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The Man Behind Hollywood’s Most Exclusive Hotspots with Jeff Klein · Clyde Confidential

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome back to another episode of Clyde Confidential.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: It is Friday afternoon in Los Angeles, and I have
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: hotelier Jeff Klein joining me this afternoon, and I feel
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: so lucky that he's on.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Megan. I feel likely to be here.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited to chat. I feel like this chat
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: is actually very long overdue. We've never really sat down.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: But I'm a member of one of your clubs for
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: a couple of years now, actually, so I'm excited to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: learn about it.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Yes, excited to reveal myself.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Yes, where are you right now? Jeff? I must ask.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: I'm in my chef's office in Santa Monica because I've
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: had this crazy day and I wasn't able to make
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: it back to my own office. So you see clipboards
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: with orders of food expected and some chef uniforms on
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: the other side. So and there's a big sign do
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: not do not bother me jefly Well, I'm.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Home and hopefully my dogs aren't too disruptive, but there
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: in the background, so you'll you'll see both of them.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: I'm actually coming to your Santamonica location for dinner tonight,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: so maybe, yeah, maybe, we'll catch each other.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: I love that. Yes, yeah, cool.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I mean literally there every weekend, so it is. It
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: is the best. But okay, so you have a bunch
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: of properties across the world. Let's go through them all
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: for people who don't know who you are and you
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: know what you're all about. So in La you have
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: sense a Tower.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: I have the Sense of Tower. I also have Hotel
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: eight fifty and uh Sanma Sente Bungalows in West Hollywood,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Santa Sente, Santa Monica, and then in New York, I
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: have Sana Cente West Village, and uh that's pretty much it.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: I mean, when I bought a building in New York,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: there were all these youth hostel rooms in that building
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: that we still have. So I don't know if you
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: noticed you've been to New York, right.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Yes, I live between LA and New York. So I'm
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: also a member of the West Village.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: So I don't know if you've ever seen the euro Hostel.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: It's called the West Village euro Hostel. It's a separate entrance.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: It's actually in the building. So when I bought the
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: entire Jane Hotel, there were all these like permanent tenants
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: and small rooms which shared bathrooms that we created like
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: a separate entrance and separate elevator for and then we
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: have the club on the other side. So it's almost
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: like we put a wall through the center of the
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: building and created two separate businesses. So I also have
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: that youth hostel.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, how long had that been up and running? I'm
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: sure there's a legal thing that you were walking through
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: that when you were when you were building the West
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Village property. How did you do that?
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Well? So the building was I should really know. This
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: was built in I think nineteen oh eight. It was
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: created as a maritime hotel for sailors. In fact, when
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: the Titanic, they brought a lot of the survivors of
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: the Titanic to stay there. So it's a really interesting building.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: When I bought it, there was like all these hotel
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: rooms scattered all over the building, and a lot of
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: them had shared bathroom. All of them actually have shared bathrooms,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: and there's tiny rooms, which because they were really for
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: sailors and there all are some people that live in
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: those apartments on one floor. So I couldn't change it,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: is why I had to keep it the same. But
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: then I took back all the space I could and
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: turned it into club space. So if you had been
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: to the Jain Hotel before I bought it, people are like,
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: where's all this space? Well, it's former rooms that I
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: took out of service and added to club space, like
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: you know, I don't know, like the billiards room, for example,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: and that whole there's another dining room on the fifth four.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: We call it the tap room. That those were all
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: hotel rooms when I bought it. And there's a kitchen
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: on the fifth four which services the tap room and
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: also the roof above it, because the roof is on
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: the sixth floor.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: So you've done I mean, you've done such an incredible
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: job at that place. When I was in my twenties,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: I used to go to the Jane Hotel and dance
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: on the couches in the living room and stay out
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: too late with all my friends. So it's nice to
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: be back and feel a little bit more sophisticated in
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: my thirties. But I love still walking up the stairs
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: to go to SCB now and it feels like, you know,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: if I close my eyes, I'm almost going back to
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: the Jain with my friends. It's the same exact stairwells.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: So funny.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm now sitting in that same living room
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: having like a work dinner.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: It's just, you know, it's great. I love that one. Yeah,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: the woman who designed it rose in the I think
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: she did such a fantastic job.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, it's stunning. It's the best.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: You really did such a good job.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Thank you. I mean, I love all my children, the
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: all the clubs. I'm in Santa Monica right now. It's
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: like every time I walk in here, I have to
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: pinch myself because it's like I feel like I'm on
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: like the Italian coast every time I come here. I
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: don't know if you can get that vibe, yes, but
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: it's like I just think I'm on like the ca
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: It's so lovely. I mean, right now i'm in the
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: chef's office, it's not that lovely. But when I'm actually
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: chef office, and as far as chef's office goes, it
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: is actually really nice.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Okay, So with all of your properties and clubs, do
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: have a favorite one out of all of them?
