Milestones

Grand indeed

My love and gratitude to the attendees of our grand opening party last Saturday.  We counted over a hundred people—many friends, neighbors, and colleagues—each of whom has played a role in making LG possible.  My thanks to Javier Manrique for his artwork and Phil Deal for his “sonic wallpaper”; we are fortunate to have such talented, mature artists supporting our young business.  Javier’s work will remain on display through the fall.

Thanks again to those mentioned in my speech—Tami’s sister Heather, for flying from Manhattan to help; Sara Guren, Bow Beeman, and Aparna Bole, old friends who made the trip from Cleveland; Dave Berry, our skillful real estate agent; Norman and Floriana Petersen, the landlords who took a risk with us; Abraham Zavala, our genius architect; Alberto Gonzolez, the reason our building is in such good shape; Pacific Automotive Company, for their parts and also for granting our first credit account; Golden Gate Petroleum, supplier of “green” oil, fuels, and solvents; Evergreen Environmental, our waste management provider, for their commitment to recycling; Barry Zupan of K&L Automotive for his patience and attention; Mike Argo, who sold us most of our second-hand equipment; Richochet Consignment, for our second-hand furniture; craigslist, our source for plants, furniture, electronics, and everything else we’ve collected second-hand; Murat Wahab, our fabulous banker at Wells Fargo Haight St (the first bank in SF to be recognized as a green business); Jean Nelsen, our capable accountant; Maria Do Céu, my mentor and former boss from Out West Garage; Jack Rosebro of Perfect Sky Hybrid Training, for his technical expertise, general advise at all hours, and consulting on sustainability; Paul Cowden of Cowden’s Automotive and Pat Cadam of Pat’s Garage for their advise; Cobra Creative, our total source for web and brand work; Chuck Sanger, designer of our first poster; the San Francisco Electric Vehicle Association for allowing us to host their meetings; Calcars’ Felix, Randy, and Ron for their enthusiasm and allowing us to host their most recent conversion; Cindy Choi of OEMTek and Rob Protheroe of Plug-in Supply for working towards our goal to have a plug-in kit available by the first of the year; SF Green Cab for choosing us for their fleet account; Dane Golden for his recent article for Wired.com; Jamie Lynch of KGO for the recent interview; The Heather Gold Show, for choosing us as their latest venue; and last, my dear Tami for her passion, creativity, and love.

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GRAND OPENING PARTY!

Who: Me, You, and Everyone We Know

What: Luscious Garage **GRAND OPENING PARTY**

When: Saturday, September 15th, 6-10pm

Where: Where else?  459 Clementina, San Francisco

Drinks, snacks, and happiness provided.

Back in the spring, before we had a space (or knew we would ever find one), I came across a commercial unit on Howard St—ground floor, cross street Seventh (I believe) right next to a gas station.  It was a little big (6000 sf) and correspondingly expensive, but it was recently remodeled and clean, and it had neat skylights along the back wall.  I thought, of all the property thus far, this is the best.  This is doable. 

I did a lot of driving during that period (I’m sorry to admit), putting five thousand miles on a brand new Prius in the span of a few months.  Half of those miles were spent cruising the streets of SOMA, trying to go as slowly as possible without eliciting honks (I find that it’s easy to pass as well-meaning but distracted in a Prius) while simultaneously manifesting “For Rent” signs.  I called on so many signs—repeatedly, I’m sure, as I would forget who I’d already contacted—that I think I spoke to every commercial agent in the city. “Oh yeah, you’re the one with the hybrid shop,” was a common response.

Anyway, I watched the space on Howard lay vacant for a week or two, and then BAM!—it was full of furniture with a huge, flourescent banner out front, announcing “GRAND OPENING!”

I thought, “now that’s a quick turnaround.”

Luscious Garage has not emerged so quickly.  We signed the lease on May 10th, after much nail-biting over our landlords (strangers at the time) and then the city planning department. Destruction preceded construction, followed by equipment decisions, coordination, and purchases.  Contractors, inspectors, accounts, meetings, paperwork, sleepless nights.  Let’s just say that auto service is not furniture.

The greatest news is that we have completed the start-up process.  We secured our permits in early August and have been tidying up the details—on the website and on Clementina—over the last couple weeks.  While there remains a great deal to do, we are ready for our customers and the public beyond. 

All of this leads me, with great pleasure, to host our own grand opening party.  There may not be a banner, but the emotional state is flourescent for sure.  The Evite is out but everyone is welcome.  You too reader!  Luscious Garage lives, and it’s time to celebrate!

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A Luscious Sign

Our sign went up today.  It looks great—thanks to Cobra Creative, for the logo, and Barber Sign, for the shingle—but it feels even better.  So much has been accomplished, and the time is right to make our project public.  Hello Clementina; hello world.

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You’ve Come Along Way, Baby

I spent the day installing telephone wire. It turned out quite well, actually. There’s incredible satisfaction in taming the wiry, four-headed beast of internet, phone, cable, and security system. (Whip-crack! Whip-crack!)

Enjoy it, because few aspects of starting a business conclude this nicely. As I write, in fact, our building permit remains open. I do love the City of San Francisco. I really do. And I appreciate that the bureaucracy is needed to ensure all of our safety. I just wish I hadn’t told everyone we’d be open for business a week ago.

The launch of LusciousGarage.com, and with it this entry, is a very real accomplishment worth its own recognition. Brick and mortar will touch a few thousand in due time. But the website promises a far greater reach and depth. To advocate automotive innovation, to research and document its progress (and fate), to model the educated, cutting-edge, environmentally-conscious service provider—these have been dreams of mine for some time.

We are very close to ready. The picture was taken over a month ago; the chaos is mostly mental now. Not insanity, just a crush of details. Telephone wires? Shouldn’t I delegate this? But there’s no time to find someone! (I admit, I’m an only child; I insist on doing everything myself.)

Pretty soon the details will be sorted, the sign will be up, the permit will be framed on the wall, and these anticipatory memos will be the clearest recollection I’ll have of the time when all these things weren’t taken for granted.

Carolyn! This is yourself speaking however long ago… You’ve come a long way, baby. Keep going!

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