In Search Of Excellence - John Terzian: The King of LA Nightlife and Building The h.wood Group from Scratch | E156

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

John Terzian is the co-founder of The h.wood Group, one of the most influential hospitality companies in the world, known for creating iconic venues like The Nice Guy, Delilah, Bootsy Bellows, and Shore Bar. But before he built an empire in nightlife and dining, John’s path was anything but conventional. From working as a DJ assistant to getting banned from the Queen Mary for throwing an out-of-control college party, John’s journey is filled with unforgettable twists, relentless hustle, and big risks. A former USC walk-on quarterback and Pepperdine law school grad who never passed the bar, John chose to follow his passion for creating experiences over traditional career paths. In this episode, he opens up about growing up in L.A., being harassed by corrupt cops, dealing with failure, and how grit, creativity, and real relationships helped him build a global brand from the ground up.Timestamps:00:00 – Introduction and John's Childhood10:45 – USC Football, Recruiting, and the Roots of H.Wood’s Culture20:55 – Nightclubs, Celebrities, and the Birth of The h.wood Group35:30 – The Tea Room and Getting Shut Down by Corrupt Cops47:40 – Moving Back Home and Starting Over53:17 – Bootsy Bellows, Katy Perry, and the Breakthrough MomentResources:The h.wood Group WebsiteThe h.wood Group InstagramJohn's InstagramThe h.wood Group Media InstagramWant to Connect? Reach out to us online!Instagram | 1-on-1 Coaching | YouTube | TikTok | LinkedIn

Tell us how someone gets banned from the Queen Mary. Rent it out Queen Mary. They don't do like rentouts like that at the time. So I had convinced them it was a wedding and this party was absolutely insane. The Queen Mary was completely, thing almost got shipwrecked. The guy that I convinced,

when he came in and saw that it wasn't a wedding, the look of disappointment on his face to me was so sad. So they put me on a very serious ban list. They're working for DJ AM. He's with Travis Barker on his Lear 35A jet. The jet crashes. I had stopped working for them five months prior. The plane went off the runway.

It was a very rough situation. Welcome to In Search of Excellence, where I get to meet some of the most successful, iconic, and interesting people in the entire world. Today my guest is one of my closest friends, Don Tursian, who's the co-founder and runs the H-Wood Group, which owns 11 incredibly successful and iconic nightclubs and restaurants around the world, including Bootsy Bella's and Ice Guy Delilah's, and they have six more they're building on the horizon.

John, thanks for being here. Thank you. Welcome to In Search of Excellence. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. I always start my podcast with our family because our family helps shape our values, our personality and our future. Your dad, Dick, was a lawyer who represented the city of Malibu, among other things.

Your mom, Kathy, was a school teacher. What was it like growing up in Westwood and how did your family influence your future? Yeah, I grew up in a, you know, it's funny, I was like, didn't realize it until later, but I was kind of like the black sheep of the family. My mom's a teacher, music teacher, and fourth grade teacher my whole life. My dad's an attorney, loves the law.

That's why I ended up going to law school. My brother's a diehard lawyer. And so, you know, they... I think the whole life, I was the only one that was a little different. I was an artist, you know. I was in sports, you know, things like that. But I had a... You know, they really shaped me because at the very end of the day, you know, the best

people, they were the absolute best people. And that was the only thing they asked of me is to be a good human. So that's something that's really like stuck with me and kind of who I want around me as well. I mean, I've met your parents several times at our charity event. They're incredibly proud of you and it's fun to just see them prevailing, if I can use a Jewish word, or, you know, ask my son out there, look at what he's done in his life. Well, they thought I was, you know, look, it's nice that now they thought I was insane when I got out of law school and didn't pass the bar.

I went to work for a DJ. So they at that time thought I was absolutely out of my mind and thought I was going nowhere. So I think it's good now that they're like, they can be proud of me. You're a very cool guy. You make fun of me that I'm not that cool and I'm not that cool. But when you were... I appreciate your non-coolness. I think it's a good aspect.

It's a good attribute. Why is that a good attribute? I think it's better to be that way. It's natural. It's funny because you'll make fun of me that I'm out past 10 o'clock at night which I do on occasion. You take it so often. You take it late night.