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm oh my gosh, God, he's gonna kill me.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: I'm really not allowed to have a favorite but I
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: they're they're also different, which is like kind of part
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: of my business model that they're all very unique to
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: the space itself and to the location itself. But again
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: I would say Santa Monica just does this thing to me.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: But I mean all of them have a massive effect
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: on me. I mean, obviously they have to, like I
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: created them all, but there is something about Santa Monica
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: that I just find like really really kind of crazy special.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: I mean there, but New York does too, and West
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Hollywood man.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: That you know.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: I was at Lengthwood today and it's like remembering when
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: I bought that place, and O G yes so and
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: the sense of tower. I mean, I love them all,
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: but I would have to say, if by like a centimeter,
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: probably Santa Monica is.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: However, answer that, Okay, I wasn't expecting that, But I
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: was expecting you to say Sunset Tower or or Weho
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: because those ones are sort of staples.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: But those are definitely the ogs and fairness to both
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: of them. You know, It's kind of like you get
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: like the more you're with someone, the less you're like
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: into them. I mean, I've been with my husband twenty
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: two years and I still worship the groundy wox on,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: but like you know what I mean, it's like it
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: we're like. So maybe that's part of it. Because, like
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: some tower, I've now owned it for twenty two years,
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: so it's kind of crazy. You look like you're like
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: only twenty two years old. So maybe I bought it
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: when you were born.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: I'm not.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: I just am a very good dermatologist.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: I'm going to take that and run with it.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: So nice. Wow, Okay, Jeff Kine thinks I'm twenty two. Cool? Well, Jeff,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: you and I don't do very dissimilar things. I think
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: you and I are actually quite similar in our line
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: of work because what I do is I curate a
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: community as well, but on teams and I match make
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: people to be sort of business partners. And you also
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: curate a community in your membership clubs, and you're at
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: the same time interviewing people and getting to know their
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: personalities and seeing, okay with this person, mesh, well at
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: this club is this a fit for me? So I'm
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: curious what your process is like when you are a
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: trying to build that membership community and build your staff.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: What do you look for in each of those things?
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Well, it's really hard. I mean people think curating a
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: club is about, you know, picking famous people are powerful people,
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: but it's really actually more nuanced than that, and you're
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: really curating energy, behavior and chemistry. We try to build
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: a community with a balance of like ages, industries, personalities,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: and points of view. The goal is not saneness, it's
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: interesting overlap. So you want people who are curious and
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: engaged and respectful of the environment, and who contribute something
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: intangible to the atmosphere. A great club should feel socially effortless,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: and it's hard to do. I mean, you know, people
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: should feel comfortable having conversations with strangers and staying longer,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: and honestly, the hardest thing to do is to curate
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: the culture. But what I you know to that point
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: that that, you know, having everything from all walks of
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: life is really as important as possible. I always say
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: the greatest party is a wedding because it's three generations
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: and it's like all sorts of people from all different industries,
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: and I mean a good wedding. That can be a
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: bad wedding, but usually those are the most fun parties,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: and that's what we're really trying to curate. The greatest
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: dinner party every single day and night, you know. So
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: I think that's what it is, and it's not me.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Everybody's like, oh you you pick this. I'm like, I
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: don't pick anything. There's a committee, there's an actual process.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: People go through the applications, which is really fun and
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: really interesting.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: What is the interview process? Like, so I know that
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: everyone does still out an application and then it gets
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: taken up to the committee, and I guess there's a deliberation,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: but has it ever what's the voting process? Like I guess,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: and does it then get taken up A change to
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: you or do you trust your committee enough to make
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: those decisions on your behalf?
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: I trust, I really trust my committee, and so in
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: the beginning it did. I would try to get involved
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: and be like, oh I know this person, and I
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: no longer do that, and it's a little awkward, like
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: sometimes actually a friend friends of mine have not gotten
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: into the club, or even people I don't like do
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: get into it. But I really don't put my thumb
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: on the scale with the committee because they're doing a
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: lot of work and I trust them, and so I
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: want the processes it's really working well or doing a
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: good job and I always say, like, you know, maybe
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: there's two percent that they get wrong, but it's still
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: in a plus, and ninety eight is still an A plus.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: So I think they're doing the night plus.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: I think they do an excellent job, and I think
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: that in the in the era of members clubs in
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles and New York, I not only because I'm biased,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: but I do think that Samasinde does the most amazing
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: job at curating people. And I love being able to
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: go for dinner on the weekend and always get a
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: table and walk in and know all the staff and
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: not feel like I'm the oldest person at the restaurant
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: or at the bar, because I think of that as
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: I get older and I go back to New York,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of places that I've actually aged out of.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Going to your clubs doesn't make me feel that way,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: because I think that, unlike some other places, you guys
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: are really thoughtful about not letting younger too many younger
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: folks in and making sure that like there's different tiers
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: of memos. That's right.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're very purposeful about it, and you're absolutely right,
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: And thank you for saying that, because I think it
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: is important that everybody feels welcome, and that makes and
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: that means I'm doing my job correctly and everybody, you know,
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: so thank you.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah you are. And how do you select your membership team?
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Well, so there's a membership team that works for me,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: and then there's a committee that's really like your peers,
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: and they remain anonymous, and we basically, once again, really
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: try to pick people that represent all the people we want.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: So perhaps it's one woman who's in the music industry
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: and one guy who's more business like, and you know,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: another person who's I don't know, you know, I mean
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: in fashion, and you know, I mean Gabby, who's the
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: head of membership, who is really brilliant and incredible, was
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: a magazine editor. And I wish I could say I
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: was smart enough to have like foreseen that she was
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: going to be so brilliant at this, because of course
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: now I'm like, oh yeah, of course, Like she was
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: a magazine editor. She edited magazines. That's basically what she's
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: doing here in private clubs, of course, you know, But
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: I was just lucky. I just kind of was very
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: drawn to her as a person and as a mind
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: and her energy and I just knew she would do
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: really well, and she has exceeded my expectations.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, she is the most fabulous person on the planet.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: And I tried to get her to come on this
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: podcast and she's terrified, but maybe after.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: She listens, Yeah, well we could have done it together.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: That would have been really fun. Have you ever seen
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: that together? We're like an old married couple, like you
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: love it. No one can say to me like it's
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: like hilarious.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, you could not ask for a better right
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: arm she is. I mean I've known Gabby for years
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: because I met her when she was at Sunset Tower,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: and when I was working as an assistant, I would
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: always call an email to get my old Boston reservations
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: and Gabby and your team above and beyond all of
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: the time. And then one day I remember emailing and
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: someone wrote back and said, oh, she's actually not here anymore.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: She's at Sambacinay West Hollywood. So and that is how
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: I got into Samba Cinta West Hollywood. Yes, Gabby remembered
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: me from my assistant days, and I think I've been
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: a member now for four years. But it's the best.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's down the street from my house. I
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: work out of there with my team. I take every
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: single meeting in that poolhouse, and it's that one actually
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: is my favorite, I think, though I.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: Know I was going to amend a and say, actually
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: maybe we but it's so hard. It depends.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: It's so hard. I think during the week I'm a
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: weeho girl, and I'm there Monday to Friday, and then
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: on the weekend, since I'm the only person out of
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: my friend group who lives in West Hollywood, I go
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: to Monica.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: That's smart, that's good. That's actually a good way to
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: do it too, because it delineates between work and you
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: know weekend.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Yes, exactly the separation. But back to Gabby. So Gabby
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: was at all of your properties pretty much, so she
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: was at a sense of tower. How did you find
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: her originally?
