As a gay bar, you have a responsibility to be a part of the community.
A lot of people may think that running a gay club in San Francisco like LOOKOUT is a really glamourous job. But it’s a lot less glamorous than you’d think. I spend a lot of time cleaning toilets that are clogged out with whatever people shit, threw up, or throw in it. I deal with a lot of people who get way too drunk and staff that can’t find the balance between throwing a party and having it be their party.
I opened up my gay bar in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood nine years ago and I still stumble when people call my establishment “iconic.” I consider the term iconic as more of affirmation of all the hard work that went into making this bar what it is now. I guess it has gotten to that point since there is now a whole generation of people who know LOOKOUT simply as that, and none of the different iterations that the space was before. But it was a long road to get to this point.