Yeah, when Madison gets all dressed up. And then I... You know, we've been at nightclubs in Vegas It would be in some of your plays and I'm in there for half an hour It's like, you know, why do you want to go home if I got all dressed up and we're here for the night? So I think it's amazing. I'll take it now. What were you like between ages three through ten? I don't think I've ever really changed who I am, which is pretty interesting in the sense I've kind of always been the same way. I'm interested in why I think whatever success I've had in hospitality, I think has to do

with my natural liking of a lot of different things. I have a love of art and a love of sports and a love of history. I'm in different pockets of life and I've been that way since I was a little kid. And so I think my thing was always, even when I was a little kid, I remember even at like six and seven, I was always the one to bring everyone together. So if it was my family, I was the one to make them all laugh. I was the one doing skits. I was the one, you know, and then that went into elementary school and high school.

Like my house and what I did was always the glue of everyone around me, my friends and family. It was like, my thing was always like being kind of like the center of bringing everyone together, you know? And that's kind of always how I've been, you know. At some point, you picked up a football. Yep. And you must have been pretty good at football because you started for a very competitive

high school in LA. Why don't you tell us about when the first time you picked up a ball? Well I played, you know, basketball was my main sport my whole life and I absolutely like loved it and lived and breathed it. And then, you know, one day I was like I want like, I want to try in flag or whatever it was. I can't remember. I think seventh grade. And while I don't have the speed, I had a good arm.

I just was naturally able to do it, which a lot of people, I guess, aren't. And I ended up going into it and loving it. And so played at Harbor West Lake. And I think it really shaped a lot of what I do because of, you know, as a quarterback and at the end of the day, it's very...the skill set for that has to do a lot with being a leader in business and life. And then I went on and was a walk-on on the USC team, you know, as a quarterback. I was like sixth string. Right.

We'll get to that in a minute. But what did you do to train to become a quarterback, as like six string. Right. We'll get to that in a minute, but what did you do to train to become a quarterback? I have a great arm as well. I can throw a professional ball 50 yards with tight spiral with some heat. I could have never played because I couldn't take a hit and I wasn't that athletic and I was very thin. You're small for a quarterback as well and you were playing at a major, major high school.

You know, one thing I did, I have an insane work ethic, you know, much like you from what I know. And I had that at a young age and I didn't know how...I mean, I'm a crazy work ethic. And I just...you know, I was doing, you know, morning trainings and weekend trainings and like everything, you know, under the sun of What it would take to be a quarterback? And you know, I didn't have that in my family. No one was in sports No one was in no one was in that really so it was really me learning that and just working my ass off You know, so you went to USC on an art scholarship But you didn't take the art scholarship and as you said you were a walk-on to the football team. I went I was gonna go to Michigan

I got an art scholarship to Michigan man. You made the wrong choice. I accepted I went to Michigan and It was I know you're you're you're a Michigan guy my entire life I grew up on the Fab five and I was obsessed to going to Michigan because my whole family went to USC I was I was like I had to do something opposite and I just love Michigan. And I go to Michigan, it was good, it was fine, I was going to do it and I was going to do art there. I was going to give up football because the only ones that were really interested in me in football were very small schools.

So I had to make a decision if I'm going to go on to be or if I'm gonna go on to have a normal college career. And so that's what I decided to do and you know art was still is my passion, you know. So I was like, okay I'll do that. And then I had a friend was a little older than me or a year older and was like, come down to a party at SC and I went to USC and I called my parents and I'm like, I don't know why anyone would not go to this school. I'm not going to Michigan. And they were like, well, you've already accepted. I'm like, I... Because I had applied to like five schools and USC was one of them. And I had gotten in and I was like, this is the only school I'm going to. So, went to USC and I wasn't on the football team or anything, but I get a call midway

through my freshman year from the coach. I thought it was a prank call to be honest, but the coach of the time, Hackett was his name. And they wanted my... The starting tight end for me was the star of the country in high school, Alex Holmes. Yeah, Alex, yeah. And they wanted him so bad. And he said he'll only go if I play, if I walk on.

So I was like, look, I'll take it. So I walked on. And I mean, it was grueling. I was the lowest totem pole, but it was really good. I have to say, looking back on it, it's amazing. But it's 5 AM workouts every day, then practice, then class, then practice and film. It was intense.

You don't get a red shirt when you're as low totem pulled, so you get annihilated. Great student. I think you had a 3.7 GPA at USC. And one of your roles there was to help recruit the players. So tell us, hey, John, this is Coach Hackett. We got some guys coming in. We'd like you to take them out to restaurants and nightclubs.