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: So, I mean i've been actually was you know, I
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: did something that you really should never do. With one footnote,
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I would say I hired a friend. But when I
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: met her it was twenty two years ago. She was
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: the editor of w magazine and I just bought the hotel,
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: and I really wanted her to work for me there
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: and or with me there, I should say, and she
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: I tried really really hard, and actually she said yes
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: at one point and then she won like an award
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: for best magazine edit. At her there was like some
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: awards thing they did, and she's like, I just can't,
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: you know, and she retracted her acceptance and then we
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: I was kind of angry at her for a year
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: or two after that, and then we just became friendly.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: And then as that world changed and it was much
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: harder to work in that world, she was looking she
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: didn't know what her next chapter was going to be.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: And I said, you know, we originally met fifteen years
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: ago because I really wanted to work with you. That
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: still stands, what you know, And she said, well, i'd
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: love to. I've always been obsessed with hospitality. And I
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: said to her what I say to everybody, which is,
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: unfortunately you have to start like at the bottom. Like
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: there's there's no way in hospitality to just kind of
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: like come in and be start as like an owner
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: or something. So she worked under Dmitri for like two
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: years and she yeah, when you interview her, and hopefully
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: you do, I'm going to try to convince her. She
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: says it was the hardest of her life. She said,
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: because Dmitri I mean, we love Dmitri and I think
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: he's very exacting. I mean very yeah. So she you know,
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: it was tough for her and she but she figured
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: it out and she does a great job.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: So Demitri is actually your longest standing employee.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's there's some others that have been there just
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: because Demeter is there when we open. There's a couple
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: of them, like Max in the server in the Tower
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: Bar also was there at the opening, So there's a housekeeper.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: There's a couple. I think there's like four or five
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: that have been which is very rare in my industry,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: quite frankly, especially now.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Mine and mine.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm very proud of it. And you know,
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: I think we I think I'm proud of the cultures
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: that we create. It's an important part of the recipe,
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: I would say.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: I think so. And I mean to go to the
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Tower Bar for a meal and to walk in and
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Tomitri is the first person that I see and he,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: you know, gives me the double kiss, walks me to
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: my table. We chat for a second. That familiarity is
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: it's unbelievable. And he has I think he's actually like
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: the face of Sunset Tower, which you can't. You can't
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: pick a better person he is.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: I know, I completely agree. And you know, for a
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: while he and Gabby were flip flopped. Dmitri was at
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: sam Macine and Gabby was it time?
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Yes, I remember, and then he.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: Went back yeah. And then he went back.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Yes, and he didn't he come over to the New
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: York Club to train some folks.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: He still does. Yeah, I mean, Dmitri is such a
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: he's like a legend. I mean he's still He was
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: just in New York like two months ago for like
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: a refresh and he was there at the opening, and
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: he'll probably be back, you know, in a few months
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: I mean to up, he's the best. How did you
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: find him?
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, so Dimitri. So here's what happened when I
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: opened up the Tower Bar. I did like a friends
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: and family night where they came. You basically invite friends
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: to like as guinea pigs, and you're like, we're going
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: to screw up on you. It's free. Can you please
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: just come? And both Mix Glazer the producer and Tom
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: Ford were at I invited them both and they were
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: together that night and Tom called me over. This is
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: like a terrible story. I probably cann't say it. But
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: Tom called me over. At the time, you could say
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: things like this, let's just say Mix and Tom are
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: the same table. And Tom was like, he called me
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: over and he said, I love this place. It's the
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: only restaurant I go to in La But if you
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: if if I sit next to an ugly person again,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: I'm not coming back. This is like days of Devilwar's
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: Product one. Not too This is you know, savage, and
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: it was savage, and Mitch was like, you should hire Dmitri.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: He he'll help you with this, curate this or something.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, what does that
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: even mean? I am I an ugly person? I mean,
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: I'm like, you know, like doesn't mean ugly on the inside,
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: doesn't mean I know. I was like very like, you know,
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: and they're like, you need to understand how to see
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: the room. He was totally right, because at the time,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: believe it or not, the Tower Bar is the very
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: first restaurant I ever owned. My boss, who taught me
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: everything I know in the hotel business, never let us
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: open restaurants in his hotels because he hated the restaurant
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: business so much. He would make us lease out the restaurants.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: I can get to that later. But anyway, so I
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: had like hostesses and they were just seating everybody anywhere.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: So they'd see Tom Ford and somebody or mc glaser
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: next to somebody, and mix Clazer would be like, well,
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: why is you know, al Pacinos sitting on the other
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: side of the room. You should be sitting next to me,
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: I know, you know, And that's really part of the
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: art of seating in a restaurant like that. And so
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: we weren't doing that the first two or three weeks
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: until he got Dmitri and then he understood how to
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: really see the room.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: And what do you think it was about Dmitri that
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: he was able to sort of be your guide to
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: design the room. What struck you about Dmitri and what
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: kind of skills were crucial for Dmitri to have in
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: order to execute.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's interesting because Dmitri, so when they introduced
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: me to Dmitri, he really was like a relic of
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: the past, like nobody wanted to hire him. He represents
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: it's so hard to believe now. I mean, it's kind
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: of like the Sunset Tower itself. Nobody wanted to buy it.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: They were like, oh that place, like what is it?
