who? Did you go to to raise money at 27 year old, first time raising a lot of money like that. Then, how did you convince people to invest?
Well, I went to, you know, I had a pretty great network, you know, fortunately, thanks to Harvard, West Lake, USC, Pepperdine law school, you know, family and friends, I had a good network. You know, I'm I think most, I think everyone, whether, whether they be hard pressed to find someone to not say that I'm extremely above board. And so I think that's always really important for an
investor. So even at a young age, and I think, I think that's it was good that I had gone to law school, because at least I had some, some under me. But think even at a young age, with zero credibility for owning a place, the one thing was, was having that, you know, people knew that I've never done a drug in my life. You know, I'm not into it for, you know, anything other than business and being above board, you know. And we didn't, you know, I didn't take a salary that whole time. Oh,
historic. I mean, I lived at home with my parents, you know. So I did stuff that people wouldn't do. You can't predict success or failure, but you can. You can behave in a way that makes people you know trust you and know that you know you're in it for the right reasons. And that's how, that's how I was, it's how I am to this day, you know. And we, and we had like 30 investors, literally, for 30 or 40 investors, like a public offering. So
25 $50,000 checks. 25 up
to like 150 I think, was, was what it was. Yeah. So
tell us about Samir and
the tea room. So the tea room, I wish I still had it, very special place. Basically, what we realized was, at the time, we changed the name from stork to H hood, and it was this big place. It was a restaurant, night club, lounge,
everything. And one thing that we did have going for us is we are always bringing, at the time the paparazzi world was getting big and we had, we were bringing big like friends or becoming pretty big celebrities, and they needed a place to, like, have a privacy so we had this dead space. It was legitimately a storage closet. It was like the size of, I mean, it was, I think, 1000 square feet. It was very small. And I had my friend from high school, Sameer, who had come to me about his family
was big in the tea world. And he had this idea about, this is all the same time. He had this idea about doing tea infused liquor and making it, like, healthy and wellness, and, you know, kind of
all the above. So this idea of, like, putting together this, like, kind of like, interesting idea where it's like, it's called the tea room, so it's like, people feel kind of good saying they're going to tea room, even they're going to a bar, and making it soup, like, the most exclusive place, like, buy a landslide, since it's small, and, like, off to the side, and that's what we ended
up doing. And it became literally the biggest hit in LA like, that was, like, that was the place that everyone wasn't
Katy Perry coming to the tea room. And that helped, all people knew, knew she was coming there. So that helped, sort of put you on the map.
Yeah. She was a massive supporter, you know, stuff like that, like, made a massive difference, you know. And we had a handful of those that that would come and be there, and it was just, honestly, it's a good little, good little vibe. And the DJ, the DJ was on a piano, so it was like a fun, you know, different
thing. It was just, it was cool, you know, wasn't it wasn't stuffy when you got it, like when you were able to get in, it was just like, you know, you had gotten in, and it was like a good little vibe.
We'll talk about why it shut down in a minute, but stork shut down, and then you reopened it a few months later, as h would correct. So now let's talk about you being harassed by the police, yep, and picking you up, driving you around, dropping you off in the middle of nowhere.
Crooked cops. Yeah, they were, they were, they would come in and arrest, handcuff me. They They took my partner. They took Brian to jail. You know, handcuffed, took him in.
He was put in a cell by himself. Yeah, they
they would handcuff me and drive me around. They were wanting a payoff, because I think vice was getting paid off by everyone else. 5k a month was going right back then, something like that. And, you know, there was in my head at one point I was like, Man, do I just, like, what do I do? But I've just, it goes back to how you're raised. You know, my my dad and mom are so above board. And you like, Thank God that that's how I was raised, because can't ever go back when you
change that way. So I just, I stayed super firm, and look, I lost the battle because they ended up getting us shut down. But thank God I'd ever paid anyone off, and thank God I never did, because they turned out to be crooked cops. They got caught. The guy, the main sergeant, got caught years later on, taking bribes and whatever. But unfortunately, he had, you know, done this thing with us and run us out, you know. And I'll never forget, you know, we went to court on this public
nuisance. And I will never forget, sitting there, the entire LAPD force came in to testify. Crazy was so it was so sketchy.
