Welcome to Manny’s
I have an announcement to make!
After a year and a half of researching, day (and night) dreaming, soul searching, business-plan-writing, touring over 100 spaces all over San Francisco, refining and refining and refining, advisory board building, fundraising, and lease negotiating I am so excited to announce Manny’s.
Manny’s is 3,000 sq ft civic social gathering space that will combine a cafe, restaurant, beer and wine spot, civil rights themed bookstore and newstand, and a large community gathering and programming space all together at one of the busiest and most exciting intersections in San Francisco: 16th and Valencia!
The goal will be to answer the question: where can I go in San Francisco to become a better informed and more involved citizen but also bring my friends and colleagues just to hang?
The idea to combine a social space and a civic programming space is not new — it’s centuries old. The very first coffee houses in the Ottoman Empire were banned because, as one of the only secular gathering spots in the empire, folks used them to plan their overthrow the sultan.
Coffee houses have historically been some of the only places where people across social classes could mix and exchange ideas. It was within certain coffeehouses and taverns in Havana, Mexico City, Paris, London, Washington D.C., New York City, and of course San Francisco and Oakland that revolutions, protests, public awareness campaigns, learning, and planning took place.
I owe much of my freedoms to the LGBT heroes who planned and plotted and fought back from places like the Compton’s Street Cafeteria and the Stonewall Inn.
Today most of our civic engagement and consumption of news happens online, often alone, and often passively.
But it didn’t always used to be this way.
We used to come together to watch or listen to the news in community. Now it’s almost impossible to find a consistent reliable place in one of the most civically active cities in the country to watch and talk about the news. Not anymore.
Whether it’s talks + Q&As with change makers, program nights hosted by local non-profits, advocacy groups, or campaigns, book talks, town halls with local and national politicians, open mics, debates and elections watch parties, or just a place to watch the news with your friends and colleagues, there will always be a way at Manny’s to get informed and get involved.
I believe that we need to come together in person and offline now more than ever to learn about what’s happening in the world, to ask questions, to react, and to get organized. That’s why I’m building Manny’s and I hope that you’ll be a part of it.
The address is 3092 16th Street, we’ll be starting construction soon, and if you want to stay connected you can go to www.welcometomannys.com
Thanks to all of the people who’ve helped me get to this point and to those whom I hope will help from here on out!
https://missionlocal.org/…/new-idea-in-sf-a-bar-for-civic-…/