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: And you know, everybody thought like having a major d
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: was just not cool. And I really was focused on
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: making the whole experience of the Sunse Tower feel like
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: an old Hollywood kind of you know, canteen, and I
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: knew that.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: That's exactly what it is. By the way, that is
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: that is the whole feeling when you walk in there,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: you put on a fancy outfit, you're if you're going
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: to eat at the Sunset Tower versus San Facente, Santa Monica.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: It is a different wardrobe.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Totally, totally, and it's very glamorous and very like old
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Hollywood and very you know, you just feel like, you know,
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Greta Garbo may step out from behind the curtain and
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: sit down.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: There's always someone fabulous eating there. I must say, it's true.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: It is true. And I knew that his act would work.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: And I also knew that he understood especially coming from
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Tom Ford and make Glazer. You know, I knew he
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: would understand stand Hollywood, which is very different today. But
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: the great thing about Dimitri and Gabby too, they both
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: are constantly educating themselves on who the players are, who
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: you know, you said you were an assistant. A lot
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: of people in my industry don't realize how important assistants
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: really are and take care of them, because, like I
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: will tell you, like I know so many assistants today
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: that you know that today are like running companies and
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: they were ten fifteen years ago. You know, Brian Lord's
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: assistant or Kevin Vaine's assistant, or you know now both
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: Brian and Kevin's assistance are like major players at CIA,
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: and you know, right, and so it's really important to
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: actually take care of the assistance and not piss them off,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: because they do, especially the good ones like you, they
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: becut not everybody remains an assistant forever, and a lot
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: of places forget that.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: I think, I think, I do think you are probably
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: one of the rare individuals who really understands that. I mean,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: everyone I grew up with as an assistant a couple
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: of years ago, they all now have these big boy
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: jobs and big girl jobs, and they will be the
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: ones running the studios and really the people in your
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: restaurant for the next couple of years, bringing in their
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: clients and making the calls and the shops. So I
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: think it's you always have to be kind to.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Assistant totally, totally, totally I agree one percent. Yeah, and
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: you know it also, it's also human decency, like even
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: if they didn't become important, it's just nice to be
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: nice to be.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think, of course, yeah that I.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Mean, I hate to sound like such a crystal wearing
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's because I'm in Santa Monica. I'm really feeling
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: the vibes. But it is true. Energy is reflected and mirrored,
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: you know, so it is.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you a story. I had a friend
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: on this podcast, Jake Fleischmann, a couple months ago, and
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: one of his core memories from being an assistant is
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: when you upgraded his room at the Sunset Tower Hotel
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: on one of his first trips to La and that
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: stuck with him and he remembers that, and that is
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: he will never forget how kind you were to do
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: when he was not a manager yet and now he's
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: a manager. And to your point, it doesn't matter if
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: you know if they're going to be successful or not,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: but that human decency and the kindness and the fact
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: that you were the owner of the hotel and you
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: upgraded his room personally with a handwritten note. That's something
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: that just sticks with people. It's so important.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: Well, I love that podcast, which I love all your podcasts,
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: but I really loved that one. And I remember listening
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: to that. I had such a big smile on my
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: face when he said that, because again, it's just meant
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: that I'm doing my job correctly or I let's say
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: I'm not doing it badly, you know, because I do
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: think it's important and I think being in a hands
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: on owner goes a long way. There's just like Italian
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: saying the garden of an owner grows better under the
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: or a garden grows better under the shadow of an
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: owner or something and I and you know really is
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: referring to business as well or anything in life, like
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: if you're if you own something, it's like you have
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: that love and care that you give. And I write
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: personal notes still to this day. Every morning I wake up,
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: I go through all the arrivals since tower. Every single
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: day I could be on vacation. I did it in
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: South Africa over Christmas. I did it in Europe. I
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: mean wherever I am. Every single day I go through
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: the arrivals and it's the same with all three clubs.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: I'm looking at you know, who's coming in, who's you
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: know I do after they get accepted, look at through
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: the applications who's joining. I want to see. I want
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: to know, you know, I want to introduce myself to
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: people when they come into the club.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: I think it's so important and you actually or I
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: can't actually name any other owners who do that. And
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: whenever I'm at one of your clubs, I always seem
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: to run into you. But you're also a face of
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: the club. You're walking around, you're saying hi to people,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: you're shaking hands. You're so involved, and a lot of
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: people would not be as involved or on location. I mean,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: you're literally taking this interview from the chef's office. You
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: really care about what you've created, and you're still in it.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: A lot of people would just hang up the towel,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: thank you.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well I can't. I mean, I you know, my
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: background is operations, so I can't let go of it.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: As a part of the gift and the curse, I
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: would say.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what has been your favorite part about building these
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: membership clubs and restaurants and hotels.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: That's such a great question. I mean I love that
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: actual building of them, designing them, is really fun programming them,
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: you know, finding them is really fun, staffing them, you know,
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: really creating the whole vibe, the creative process of imagining
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: how people are going to feel in a space before
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: it even exists. To me, like magic, it's just worth
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: a billion dollar. I'd rather that than if somebody said,