No, yeah, it didn't exactly look like that, but it morphed into that, which is interesting because I do credit almost everything that I'm doing today with stemming from that actually because basically the the coaches started recognize that this like fifth string football player who was never gonna play in the actual game I was friends with all the players like I was hanging out with them and they were like you know you have a good like you're from LA you kind of know the thing where you get along with all the players and you know worth we're in the we're in the hunt on recruiting. Why don't you take out, I can't remember at the time, the first person, take this person

out. He's coming in town. We really want him. And so I did. And I really got along with that family and they were like, whatever you did was amazing. Could you do that more to me with incoming recruits? And so I did. And I ended up like really putting together a program with Alex, to be honest,

Holmes, of taking these recruits out, having a really good time, showing them what it's like to come to LA, USC, everyone... One of the big things is being homesick. Your kid from Georgia or Florida or whatever it might be, it's like, so they got to feel a family, you know? And I learned that at a young age and it really grew big and I, like, what I'm doing today with H-Wood, a lot of it grew out of that thing because I did that for years and that's how that came about. Today the best players go for the money, right? NIL, they have Michigan paid Bryce Underwood, number one player in the country, reportedly

$10 million, there are all kinds of people who got involved with that. Back then it was different. The players could not take money. One of the things I wanted every school, and I know this from players and coaches, the recruits would come, and part of the fun of the party was helping the recruits have sex with women. I mean, that was going on everywhere. Did you see any of that at USC?

I really didn't actually. I know that's a big thing. Now you would have parties where you'd have like girls and whatever, but I really didn't see anything as crazy as that in that regard. I think that was like a lot of like older years of things. But that was not anything that like went down with like what I was in, what we were involved with. Ours was more like entertainment fun. Like, you know, you would take... It's funny, you would take like a restaurant that like was like dead on a, you know, late night and we just fill it with like the, you know, fun

people and, you know, in college. So it's like you create a little fun vibe and that's really what it was. And more handholding on like their family and stuff. But back to your point on the people take the money, that is only... I have learned, because I'm pretty active in the USC and I'll world. What I've learned is that goes for a certain top person.

Be tough to tell a kid to not take $10 million or whatever it is. But there's only a few of that. Everything else under that, I will say that this still comes down to having the right feel and the right people. And it's not just about the money. And I've met a good amount of these kids and their families. And I think more...I have to say, I think it's swung back a little bit that it's...yes, you need some aspect of the money.

It can't be nothing anymore. But I do think it's more about the right fit, which gives some hope because the NIL world's out of control. Nat, you were throwing parties in college and you're basically bringing people to restaurants, including celebrities. So how on earth does a kid in college know celebrities well enough to say, hey, come join us and we're gonna have a fun time at this restaurant? Well, I didn't know...

First of all, way back then, totally different time. There wasn't even paparazzi. And so part of something that I'm fortunate about was that I'm from LA and a handful of my friends started to become pretty big celebrities, acting and music and things. And so when I was doing parties and bringing people together, they would come just because they're my natural friends. It became a thing. And so that's really how it worked then. And at the end of the day, even to this day,

it's a natural thing. It's genuine relationships. That's the way it works best. So who were some of these people back then when you were in college who became celebrities and you were bringing to these parties? I don't know if it was bringing to them, but it was more like the ones that were around were like the Paris Hilton's of the world, the Olsen twins. They were all in the same circle you know, circle of friends, you know, if you will,

you know. And so that's, you know, Lindsay Lohan, you know. Like, at that time, it was like everyone was around and then you'd have a good mix of people and like kind of went from there, you know. There's a concept that goes on at restaurants and nightclubs, nice restaurants and nightclubs that restaurants will actually pay people to bring in beautiful women and models and they eat for free. And that's a foreign concept for people who don't live in LA or New York. Was that happening? Was that part of the deal is you're going out and wrangling is the word that I hear lots of times where you're a promoter

and, hey, you know, your job is to find beautiful women and bring them in and get paid for it? Well, I was a promoter, a promoter for a lot of years. I don't think...it's not so much for restaurants, for nightclubs. Nightclubs you get paid to bring people in. For restaurants, it's pretty rare where you're paying...I don't know of anyone paying to bring people to restaurants. But they eat for free.

A lot eat for free. Yeah. My wife said that she never paid for a meal in New York. A lot eat for free. That's crazy. I said, gosh, that's so unfair. That's discrimination against guys right there. That's different because that would be...first of all, New York is a different situation.

