Will Morgan - Smoking Inside, N. Carolina Style

Happy Pride!!!!

Happy Pride!!!! My guest is Will Morgan!!! This San Franciscan bartender is originally from North Carolina. We talk about growing up as a 90s kid in the South and being bullied in kindergarten for being gay. The many issues were communicated to the owners of Jolene’s bar but not addressed. And Will’s new outlook towards life as a masseur and bartending.

So Will was very new to San Francisco when we met, and he would come and visit me at a bar I was working in, in the mission on Sunday nights. And Will would tell me all the things that he was doing in San Francisco and experiencing. It was so sweet, and I enjoyed Will's energy and expressions and his lens of San Francisco and being new to The City.

This interview occurs when Will is actually in Mexico City, so I appreciate him taking time away from eating delicious Mexican food to talk to me. So thank you, Will! Happy Pride!!!

Melinda Lopez - The Smile That Never Stops

My lovely guest, Melinda Lopez.

Today I am speaking with the lovely Melinda Lopez. I met Melinda when we worked in bars and restaurants in the South of Market neighborhood. I was at the Hotel Utah Saloon, and she was at Marlow, which is around the corner from the Utah. Melinda would come into the Utah before her shift, sit at the bar, and get shitfaced. I'm kidding; I'm kidding; she did not do that! I joke because Melinda is such a professional and takes such great pride in her job that she would never show up to a shift drunk like some bartenders and servers have been known to do from time to time but not Melinda.

When Melinda came in, we would catch up about the week, gossip a little, and then she would head out to Marlow, and it was such a beautiful little part of my Friday afternoon to have Melinda pop in. In this interview, we talk about the housing crisis in San Francisco, the lack of female bartenders when we started in the bar business, the rise of the "tech bro" and the repercussions of tech on San Francisco and the dining scene.

Christian “Suzu” Suzuki-Orellana - The Gazelle Behind The Stick

Interview with bartender supreme, Christian "Suzu" Suzuki-Orellana.

Hello and welcome back to BoozeNation The Podcast.

Today my Interview with bartender supreme, Christian "Suzu" Suzuki-Orellana.  And like most bartenders Suzu was working at three bars in San Francisco before the pandemic hit and I met him at one of those bars - Wildhawk, which is in the Mission. I would go into Wildhawk after my bar shift ended on Saturday night and Suzu would make me such delicious cocktails and one of the things I noticed about Suzu is how graceful he is behind the bar. He glides around the bar and around his coworkers like a graceful gazelle and I just love watching him work. I think because I am like a Clydesdale behind the bar and somebody who can move that gracefully was just kind of a mystery to me.

We talk about some of the San Francisco bars Suzu has worked in prior to COVID, his family's businesses in the East Bay and Japan. His commitment to giving back to his community through his Kagano pop-up, and what it's like to work with the public since 2016. At times it's very scary working with such a hate fueled public.

So here we are episode two and enjoy Suzu's giggle.