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: here's a billion dollars, or you can create a club
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: that or a hotel or a space that you know
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: really speaks to you. I'd picked the club over the
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: billion dollars. I love thinking about the psychology of the rooms,
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: the lighting, the music, the flow, where people naturally gather,
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: where conversations are going to happen, you know, where someone
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: might unexpectedly meet a future husband or wife or boyfriend
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: or girlfriend or whatever.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, I would love to be able to say that,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: so jury still out.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: And then once it opens, I love watching the behavior,
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: you know, I mean, I'm obsessive about these details that
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: shape these emotions. And then I love watching how it
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: works once it's open and what people gravitate towards naturally.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: And you know, the clubs are always evolving, kind of
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: like real life. And I don't know if you've noticed,
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: like even in Santa Monica, for example. There's so many
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: things that like were changed, constantly changing, and these are
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: expensive changes. I mean New York I talked about that
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: fifth for restaurant that was a co working space for
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: the first two months.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: I remember I worked out of it many.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: Times and I was like, it's just not working. It's
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: just not vibing, it's not feeling. It felt almost like
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: it was separate. Like and I created this rest you know,
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: this dining room that people just love and they can
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: work out of it during the day. So it's not
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: like I. And there's other spaces that can work out of.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: But most people, most operators would be like, I'm not
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: going to now spend millions of more do I mean,
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: by the way, in New York, I was like, already
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: millions of dollars over budget. I'm probably not the smartest
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: financial you know. I mean, I don't know, maybe I
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: am in the end, because I do think it all pays.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Off eventually, but it absolutely does.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: I really care so much about the experience that I'm
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: willing to, you know, just go deeper into a hole,
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: a financial hole, to make it perfect.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think the New York Club is spectacular,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: and I remember I was so impressed coming back after
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: a couple months in LA and seeing that taproom just
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: spring up. It was so I feel like you did
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: that in five minutes. That was insane.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: Well, we did it over the summer, which is a
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: slow period in New York City because everybody's like in
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: the Hampton's and Nantucket and excuse me wherever eure ue.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: You know, they all kind of like fully the city.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: But because it does get awfully hot, it's not like LA,
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: where like summer people stick around for.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Somewhere, So people do stick around here.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: Yes, but I did it over the summer, and I
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: had everything lined up, which was important. In fact, this summer,
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: I have a couple of surprises in New York that
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: you're going to be excited about when you come back
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: in the fall.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, very well, I'm actually probably the small percentage of
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: LA folks who goes to New York for the summer.
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: So I'll be back Santa Monica. I mean, like even
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: like Sa Sana West, Sana, Coniti West Hollywood. Now I
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: would say it's perfect, but I was constantly I am
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: constantly tweaking little Actually that's not true. I might be
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: changing one thing pretty significantly one room, but like the
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: bar used to be a blue we would call it
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: the Blue Bar. And then we got Grace Coddington to
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: come and paint murals on the walls and completely change
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: all the furniture in there because the Blue Bar just
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: felt too cold. And I love that room in Sana.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: I love that room too. It's so magic.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: I always tell my friends, I say, if I ever
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: make it in this life, I want a bar in
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: my house with that exact hand painted wallpaper on it,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: and instead of the little cats will have my dogs.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: But that it reminds me of if the Carlisle had
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: a baby with I don't know. Something is giving a
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: lot of New York and I think, and I think
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: as a New Yorker, going to have a drink at
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: the Blue Bar makes me feel like I'm at home.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: So I love that, and that's exactly what we were
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: going for, and it does, and then it works like
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: next week you're going to see we're doing some stuff
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: in Santa Monica. That's super cool. That's changing the dining
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: room a little bit, and we're also changing the roof.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: You know, after being opened for a year, you start
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: realizing mistake like flow is really important and little things
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: that you can never know until people start using the spaces.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: And I think, you know, one of the mistakes other
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: operators and owners make is like they build it and
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: if it's not perfect, like Okay, it didn't work out,
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: I'm like, no, no, tear it out, redo it until
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: it's perfect.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm so curious to see what you're going to do.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, I really can't think of any notes I
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: have for your jobs. I think they're they're spectacular. And
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: I remember when Santa Monica opened, I was part of
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: the crew in the first couple of weeks that would
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: go and eat a free meal and fill out a
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: report card and give feedback. But I never had any feedback.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: It was I mean, wow, I really I think it's
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: you're too generous. I feel like I'm not. In the beginning,
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: Pantamonica had some issues.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: No, well, I think every every members club, or every
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: restaurant or every hotel has kinks that they need to
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: work out in the beginning. And that's just that's the
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: that happens everywhere. That's not you know, anate to to
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: your club.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: So thank you for understanding that. But of course, honestly,
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: a lot of people expect things to just be perfect,
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: and it's hard.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, you have to know. But I'm curious, Jeff, So,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: before you started building out Santacente and obviously Sunset Tower,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: what were you doing and what inspired you to go
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: down this path in hospitality.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: I always knew this was what I wanted to do
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: with my life. I never knew I was going to
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: own stuff. I started as a bellman. I graduated from college,
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: I had to get a job. I became a bellman.