But yeah, they would do tons of comps. Celebrities get comped all the time too. So that's part of it all. Do yours pay when they come into the Nice Guy in Delilah? Yeah. Everyone pays. It's too hard to like...it's too hard. The nightclubs are different.

The nightclubs you comp a lot of people. You have to do that to create a party. So if Bieber's coming to a nightclub, he gets a table, he's got the alcohol, and he's not paying? It's more about whoever is a friend of mine, and that is there. I think that's more of how it is, or my partner Brian, like one of us.

If it's the right thing, then yeah. But that's the nightclub world versus the restaurant world. Tell us how someone gets banned from the Queen Mary. It's hard to know that. Did I tell you that? No. Oh my gosh, that's so good. The Queen Mary.

I think I'm still on their ban list. Pretty sad, actually. Because my wife one year, or one of us was like, we should take the kids there. I'm like, in my head, I was like, I don't know if we can go there. It's like Vegas where you can't go back because they've got your photo somewhere. The USC parties that I was doing got really big, really, really big. I grew a really big company.

Actually, like I did it, two of my best friends, Rick and Brandon were with me on it and we did this thing where we really grew this thing to be, it was a pretty massive company and that ended up being passed down. And so we, you know, in the height of it, I basically rented out, not basically rented out Queen Mary. However...

What does that cost, by the way? I mean, that's a huge... Give people a sense of... People don't know what the Queen Mary is. It's in Long Beach, right? It's in Long Beach. Yeah. I don't remember what it was.

I want to say a few hundred grand or something. I mean, the ship must be a football field long. Football field long, but it was an off night. It was like a whole...like a Monday or something. But this is where, you know, I'll admit it, they don't do like rentouts like that at the time. And so, especially not to a college kid and especially not...so I had convinced them...I really like went in and convinced them a whole other story of what it was.

It was a wedding and it was like a whole thing around it, like I did this whole thing. Like it was, you know, it was, you know, looking back on it, not something I should have done in that regard, but I really wanted to do this event there, right? So Red Zed it out and this party was absolutely insane. It was like one of the best events we've done, I've done, Rez it out and this party was absolutely insane. It was like one of the best events we've done, I've done. Ever. Ever. Like it was insane. But the place just got, I mean, the Queen Mary was completely,

thing almost got shipwrecked, you know? You obliterated the Queen Mary? And the guy that I convinced, I'll never forget the head of it, when he came in and saw that it wasn't a wedding, I mean, the look of disappointment on his face to me, it was so sad. I was like, oh my gosh. Like, I felt really bad. And so they put me on a very serious band list.

That's why. That same night he said, man, you're done. Oh, they took down, I mean, it was not pretty. Did they kick everybody out that night, or you quit? They did? We had thousands of people there. We had to, because there. We had... Because when I was doing this at the time, it was like ticketed events and things.

It was like a whole... People pay to get in and then you make a profit based on the revenues less, the rental costs. Yeah. Where there more... Sponsors or whatever. Sponsors. So what kind of money were you making on an event like that back in college? You know, I don't remember on that event, but I was...

We were making good cash at the time. Like it was real... $10,000 a party? More. More. Yeah. In college, it was great. I was like, you know, I was like, this is like...

This is the life. Yeah. I mean, my son, you know, Charlie, he... I continued through law school. Yeah. So let's talk about law school. Wait, I my son, Charlie... I continued through law school. Yeah. So let's talk about law school. Wait, I wanna hear what Charlie did what? Oh, no.

Well, you know, Charlie does a lot of things. But he is 21 now, legal. And so, you know, he'll pay in high school, he'll pay 50 bucks to get in a...someone rents out a house. They trash the place, by the way. So I don't know who these idiots are renting out their house. And you know, Charlie says they're packed with people. So these guys are making, like you said, cash,

taking cash at the door, 100 bucks a day. He said, there's 500 people there. I mean, that's 50 grand. No, no, I was... And I had a whole system. I had a big event once a month, and then I had multiple small events during. So I was making big events.

You'd make 15, 20 grand, small events, few thousand, you know. So it's crazy. I mean, when you're in college, it's like, you know... You go to law school, your dad's a lawyer, your brother Jim is a lawyer, and you didn't pass the bar. No. Did you drive?

