2min chapter

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EP # 126 | Freestyle Episode

Just Thinking Podcast

CHAPTER

Observations on the Chaos in the Black Church

The hosts discuss their recent moves and the chaos they observe in the black church, including a tweet that one of them had put out.

00:00
Speaker 1
Maybe it's because I was sort of naive or blind, but I always had confidence that people were going to come and enjoy the place. If I just got them to enjoy the place, they'll end up shopping and dining. It was never about, am I getting them into the store? I wanted to get them to the front door. And then the store is going to convert them inside, right? And I don't know. It's been an incredible journey. I can't explain it. I don't have a set of rules necessarily. I have thoughts about how to do it, looking back, you fill in the blanks. But God, I was really just blessed with telling the people around me. What was
Speaker 3
that? That inspired me.
Speaker 1
I mean, Walt Disney inspired me. No doubt. He inspired me on operations. You go to Disneyland, it's so operationally nice. It's clean, it's pristine, the landscaping, all the little details. The fact that he designed all the buildings, I think it's in 7-8th scale. So the buildings are not full size. They sort of look full size, but they're a little smaller to get more storefronts lined up, to get a rhythm and a pace as you're walking along, which I thought was cool. And like I mentioned, we hired a gentleman that was retired, George McGinnis, who was the last imagineer actually hired by Walt Disney. That's pretty cool. To do the trolley. That's really cool. It was an amazing experience.
Speaker 2
But I mean, the trolley alone must have cost a fortune. The Bellagio style water fountain experience must have cost. I mean, over Christmas, there's like a Santa Claus with snow coming out. It's like this holy
Speaker 3
thing must have cost so much more. It did.
Speaker 2
How did you...
Speaker 1
My ran numbers. Yeah, yeah. I was just... When I ran numbers, there were a lot of assumptions. Right, right, right. But again, think about it this way too. And we do build something that's more expensive than your typical mala or whatnot. What I wasn't building is a roof. Instead of a roof, I'm putting in lawn. What I wasn't building are escalators. Instead of escalators, I was putting in fountains. I wasn't putting in air conditioning, in big common space. I was putting in a train.
Speaker 2
Interesting. Right. It's all outdoors.
Speaker 1
Right. The outdoor nature of it was driven by the fact that human nature, we want to be outside. It's unnatural for us to always be inside. Right. Right. So why force somebody inside a box to go shop? Let's enjoy the outdoors. And people say, well, you can do that in Southern California. You can't do it anywhere else. It's just not true.
Speaker 2
In Columbus, Ohio, we were just talking about this. It's the Chinese and town center that has an outdoor experience. They've done a good job where it's half indoor, half outdoor. So when the cold months, you can do it indoors. What was the big first financial success that you had? Was there a business deal you did? Was there a building that was like, okay, now I'm not just having this little duplex with some flowers outside, but oh, this is a thing that I can build. What was
Speaker 1
that? It was an evolution. But I think where I knew it was going to really work was the project I did in Encino at the corner of Ventura and Havenhurst. It was a relatively modest outdoor shopping center. There was a supermarket, stores, there was a barns and noble there. It became very much of a community center ground, a little bit bigger common area, not a lot. Is this pre-growth? Oh, yeah, this is pre-growth. This was number two. It was the second thing I built. And a lot of different pieces came together. And I knew there was a formula here that I could build off of and ramp up. But listen, it's sort of an evolution. And you fast forward to Miramar and I've never built a hotel. And what the
Speaker 5
hell am I doing building a hotel? I hear it's amazing how you can check
Speaker 1
it out. It's, my team did an incredible job. And we were right on the beach in Montecito. And we had a railroad running through it. That's right. That's that hotel that goes through that one? Oh my gosh. Because there's a train that goes up the beach. Through the actual hotel. No, it's running down the middle
Speaker 3
of the grounds. That's crazy. It was crazy.
Speaker 1
It was like the craziest thing in the world. And my dad at the time, who was alive at the time, who was my dear friend, I loved him. And he wasn't involved in my business. But he said, Rick, you're nuts. How are you going to build a five-star hotel with a train running down
Speaker 2
the road? How loud it is and all those things. Yeah.
Speaker 1
How did you do that? I have a rule. Every piece of property has an issue. You can either isolate the issue or celebrate the issue. I chose to celebrate it. And so we designed it where that train now, as it runs, there's a great outdoor bar. You look in one direction, you're on the ocean, the other direction you're looking at the mountains. As the train is coming along at the same exact grade that you're sitting there, nobody ever sits along
Speaker 2
a train. Right. So
Speaker 1
it's cool. We put a $200 bell at the bar. The bartender starts ringing the bell when they hear the train coming, and
Speaker 2
everybody starts cheering. That is, it's an entertainment.

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