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: I worked for this guy, Bernard Goldberg, who became my mentor,
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: ended up teaching me everything I really know. He's the
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: one who wouldn't let us open our own restaurants in
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: his hotels, and he was one of the pioneers of
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: the boutique hotel industry. There was really him, Ian Schrager
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: and this guy Bill Kimpton out of northern California. No
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: one else was doing small boutique hotels. And I worked
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: my way up from bellman and I became a front
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: desk manager and the housekeeping manager, and then I was
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: in sales and marketing, and then I became a general manager.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: And then I you know, kind of was like mister
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: Goldberg's like right hand, I would say, And he sold
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: his company and me and my other boss who was
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: like his CEO, and this other guy, we opened up
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: our own hotel in two thousand and one in New
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: York City on forty fourth Street, and that was the
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: first hotel that I ever owned. Again. We leased out
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: the restaurant and then I bought the Sense of Tower
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: in two thousand and four. They couldn't give it away.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: They kept on lowering the price. Nobody wanted it, nobody
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: had a vision for it. They at the time, it
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: was all about being trendy in hotels, like the mandri
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: On was the coolest hotel on earth, which was so
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: funny now because Mandrion like can't like Hilton just took
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: it over purely, and so you know, they said. Everybody
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: was like, you got to paint it white and put
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: a DJ in the lobby. And I was like, no, no, no,
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: this is going to be like this old It's going
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: to be like a West Coast version of the Carlisle
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: bit younger, and you know, and they're like, that's so dumb.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: No one in la is sophisticated. And I mean, but
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: I was. I'm glad that I stuck with my vision
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: because it really did work. And then I bought the Samacente,
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: and that was also something that nobody wanted. You know,
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: I have to kind of find these spaces that nobody
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: wants because I can't, you know, when you're looking at
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: hotels unless they're really distressed. And usually when they're stressed,
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: it's for a reason. You're competing with like Katari shakes
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: and stuff. And you know, there's a lot of trophy
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: buyers in my world. So I can't compete with them
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: because it's really hard. I need to make money. I mean,
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: I have investors to pay, I have employees to pay,
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: you know, bank loans today, and so I need to
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: find value where no one else can find it. And
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: so part of that is seeing what no one else
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: can see. So when I bought the Sanma Sente West Hollywood,
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: it was a gay bath house. Trust me, there was
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: not one cute guy. If there were, I probably would
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: have just kept it what it was. It was like
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: it was. It was really grim. It was really like
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: a drug place, really grim.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah good, I'm sorry.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: And there was no trees or green or flowers. It
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: was just like a concrete courtyard and all those bungalows
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: which were really dilapidated, and so I brought all those
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: trees in there, most of them are over one hundred
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: years old, planted all those flowers everything, so I, you know,
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: I had you have to have a vision. The same
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: with Santa Monica. You know, Monica was a law office before.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: I was trying to remember what was there before and
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: I couldn't.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: I mean nothing, it was a law office. It was
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: you know, it was like really weird, cheap kind of
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: like those what are those It's like a wall that
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: doesn't go to the ceiling, but you have like like
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: so you can fit like thousands of people, you know. Yep.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: But it had a gorgeous view of the ocean, which
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: is ironically so rare in La so weird that we
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: live on the Pacific Ocean and yet there's no real experiences,
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: hospitality experiences on the ocean.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: The only time I look at the ocean and enjoy
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: the ocean in La is if I'm having dinner at SCB.
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: I love it. And the same with New York. You know,
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: New York. I bought it during COVID. The owner, especially
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: during COVID, was like I don't hear. You know, they
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: owned lots of hotels, Sean McPherson, Richard Bourne, and Rucker,
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: and they were like, we don't know what to do
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: with this one because it's shared bathrooms and COVID no
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: one wants to share bathroom and such tight quarters. And
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: I was like, I'll take it, and I mean, it's
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: a great location, is a great building, and it's historically
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: protected architecturally, which I love. If you look at all
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: my projects, they tend to have that Santa Monica doesn't
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: because it's you know, it's just Santa Monica is such
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: a new city, But the rest of them do have
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: historic protections, which I love, and so I have to
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: really find these kind of like jewels and understand how
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: to polish them to make them shiny and amazing.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: Well, it's been doing a fantastic job. And I think
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: having started off your career as a bellman and then
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: working even in the housekeeping department and shadowing this huge
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: hotelia at the time, you really did see every sector
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: of the business and you spent time with people at
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: all levels, and that is why you are so good
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: at your job.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Oh my god, you and my mom are
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: the only ones. I really feel that so strongly, but
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: thank you. No.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: I think everyone across all industries, you have to start
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: at the bottom. I think if you want to work
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: in a people facing business, you have to go start
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: at the bottom. Be a bellman, Go work in a restaurant,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: Go work in a hotel, Go babysit, go learn people,
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: and go learn hard work. And that's those are the
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: only areas you're going to really learn it in.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: And also it's important to see what doesn't work. It's
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: like that's almost as important as what's seeing what does
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: work so that you can learn to avoid those mistakes.
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: And of course we still make mistakes because there's always
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: new stuff to screw up, but I think it's really important,
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: So I agree it's crucial.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I want to ask, so, what are some
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: green flags for employees versus red flags for employees? If
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: you are hiring someone to come work with you.
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: That's really hard green flags versus red flags. I mean,
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: the employee thing is really tough, and it's only gotten tougher.
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: The biggest green flag for me is emotional intelligent intelligence.
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: You know, you can teach technical skills, but it's much
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: harder to teach instinct and warmth, self awareness, how to
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: read a room. Great hospitality people notice things before they're told,
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: and they anticipate needs, and they stay calm under pressure
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: and genuinely care about the guest experience without making it
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: feel performative, which is why Gabby is so successful in
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: this industry. I also love people who are naturally curious
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: and observant. Hospitality is really about paying attention. And you know,
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: the biggest red flags are entitlement. I mean that's a
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: huge one, something that we deal with a lot today.