So please, brotherhood, and
what's crazy and so now, and ironically, I'm so active for the LAPD now, and they're amazing. I'm on, you know, I help with the lapf, and I think it was just a bad, it was just a bad, you know, Sergeant, bad cop. Honestly, it's a bad little, bad little section. It's
crazy. You're all out. Well, it's crazy that it took these bribes for a long period of time and they didn't get fired. Well,
they got fired, and I think they got fired in the end, years later. I'm not sure what ended up happening, but, but pretty sure got fired or went on whatever. But it's crazy, and it's like they don't teach you that stuff in, you know, when you're coming out. It's like they don't teach you how to handle that. You know, very scary getting handcuffed and driven around. Very scary. I've been
handcuffed before in a police car. It's It's crazy, and I'll tell the story here. You know, the first time, there may or may not have been a second time, but I had a girlfriend who lived in Brentwood. I lived in Brentwood, and I was on the Enter list, and I had a key. I left my key at home, and she we were in a fight, and then she texted me,
okay, come on over. So it's like 12 o'clock at night, and I go over there in my big Detroit Red Wings hoodie and my sweatpants, I've got slippers on, and her roommate hated me, because when you have a boyfriend as a roommate and the boyfriend takes over, then you're blowing off your roommate. So they're no longer friends. So she really despise me. And so my girlfriend, at the time, was drunk and taken some Nyquil. So I get in because they let me in.
I'm on the list. I get in there and I'm knocking like on the wall, and I'm saying, hey, you know, I'm not gonna mention your name, but I said, hey, hey, knocking. Knock on there. I'll tell you when we're done shooting, and I'm knocking on the door, and you know, I'm like, Hey, let me in. Let me in. Let me in. And I'm standing out there for maybe five minutes. The next thing I know, elevator opens and have you ever had a gun pointed at you with one of the red lights No, circling your
chest? No. So these two got three people come out of the elevator. They're shouting on me, get down. Get down. Get down. And there's a red dot circling on me, get I'm all that down. Now, down. Now they come up, and they basically push me onto the floor, knee in the back, handcuffs behind the back. I'm thinking, Oh my God. Like, this is fucking nuts. What's going. On here, and I saw my whole career flash in front of me right, like I'm this
successful businessman. I think I have a good reputation, and I'm on the floor with a knee on my back, like I'm a perp, and the guy stands me up, leaves me on the wall. They frisk you, yeah, right. And then he said, You know what? What are you doing here? I was invited. My girlfriend lives there. When I said, I have a Blackberry, you know, let me get it, they're like, I'll reach it from your
pocket. And there was some code when you call in breaking and entering, yeah, there's some code that goes out on the radio, and these cops will put the sirens on 100 miles per hour you get where you're going, someone could get murdered right now. And you know, they blow through stop lights. They put themselves at risk, and their adrenalines Pump it when they see someone standing outside its own place. And so I said, let me get out the Blackberry. And so I said, No, he'll put it out. Turn it
on. I still have the cuffs on, and I had to turn it on and give the guy the code, the password, and then he said, uncuff them. Because I said, Hey, come on over. And the cops were fucking irate, absolutely irate. And I said, the cops, you should arrest the girlfriend. And by the way, to this day, to this day, the police report is still there. Like you, you can't, you can't wave it from the record, huh? It's, yeah, they told me, you know, no one, no one would ever find this. That's really
funny. Depose one day. Oh my, here we go. Here we go. But I did something very smart, by the way. And again, we'll talk about preparation and how that's a key part of my success. I thought about in the future, I said, All right, not going to marry this girl. I gotta get something in writing, yeah? So I had her write a letter to the police. Yeah. This was completely unfair. It never happened. It never should have been. And then I had notarized, right? Just thinking ahead, you know nothing
gonna run for office. You know that would never happen. But I thought, Hey, I gotta, never know. Gotta speaking career. You never know. I know. I definitely know. So you have a lot of failures. Yeah, and you're 27 years old, you're penniless, and you move back into your parents house, in your childhood bedroom, yeah, tough time. Those are low time. We've all been there. What were you thinking?