I did, twice. You did? What was it? You just didn't study? No, I studied. But it just wasn't your thing? It's a very big thorn in my side. Yeah, it makes you stronger.

Yeah, although I never passed. It's a hard one in that regard. No, I really did. Now, I was working. At the time, I started to work for, upon going on to the second one, second bar, I started to work for the first celebrity DJ, DJ AM, and his manager, Larry. And I was fortunate enough that they spotted me and took me in.

They were like, do your thing with us. You're great. So I was kind of like an assistant and like everything for them, like literally. And so I think on the second one was,and we were opening the first club called LAX. I think on the second one, I was a little...ironically, I did...when you're close enough, they send you how many points you missed. And so I was off by like nine. Like, it was crazy.

First one, I clearly just didn't, you know. And then I was like, you know what? It's just not for me. I was never going to law school to be a lawyer ever. There was a chance I wanted to be a sports agent because I worked for a sports agent. And I obviously liked that. You know, every guy has that dream of the sports agent world at some point, you know, type of thing.

But it wasn't for me. I really went...you know, my dad was pretty serious about...he was like, the one thing I ask is you get a law degree no matter what you do. I don't care what you do in life. Have a lot of degree. And I'm very thankful for that because my mind is so artistic, like so often to artistic land that law school really grounded it to speak, read, write, and think in a processed way, like tenfold. And really speaking, it does a whole thing for someone like me.

And so I think that's why I'm really appreciative of that I went, even though it was not fun for me. Right. As you know, I also went to law school, hated every minute of it, hated practice. I had probably the worst start to a career, three jobs in eight months, basically told to leave. Well, one's told to leave for sure, and the other, move or leave, so I had a record. But me, I feel the same.

Today, I learned how to think in a different way, a structured way, a very focused way that I didn't have before. But it was very painful reading every day, case law, and just like every word, I just can't stand what I'm reading and what I'm learning. But I think graduate degree is a helpful thing for a lot of people. Do you agree? I fully agree. I think, look, to each their own, you know, I know a lot of successful that don't, but I do think it matters. I do think it helps. You see a difference, at least myself, there's a difference in level of reading,

writing, thinking, processing. It's definitely a big difference. So when we work for people, crazy shit happens sometimes. You're working for DJ AM, he's with Travis Barker on his Lear 35A jet, the jet crashes. Yeah. But when did you learn about that? And tell us about your fear of the PJ now. Yeah. It's rough. Yeah.

I mean, I had left. I had stopped working for them for AM and them, I don't know, maybe five months prior, six months prior. And they took, he took a different assistant on the trip, because I didn't leave his side in that regard. And the plane went off the runway and everyone passed away besides Travis and Am. And really like haunting to know, A, I would have been on that, you know, B, really brutally sad for the people on that that passed away and their families.

People died in that because they didn't die though. No, they jumped out. But it was a rough scene. It was a very rough situation. And it's been... I'm better on the private jet now only because there's... I don't know. But it was a... I mean, I would not take one for years and years and years. And to this day, I went to therapy over flying overall to this day and I have to travel quite a bit and to this day I dread every moment of getting on a plane. You planned my bachelor party and we'll talk about that later for sure. That was an incredible

weekend, but I remember one of the guys in the group got us a private jet and he said, I'm not going on a private jet. So you and I sat back and coached, I think I had a Delia Southwest flight. Oh, I can see everyone piling on a private jet. I'm like, you know, John's my guy, and obviously we're going together. Sorry for that. No, I'm sorry, it was great.

I don't think I would do that today again. The jet was too small. They're a lot better. They were cramped in anyway. I will not take a, I mean, I sound like a, I can only say this because I don't own a private jet, but I would not take, I would not go on a small one. I go on heaviest set ones only, then I'm okay.

But I am absolutely hated. Hate every aspect of flying. Madison, we had a portfolio company. They were having a kickoff party up in San Francisco, and I couldn't make it because of the kids. I said, no, so one of the guys sent us a VLJ, very light jet, Honda jet, Eclipse, I think it was, and it's a four-seater. And I just wondered if I could get into it because I'm very claustrophobic.

