Every Thursday the ESC, aka Entrepreneur Social Club gathers, mostly at NOVA 535 Unique Event Space, though today, May 22, 2014, NOVA 535 was booked for another fabulous wedding.
The ESC is my gift to the community and the meetings are free to attend. NOVA 535 has bills to pay, and does so by hosting world-class wedding and events. (My pitch =D) So it’s up to me, Michael S. Novilla, the founder and leader of the ESC, to find another location. Sheri Kendrick, owner of Enchanted Forest Photography offered, and though I was feeling restless, I accepted. So we met next door at the always popular and tasty Acropolis Cafe, and had some drinks and yummy appetizers. I had a plan formulating in my brain and as it hatched, we schmoozed, drank and ate Octopus, Baba Ganoush and other tasty Greek treats, washed down appropriately. This is a true social club after all. Tony Michaelides, author, speaker, rock n roll guru and now VP of Cool at the rapidly growing Magic Leap and I got caught up a bit, which is always a treat!
So once we collected all the newbies, tonight including a local barber, er groomer Marcus Dixon of Next Level Grooming, we headed next door to give our 15 second pitches. First I explained the “no religion, no politics, no liars, no bullies and no thieves” rule and introduced myself. We all pitched and then I told everyone that we were going on a field trip. I’ve been thinking about a St. Pete Mural Tour.
Around the 600 Block of Central Avenue many of the extraordinarily talented local artists have painted incredible murals on their rear shop and gallery walls and so I’ve been contemplating an official St. Pete Mural Tour, and tonight it happened, at least for the ESC.
Emily and St. Pete’s favorite Doula and Birth Coach Jenna Haughbrook catch up, while real estate advisor John Pereira poses for a shot and we wait for the chatting stragglers to catch up.
Though I didn’t tell everyone what our field trip was about, I just said let’s go follow me! Down the alleys. Responses included, “from OK, Cool, to Huh? What? Is there food and drinks? What’s the plan?” and my answers included “Trust me” and such. So after a brief hangout with fellow ESC member and incredible artist / interior designer Emily Morgavan, who had just met and was introducing me to the new owners of “St. Petersburg Cafe” (opening two storefronts to the west of Sheri’s gallery), we made our way down the alleys. A bit more grumbling and chatter, and a few dorks dipped into local restaurants for a quick snack, the rest of us meandered down the alley. Cat Halek of It Takes a village Lactation Services (Boobies 911) poses while enjoying the views.
The sun was setting so lighting for photos became really time sensitive. So I herded my Entrepreneurs, down behind the 500 and 600 blocks of Central Avenue, where the shop and gallery owners are taking blank walls and creating a magical extraordinarily fun and beautiful artistic landscape. The first mural we encountered on (I’m coining this phrase if it hasn’t been yet) the St. Pete Mural Tour, was the beautiful mural created by several artists in memorial of Bill “BC” Woo, a local favorite, who passed recently and passed way to early. =( Brain tumors suck! =(
We were lucky enough to run into Derek Donnelly, aka SAINT PAINT, who is a key driving force behind the BC Woo mural and the murals movement here downtown as well. He was in progress of another masterpiece, the “Lizard King” and I joked about hiding a Jim Morrison in there somewhere, he considered it, and we’ll we will see.
Of course a big shout out to local art stud Chad Mize of Blue Lucy Gallery and Studio, who is continually raising the bar on art show awesomeness here in #DTSP #STPETE. See Chad’s recent murals below. I hear a rumor his is opening a second location… well let’s finish our story as the Entrepreneurs are getting restless, thirsty and increasingly hungrier. I hear a firetruck alarm, well only in my head, er belly, and the infamous burgers of
Engine No9, just a few more minutes walk, lies ahead, on M. L. King Street and 1st Avenue North. And so are their fried pickle spears and huge beer selection and we’ll it’s that time. We do continue our meeting with dinner and more drinks and deeper conversations after each meeting, so plan on joining us when you join us. We rarely end before 11:00 pm, though we understand if you’ve gotta dip early, and we always end with smiles on our faces. Just what us thinkers, builders, doers, visionaries, Entrepreneurs and business owners need. More smiles! So Join us!!
So every Thursday 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, mostly at NOVA 535, sometimes in the alley, we meet for the Entrepreneur Social Club. Join us in person weekly and online daily:
Entrepreneur Social Club – google +
Make sure to connect to ESC+ as this is the event engine and where to find the weekly agenda and photos from each event.
Entrepreneur Social Club our lively Facebook page.