When can you remember the day where you actually were moving back in and you got your suitcases or boxes sort of sitting on your bed at night. Yeah,
I mean, I do remember. I do remember moving back in, and I do remember, it's so weird because I think I have, like, I think I have, like, almost sometimes, an unhealthy optimism, but it's gotten me through life. So I can't knock it, because I just, I think I all, you know most, I think most people at a time would be so depressed, and I was more the opposite. I was more like, I'm gonna find I'm gonna work harder. I'm gonna like, do X, Y
and Z better. I'm gonna, you know, it's like a crazy fire under me, you know, at no time. I remember my parents one time were like, Okay, what are you gonna do now? I'm like, What do you mean? And they're like, you want to go to you want to go, you know, figure out job wise. I'm like, No, I'm doing this. And they're like, literally nothing like so it was a low time. However, I really put a
lot of fire under myself. You know, that's, that's like, that's how I get through it, through things, how part,
how important is failure and resilience to our future success?
It'd be hard pressed to find not failing to be successful. I don't know how. I don't know how it happens, because you have, you almost have to, and it's unfortunate because I'm sure there's people that are very successful that had no failures, but I don't, I don't know. I mean, it'd be, it's crazy, because you need that drive, you know, I always say that i i work like, go be played, or it's like, you just, I always have to have some sort of, like, anger in me. And I don't mean that in like, an
actual way. I mean it like, I'm like, driven to like, I gotta like, win. I gotta like have, I gotta have it be the best. I got, you know, and if you don't have that failure under you, I'm very thankful that, you know, knock on wood are my big failures were early, but you never know. We have failures along the way, constantly. You know, it's just all how it's all how you take it and pivot and react. And
we have to take a step back, sometimes to take a step forward. So the next job you got was at the Beverly as a promoter. So you know, you no longer own a club, you're back to a promoter. So you're taking a massive step back. You're getting paid to bring people in to the Truesdale. So tell us about well, to the Beverly. Way, and then tell us about guy, starkman, the relationship there, and then how that basically turned back to where you wanted to go. Yeah,
it's like, you know, it's you never know where life's gonna take you. So I'm really big on relationships and kind of like just believing in letting things like come as they do good work and see how things play out. And so my Brian, my partner, Brian, who we started H hood together and store, he was always really close with Guy starkman, and guy was like an older version of us. He had guys, he had Jerry's Deli. His family was Jerry's deli, and he
had Truesdale nightclub. And then he had turned his one nightclub called guys into the Beverly. And Brian was like, you know, we lost H hood, we lost all of our clubs. You know? He's like, I'm either gonna go back to business school or and I'm like, can't. Like, we have to. We'll rebuild. We'll figure something out. And he, he got us, you know, he guy was like, I'm opening this. Why don't you come? Like, really be a major
part of it. So me and Brian went and did that, opened it, and were promoters for it, which, you know, I absolutely hated that, going back to that, however, I embraced it. And like, you know, both of us and we did a good job. And luckily, you know, were we stayed close with him. And luckily, you know, he came to us one day, and he had another club, and he was like, if you guys could raise some money, why don't you I don't care anymore about this. He's like, why don't you buy
Truesdale for me? So we did. We raised some money, and $2 million I don't remember what the total was at the time, but around that, yeah, yeah. Around 2 million,
1 million, I think, went to guy, and another million went to build out the club. I'm
not, I don't remember exactly the thing, but, but whatever, whatever it was, it was, it was, it was probably around that, but we, we bought it, and we had this idea. I had, I had been, had mutual friends with David Arquette, who was just coming off of beaches, mad house, and he had this whole idea that I love to do this experiential nightlife, nightclub world, which was really innovative, innovative at
the time. And I love the fact that all of our, all of our big like, friends and family and clients, were all in that West Hollywood area, so we could, like, really capitalize. And so that's that spot ended up becoming Bootsy Bellows, which was a wild success, and we named it after his mom. His mom was a pin up girl in the 60s, and her name was Bootsy Bellows. So we had this whole thing where puppets walking around and
burlesque girls. And it was just a fun, very interactive nightclub and that, and it was really that, that, you know, got us back on our path. And we were like, we can, we can really do this, you know, that's, that's from from there. So thank God, you know, for guy and doing taking a step back, as you said, because, you know, had I had too big of an ego and said, No, I'm not going to go be a promoter, I would have never really been in that position. I wouldn't be here today. One
of the biggest mistakes for people in the workforce when things aren't working out, or they're not happy, is they're not willing to take a step back to move forward. I think it's absolutely crazy. It is.