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: And that can be true for an employee or a member,
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: a member feeling really entitled.
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, anybody. Yeah. Absolutely, defensiveness ego, you know, gossip
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: about their last job when you're interviewing somebody is always
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: a red flag. People who blame everyone else for other things,
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: you know, as a good red flag. I am a
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: big kind of accountability person. I don't think there's anything
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: wrong with making a mistakes, but I'd like to own them.
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: Another red flag is when you know someone treats certain
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: people better than others, Like we were talking about with
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: assistance based on status. I think that's kind of not
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: a good sign of someone, you know, but real hospitality
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: should feel gracious and consistent with everyone.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, and I think that also can be
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: true across the board. You know, I think when anyone
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: is interviewing someone on their team, they of course want
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: them to feel like they want to be there. There's
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: no ego. They aren't gossiping about who just is, who's
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: just left the restaurant, who's coming in tonight because a celebrity.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: You know, that's obviously very important. Yeah, it's I think
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: it's universal. What about for members? So when someone is
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: applying to be a member, I guess who is the
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: ideal member candidate?
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: To you? I mean that's tough, because you know, we
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: want such diversity with the memberships. I mean it's not
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: it's definitely not necessarily the richest or the most famous
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: or the most powerful person room. It's it's really again,
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: it's someone who contributes positively to the energy. You know,
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: I think we look for interesting people, curious, respectful, socially
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: aware people who understand how to exist in a shared environment.
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, I think kindness and emotional intent,
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: emotional like intention and intelligence really matter a lot for
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: a member application. The You know, it's nice to you
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: have to be nominated by an existing member. So usually
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: we do get to meet a lot of the members
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: who are applying, and the membership team will write notes
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: about the people they meet, so like, if they're gracious
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: to staff, that says a lot, or if they're rude
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: to staff, that says a lot. We don't want people
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: there that are route to our team, you know.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: Biggest red flag. Oh my gosh, biggest red flag in
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: the entire world. I think that's yeah, that's a big
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: no no for me.
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: But I mean, I think a great club should really
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: feel like a living ecosystem, you know, not a monoculture.
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: So it's like, we really want a mix of people,
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: different industries, different ages, different perspectives.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: So okay, So and now I definitely understand the membership
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: process better. And I really think that you and all
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: of your employees do such a good job at making
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: everyone feel welcome and curating a room full of people
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: who are complete strangers. But somehow you just make it work.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, I remember I was at the West Village
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: location last summer working and it was before or maybe
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: it was last prying. It was pre tap room being
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: turned into the tap room. When it was still a
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: co working space, and I was sitting at a table
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: right next to this guy Angelo, Justanto, who I'm sure
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: you know, and he overheard me talking about my job
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: and then he slithered over and said, I think we
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: could work together. I'm a travel agent and now I
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: send him a ton of clients. He's my own personal
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: travel agent. We are friends all because of your club.
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: Yes, I love that.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: It was a very lovely meet cute story about samasonte
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: West Village.
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: So that's great.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: I have you to thank for Angelo.
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: He's wonderful. He is really great.
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: Yes, but no, I think you guys are crushing it
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: and I feel very privileged to be a member and
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: keep doing exactly what you're doing.
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: Of course, what do you think sets your clubs apart
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: from the rest? So I mean I'm biased again, so
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: I love them all, But what do you think it
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: is personally that sets it apart from the rest of
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: the clubs out there? Because there's so many membership clubs
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: now in New York and Los Angeles.
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, we just we don't want to
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: be the biggest or the hottest club company. When I
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: say biggest, like most clubs. We want to be the
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: best and in select cities, and this means growing carefully,
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: and so I'm very We're very careful. We know who
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: our customer is, and we only want to open in
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: places that they're going to be and we only want
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: to deliver a product that they're going to really appreciate.
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: And when I say product, I mean like the physical space.
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: It's the location, the design, the menu, the level of service.
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: To me, I always love saying this. I'm obsessed with ames.
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: There's a really a really good podcast on amez if
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: you ever want to listen to it, but they air
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: mez is like this inspiration to me because they really
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: protect quality and scarcity instead of casing scale and hotness.
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: And I like to say to my team members all
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: the time, I'm always like, we do the same thing
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: with our membership and expansion, and this creates a very
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: different business. It's more permanent and a more discerning members,
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: a more discerning you know, base of members, higher retention,
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: and a lot of clubs you know, are really about
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: access or volume or status signaling. For me, the real
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: luxury is privacy and trust and inacy and curation. And
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: you know, we're just really careful about all these things,
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: and I think that's probably what separates us most importantly.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: We protect the culture aggressively, and that's why the clubs
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: feel different.
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And Gabby's monthly newsletter reminds everyone that if you
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: step out of line, you're out of here.
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: The rules are important. She loves following rules.
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's also what sets it apart. Right,
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: You guys actually care to the extent of, Hey, we
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: take this really seriously. And if you come to my
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: club and you take a photo of another guest dining,
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: or misbehave or do something that's really disrespectful, you're out
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: of here. And a lot of clubs, I think don't
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: take it as seriously, and I really respect the fact
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: that you do.
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: I agree, I absolutely agree with that. And you know,
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: privacy is part of what sets us apart. And so
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: if we're not enforcing it, like, how could it work
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: for the brand? So it's important to enforce and you know,
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: but the rules are important just in general. I mean,
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: you know, it's not just about taking photos or leaving
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: your guests unattended. That's another big no no. And you know,
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: every morning we get these reports and it's like if
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: people violate some of these rules, some of them are
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: just warnings. It depends what the rule is. I mean,
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: if you know, somebody answered their phone at the table
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: and then walked outside to take the call, we're not
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: going to like suspend them, but we would send a warning,
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: you know, just want to remind you. But if somebody
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: took a video of or a photo at the table,
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: we will absolutely supend them. We don't care who they are.