And we get in and the thing is decked out. It's very, very nice. So we get there, we fly into a rainstorm that was coming, okay, a little shaky on the way there. On the way back, we nearly died. Coming into Santa Monica Airport, which is where people on the west side take off and land from, the jet was like a salt and pepper shaker. I've never seen anything like that. We're going to die. I said to Madison, we're going to die. We're going to die. She's calm as can be. You know Madison very well. And I'm dying. And then I was worried the plane was going to break apart and the two pilots, young 30-year-old

Marines, stocky. And you can see the forearms of these guys just, and I kept trying to talk to them. We okay? we okay, no response. And they were trying to get me, this was a jet sweep before they had, you know, you could fly a commercial, you know, they wanted you to buy into their partnership or whatever. We get to Santa Monica below the clouds, and I'm like, all right, this is so great,

we're going to be fine. And there's a system on these jets where the Mayday system comes on if something wrong is happening. So we're coming down to the runway, and the lights start blinking, abort, abort, abort. And you could see this thing going three feet off the runway, four feet off the runway.

We're going to land. If we land, we're going to land on one of the buildings, the hangars. And all of a sudden, you could see these guys again, just thrusting. You could see their muscles bulging. And we get up through the sky. We're fine. We're like, that was the craziest shit. That was probably the closest I've come in my entire life to dying.

We land at Burbank and we're like, okay, so we got to get an Uber back to Santa Monica. Our car is there, it's like one in the morning. The guy picks us up in the Uber and he has three teardrops coming right out of the eye, tattoos. And for those people who don't know what that is, those are kills. Those are gang guys. If you have a teardrop, that's a kill. So we're driving back with some guy with three teardrops, and I'm saying to Manus, I'm like... So we pretended to get on the phone with someone fake and said, oh yeah, we're getting picked up. Yeah, you know, this driver, he's cool.

You know, his name is Miguel, whatever. You know, we're in this car, and it's like, yeah, the ride's easy. We kept the phone open the whole time. I bet you won't fly a small plane again. No, I'll never get in that plane again. That's the thing. Yeah. Some of our friends have planes, and it's nice.

We ride a couple of times. I don't like taking things from people. I feel obligated. So we'll fly coach sometimes when people ask. But the private jet is the ultimate luxury. Totally agree. LAX, you don't own it, you work there, and you mop floors. One of the things today that I think a lot of our generation, they don't like doing the shit work.

How important was doing the shit work like mopping floors to your career? I think it was the make or break for me, I have to say. And I hate to... You're right, and I hate to sound like the old guy, but I have noticed the generational issue where it's like they're skipping so many steps. But yeah, I mopped the floors, I counted the cash, I made sure the repair maintenance, I made sure the promotions were good. Like, it was like all of the above.

It doesn't happen anymore at all. And like, I don't...where I think the issue is...my theory always is you could drop me in the middle of a foreign town and I'm gonna figure it out with my business. I'll figure out, figure out with a restaurant, I'll figure out, figure out the restaurant, figure out whatever. Because I had that background. I think the...I think where a lot of the new generation, I won't say everyone, is they're skipping that major step of learning the building blocks and learning the work ethic that goes into it. You know, and who knows? We'll see what happens and shakes out from it.

All of your venues have people who work in the bathroom full-time. Most of your venues, you know, the nicer ones. You got people who work full-time in the bathroom. They're dressed nicely. They have the mints there and the toothpicks and whatever else. They have tip jars there. And I like taking surveys in my head and just counting, you know, what percentage of people are leaving tips for men and women who work in the bathroom. I mean, if you think about this, like if the bathrooms are smelly, the people are drunk, the guys are sometimes peeing on the floor, they got to clean it up. I always make sure to tip everyone 20 bucks and whatever venue that I go into.

And it just makes me mad that everyone just ignores them basically. I know, I agree. How hard are those jobs to fill? How many people are applying to work full-time in one of your bathrooms? You know, I think we use outside services now on making sure to find that because it's not easy to find staff. It's not easy at all. So it's good that you do that because not enough people do. Not enough people are like treating people well like that. It's crazy.

I mean, they love me because I'm the biggest tip in the jar. And then when I come back to the bathroom, we had a few beers or whatever. It's like, they're your best friend. Yeah. to the bathroom, we had a few beers or whatever, it's like, they're your best friend. Yeah, yeah. At our charity event, we had it at your venue and we'll talk about that, 100 bucks. Just to make up, just to make up for it because people are just not tipping. That's our event, we invited people there.

Yeah. And it's like, you know. No, you gotta take care of people that are working. I always really try to like, my big thing is always like bussers. They're the ones killing themselves. Yeah. When you look at a busser and everyone's kind of ignoring them.