It is crazy, but you have to, it's you have to, you have to learn how to do it, you know, suck it up. You have to learn how to do it and not hold on. A lot
of our success. Cool things happen at specific moments. July 5, 2012 Katy Perry's movie comes out that night, and she brought everyone back in the van to Bootsie bells, I think it was your first night opening. Associate, Justin Bieber in the van. Big, big night for you. Yeah, that was a big night. That was a good night. You weren't expecting her to bring, come up, come that night and bring all these cool people, no,
but, but she's, like, you know, she's, she's one of the greatest supporters to us. So, you know, that's a, that's a, that's a good one. But, yeah, that stuff like that, like, really catapulted us. You know
that I am responsible for almost burning down Bootsie bellows and Katy Perry saving Bootsie bellows from burning to the ground. Why? I don't know about this. So the story was, I'm single, and it's really awesome for a not that cool guy like me to have friends like you that are cool. And I remember said, Hey, Randy, what are you up to tonight? And I said, Oh, I've got this date with this girl. It's the first date. Said, why don't you come by? Katy Perry is having a private party for this guy,
Faraz, who she just signed. He's a piano player, is going to be the next Sam Smith, like, No, I'm not sure. I said, Come on by. So went to boa steak house across the street, and then I went to Bootsie bells. You know, you want to go, they want to go there. And Bootsie Bell had a second room in the back for those people. There's a piano there, and beautiful goose and we had one right next to the piano. And there were these
little votive candles. And at some point, I'm sitting there talking to this date, first date, and it starts smoking, and there's smoke coming up everywhere. And she had this beautiful white leather jacket that actually caught on fire, like there were flames there. And Katy Perry comes over, and I notice it, and takes the jacket that was burning, and start slapping the vote of candle like this, and I was it was just, it was a crazy story. The story gets a little Yeah, I saved I
saved you. The story gets a little crazier. Sounds like Katie saved us, yeah, Katie saved you, yeah. It was my fault. Yes. Very you were the arson, very unresponsible guest. The story gets a little crazy, by the way, and I'm going to divert this for a little bit, because it comes back to Katie. I went back to her apartment that night, and she had all these nice clothes, and she just moved to Los Angeles. She was a model. Her dad was a police
officer up north. Her mom was a hairdresser who was cutting hair in a small town for $12 a haircut. And so she had moved here, and she'd only been here for two months. She had all these nice things, Barney's bags, in the closet, and I later learned that she was and this happens in LA, I didn't know this thing was a thing, but I found out that a wealthy man was paying her a certain amount of money a year to give her a car and clothing allowance, and then he could, I mean, you've heard
these stories. I mean, I didn't know this even existed, right? This was in the movies, and so this was your first date. This, this was our first date. How did you meet her on Facebook? She she wrote and by the way, my wife knows the story, you know, she thinks I was creepy. By the way, when I was single, you know, people would set you up on these blind dates. So, you know, she beautiful, whatever, whatever. And then you get there, and it was like false
advertising sometimes. And so you go to Facebook and 30 pictures, don't lie. And so this woman had posted, I'd friended her weeks out, and said, Who's going to Vegas this weekend? I had no plans on going to Vegas, but I said, Hey, I may be there. And so that started the conversation. And then, you know, etc, etc. So I learned this of this relationship. I'm like, Okay, this is absolutely
nuts. We're done. The Grammys as you know, it has this charity function the night before, and we're all the people who are playing at the Grammys play. So I was invited. I went and, I mean, everyone was there. I mean, Bruce Springsteen was the main guy who played seven songs. But I mean, everyone Neil Young, Katie played, and I saw Katie, who was sitting two tables away, and I love Katy Perry, and I wanted to go take a picture and say, Hey, Katie, I'm Randy. I met you with John. Yeah, yeah.