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: They can be, you know, the most famous person in
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: the world, but they still have to follow the rules.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: Everyone asked all the rules. Yeah, besides Dimitri and Gabby,
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: do you have an assistant who helps you stay organized
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: so you can organized for everyone else and be.
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: Jeff Klein, Well, I do have an assistant, and I
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: probably couldn't find and we're without her at this point.
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: You know, she's What makes a great assistant isn't just organization.
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: It's like judgment and discretion and calmness under pressure, and
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: she's really great at that. I also have a CEO
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: of this guy, Jess Wilner, who's wonderful and he's really
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: great for me. We make a great team. I would say,
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: I think one of the most important things as a
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: founder is recognizing what you're good at and what you're
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: not good at. And I'm very creative and instinctive and
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: obsessive about experience, culture, design, atmosphere, all these things and
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: the emotional side of hospitality. But to build something real
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: and lasting, you also need operational rigor and systems and
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: structure and execution. And Jess, I really love working with him.
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: We really are a wonderful team, and I think the
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: healthiest partnerships are, you know, when there's mutual respect and
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: complementary strength, and we have that. Hospitality at this level,
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: it's just incredibly complex behind the scenes, and so having
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: a strong leadership around operations, communication and execution is critical.
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: And so I'm really lucky to have him. I really
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: really am fantastic. Yeah, I mean I feel really lucky
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: with like almost every ninety seven percent of everybody that
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: I work with. I'm really really lucky.
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: It's absolutely still.
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: I would be lying ifout it was like everybody's perfect,
• 51:46
  Speaker 2: because they're not, but ninety But you know, I always say,
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: like sometimes people are like, god, you know, this is tough,
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: and I'm like, yeah, Harvard's tough, but it's one of
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: the best schools. You know, if you want to work here, like,
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: it's not going to be like a walk in the
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: park where we if you know, somebody has to wait
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: too long for their drink, We're going to get upset.
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: Like that's not okay, that's not who we are as
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: a company. And you know, if if something isn't right,
• 52:12
  Speaker 2: if a sofa has a stain on it, like that's
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: somebody's responsibility and it's important.
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you really do care so much. I mean from
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: the couch stain to the drink time, to knowing people's
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: faces and saying hello and writing notes. I'm very impressed
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: chefs line thank you. So what advice would you give
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: someone who is, let's say, in their twenties figuring out
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: their life, maybe wants to grow up and become a
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: Jeff client, own a restaurant group, or own a hotel
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: group one day, or a members club.
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: I'd say, develop real taste and real conviction, and don't
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: just chase trends or copy other people and what's working today,
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: because everything that's working today, I promise you will not
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: be working tomorrow. And you know, the people who build
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: lasting brands usually have a very clear point of view
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: and the patience to stick with it, and details matter
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: more than you think, and tiny things compound, and the
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: way you answer emails, how you treat staff, how consistent
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: you are, whether people you know trust your standards. All
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: that becomes your reputation over time. And you know, these
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: are very important things. And finally, I would say, don't
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: confuse attention with success. A lot of things become popular
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: very quickly and disappear just as fast, and longevity is
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: much harder and much more valuable. And you know, we're
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: not trying to be the biggest, We're just trying to
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: be the best. And a lot of clubs, you know,
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: can't say that we're obsessive about atmosphere, every detail, lighting,
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: all this stuff. But most importantly, we protect, you know,
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: the culture. And I that's my advice to someone coming
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: in this business. You know, protect the culture aggressively. And
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: that's why the clubs feel different.
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: I think that's so important. I mean, you guys really
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: do such a good job at starting with the people
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: and making sure that everyone has the same cares about
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: the same things, and is aligned. And you crate amazing rooms.
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: And I do think that your clubs will be around forever.
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: I think SUV is gonna be is going to be
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: the last one standing. Honestly, I think it is fantastic.
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: It is my favorite. If anyone listening is curious about joining,
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: couldn't recommend more. Seriously, it is my own way from home.
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: I love that. I love that. Thank you. It really
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: means a lot to me. It's like music. Man, I
• 54:47
  Speaker 2: can't tell you, I never can get sick of hearing
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: Matt No.
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: I actually think I'm a Sanpa Sine poster child because
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: I use it for everything, my meetings, my work, dinners
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: and friends and family. It's whenever someone comes into town,
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: whether that's New York or LA, always bring them there.
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: And the SUV role is my favorite thing in the.
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: World, in the world, and you're using it exactly how
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: it was created to use. I mean, it's really supposed
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: to be a second home. And that makes me so happy.
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I don't have an office, so to
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: be able to go there as as a young entrepreneur,
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: to go to your club and to feel, oh my gosh,
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: I have the most luxurious office in the world.
• 55:30
  Speaker 2: That's great. That's great. Yeah, that's great.
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: So thank you, thank you.
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: I'm so much I'll see you in Santa Monica tonight.
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: Yes you will. Well, thank you so much, Jeff Klin.
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: I feel it is a total privilege, and I just
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: think the world of you and what you've built.
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: Is incredible and it's very reciprocal. I'm very at everything
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: that you've created and built and your podcast is wonderful
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: and really honored to be hon it.
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: So thank you, thank you. All right, Well, I'll see
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: you later.
• 55:59
  Speaker 2: Thanks you alright, dok soon Bye.