So it's always really good to like pay attention to those jobs in these places. So let's talk about the bussers. I was a waiter in college in a law school, Chi-Chi's. Chi-Chi's? It's Olive Garden. Oh, it wasn't waiter in college and in law school. Chi-Chi's. Chi-Chi's? It's Olive Garden. Oh, it was in Olive? Oh. No, both.

Both. Both. All right. Chi-Chi's and Olive Garden. Yeah, you know, like Chi-Chi's had a little tight with a shirt, Spanish style with little frills on the arms. It was not the most masculine thing.

I like it though. Yeah, good experience. You really learn the most masculine thing. I like it though. Yeah, good experience. You really learn the customer service business when you're a waiter. Tell us how this split works. So you get a tip. Talk about the restaurant split and then the bottle girl split in terms of who gets what.

Do the waiters have to give to the busboy, give to the tip jar, to the general staff? Well, so one thing is very important. We cannot get involved in tips as an owner. So we have to be very careful on that. That's number one. Number two, you're referring to... So when you're saying bottle girls, that's for the...or bottle...that's nightclubs.

Yeah, like the nightclubs. But restaurant, like when I was a waiter, I had to give a certain amount to, I forget what percent of my tips, and then that was split between the busboys who don't get tips, and that was a big part of their comp. So we do pooling, and so the pool will decide on what they're gonna tip out to bussers and whatever. And it honestly varies. It varies everywhere.

The bartenders sometimes have their own tip pool. So it can vary. We have to stay very careful about not being involved in the tip process. Because? California law. But yeah, that's how it goes. We do it.

We're a house tip pool. Let's talk about your first club. You actually raised money for the stork next to a mall. Yeah, well attached to a mall. Yeah, attached to a mall. Two story building, war hall, windows. Well, I put those in. You put in the war hall windows.

Yeah, it was an old Carl's Jr. at the side of Hollywood and Highlands. I have no idea what I was thinking. I was just a Carl's Jr. at the side of Hollywood and Highlands. I have no idea what I was thinking. I was just a complete moron, you know? But I had a vision. I think I was a little ahead of my time with it because what I built there is really what I'm doing today with places. But it was like an old...

It was an old Carl's Jr. It was like a bad space to take and then we rebuilt it all and I went super, you know, had Warhol windows shipped in. What does that mean, a Warhol window? I'm a big, I'm obviously big into art and furniture and stuff and so I'm a big vintage shopper, right, sorcerer, and Warhol's factory was up for auction, you know, the factory and that he did all his art in New York. And so there was a way to get the windows which were like gorgeous, these gorgeous windows that did not get made today and like crazy.

Colored glass. Like a slightly frosted glass, like, you know, stuff that doesn't get made there. It was like really cool. And shipped them from, you know, New York and did a bunch of things like that, right? And built this insane...I think it was like 14,000 square feet, two-story, called it the Stork, which was a...you know, I've always had a love of history and historical old school places. The Stork Supper Club in New York was like one of the cool old places. And so that was, you know, we raised money from friends and family and launched it. And it was my first thing. But I went a little too hardcore, like, you know, you had to recite a poem to get in the

door. You had to do... Well, let's talk about the tea room separately because that was separate, right, from the stork? No, the tea room came later. But I thought the poem was for the tea room. No, it was for...it was for the stork. Okay. So that's sort of nuts.

Yeah, it's nuts. So... It was pretty cool. It's very cool. I mean, it's very different. Very different. So how old are you at this time... at this point when you're, when you opened the store? I was 27, I think. 28. It was 2007 it opened. So yeah.

And you raised two to three million dollars for it? Yeah. Yeah. And, um... Who'd you go to? I mean, your parents, right? Parents, friends and family, you know, and it was a great learning lesson. Unfortunately, it didn't work out, but we built everything off of it, you know.

We were always able to bring good crowds, so we brought such big crowds that it actually became a...ended up becoming a public nuisance. But the tea room that you're talking about, the tea room was actually a pretty cool story and why what I think I learned from that is what we ended up kind of building off of with H-Hood. Can we just go back before we get into the tea room for one second? Who did you go to to raise money at 27-year-old, first time raising a lot of money like that? And how did you convince people to invest? Well, I went to... I had a pretty great network, fortunately, thanks to Harbor West Lake, USC,

Pepperdine Law School, family and friends. I had a good network. You know, I think most... I think everyone, whether they be hard pressed to find someone to not say that I'm extremely above board. And so I think that's always really important for an investor. So even at a young age, and I think that was good that I had gone to law school because at least I had some under me, but I think even at a young age with zero credibility for owning a place, the one thing was having that... People knew that I've never done a drug in my life. I'm not into it for anything other than business and being above board.