She didn't know who I was, but yeah, yeah. And I said, Do you remember the fire and you slapping down the Jag? And she said, Yeah. And she said, You still dating her? And I said, No. And I just gave her the one lighter. And she said, What a fucking bitch. Great. So that was the last time I saw Katie. I like that. There you go. So I'm glad I didn't burn on your van. Actually, I'm glad I'm not responsible for burning that. Bootsy Bellows,
very glad. Thank God so Bootsie is a
hit. And right around the time that little later, you had a concept for a West Side venue at a hotel. I'm not sure how much you want to get into this, but someone stole the concept. It became massively successful, and the guy told you, you're going to be a no one, so I'm going to take advantage of you. Yeah, what happened? What? What can you say publicly? And then, how did that motivate you and say, Hey, screw you. I am going to be somebody. And we'll see what happens?
Yeah, you know, I won't, I won't name names, but yeah, we created a whole really cool concept that I was in. This is actually right before Bootsy Bellows. They were kind of same time. Yeah, I, you know, since I long time West Side, and I knew that, like, there needed to be some sort of new night life in the west side. I grew up growing up there, and my family is all Santa Monica, and so I was like, you know, there's got to be
something there. So I created, or we had my company team, and I had created this, like, really cool concept to do at a hotel. They stole it, and, you know, really, like, wrote me a, I don't know, 10 grand check or something, which, to me, was a big deal to like, I couldn't not take to, like, not sue them, right? So I was so angry that, you know, I went and convinced, I went and found another bar next to Georgios. I started to go in there. Total shit hole, total shit hold the hideout.
Called the hideout, yeah, I took, I took my my wife on the. Our first date was basically there at Georgiou. So I was like, I want to see this place next door. So we went in there, and she was like, there's a literally holes in the wall, like it was, it was absolutely crazy, flies on, like the bar and stuff. It was pretty bad. But I had convinced, you know, it had been dilapidated, and fortunately, I had waited around long enough for weeks and and I had convinced the owner to give
me a shot. And I think what the way I convinced him is, I said I told him the story of how I'd gotten screwed, and I said, I'm so hungry. I'm going to literally anything my entire life. Is going to live and breathe this place like we are. I'm going to crush it. And so he was like, okay, you know you're, it's yours. And he gave, gave me 100 grand to redo it, which is insane, that I redid the place for 100 grand and turned into what I called shore bar. Had a hybrid model where there was a
members room up top. Everyone had a locker as a whole touch and feel thing, and became a massive hit, massive hit. It really like, was, like, the West Side nightlife. And so, you know, we don't we, as of last year, we don't have it anymore, but it was a 12 year run, long time for our barn. Yeah, yeah, you
made me cool because I got, I got the membership. Yeah, it was packed. There were lines out front. And I just be like, oh, you know, yeah, Randy, yeah. You remember, oh yeah. I mean, they all knew that we were really good friends, yeah. And so there was a second level where that was really cool. There were lounges. I mean, downstairs are a couple of booths, stand up tables, and then there was a big lounge upstairs. We had your own bartender, so, yeah.
I mean, you know, it's funny, that model to this day is what I see. What works is that very deep touch where it's like, you know, you have that people want to have that extra level of care. And so that's that really worked there. Welcome
to part one of my incredible interview with one of my closest friends, John jerseyan, who's the founder of the H wood group, which owns 11 of the most successful nightclub and restaurant venues around the world. Stay tuned for some of the craziest customer service stories you've ever heard in your life.