We didn't... I didn't take a salary that whole time. Oh, it's dark. I mean, I lived at home with my parents. So I did stuff that people wouldn't do. You can't predict success or failure, but you can behave in a way that makes people trust you and know that you're in it for the right reasons. And that's how I was, that's how I am to this day.

And we had like 30 investors, literally, 30 or 40 investors, like a public offering. So 25, $50,000 checks? 25 up to like 150, I think, was what it was, yeah. So tell us about Samir in the tea room. So the tea room I Wish I still had it very special place Hmm, basically what we realized was at the time we changed the name from stork to H wood and It was this big place. It was a restaurant nightclub lounge everything and

One thing that we did have going for us is we're always bringing...at the time, the paparazzi world was getting big and we were bringing big friends or becoming pretty big celebrities, and they needed a place to like have a privacy. So we had this dead space. It was legitimately a storage closet. It was like the size of...I mean, it was, I think, 1,000 square feet, which is very small. And I had my friend from high school, Samir, who had come to me about...his family was

big in the tea world. And he had this idea about...and this is all at the same time. He had this idea about doing tea-infused liquor and making it like healthy and wellness and you know, kind of all the above. So we had this idea of like putting together this like kind of like interesting idea where it's like it's called the Tea Room. So it's like people feel kind of good saying they're going to the Tea Room even they're going to a bar and making it like the most exclusive place, like by a landslide.

Since it's small and like off to the side. And that's what we ended up doing. And it became literally the biggest hit in LA. That was like, that was the place that everyone went. Wasn't Katy Perry coming to the tearoom and that helped? All the people knew she was coming there, so that helped sort of put you on the map? Yeah, she was a massive supporter. You know, stuff like that like made a massive difference, you know.

We had a handful of those that would come and be there and it was just honestly, it's a good little vibe. And the DJ was on a piano. So it was like a fun, you know, different thing. It was cool. You know, it wasn't stuffy when you got it. Like when you were able to get in, it was just like, you had gotten in and it was like a good little vibe.

We'll talk about why it shut down in a minute, but Stork shut down and then you reopened it a few months later as H-Wood, correct? So now let's talk about you being harassed by the police, then picking you up, driving you around, dropping you off in the middle of nowhere, crooked cops. Yeah, they were. They were, they would come in and arrest me, handcuff me.

They took my partner, they took Brian to jail, you know? Handcuffed, took him in. He was put in a cell by himself. Yeah. They would handcuff me and drive me around. They were wanting a payoff because I think vice was getting paid off by everyone else. Five K a month was going right back then. Something like that.

And, you know, there was in my head at one point, I was like, man, do I just like, what do I do? But I've just...it goes back to how you're raised. You know, my dad and mom are so above board. And you're like, thank God that that's how I was raised because you can't ever go back when you change that way. So I just...I stayed super firm. And look, I lost the battle because they ended up getting a shutdown.

But thank God I never paid anyone off. And thank God it never did. Because they turned out to be crooked cops. They got caught. The guy, the main sergeant got caught years later on taking bribes and whatever. But unfortunately, he had done this thing with us and run us out. And I'll never forget, we went to court on this public nuisance. And I will never forget sitting there, the entire LAPD force came in to testify. It's crazy. It was so...it was so sketchy.

The Pleas Brotherhood. It was crazy. And so now, and ironically, I'm so active for the LAPD now, and they're amazing. I'm on, you know, I help with the LAPF, and I think it was just a bad...it was just a bad, you know, sergeant, bad cop, honestly. So bad little section. It's crazy. They're all out.

Well, it's crazy that they took these bribes for a long period of time and they didn't get fired. Well, they got fired. I think they got fired in the end, years later. I'm not sure what ended up happening, but pretty sure got fired or went on whatever. But it's crazy. And it's like, they don't teach you that stuff. And when you're coming out, it's like, they don't teach you how to handle that.

Very scary getting handcuffed and driven around. Very scary. I've been handcuffed before in a police car. It's crazy. And I'll tell a story here the first time. There may or may not have been a second time. But I had a girlfriend who lived in Brentwood. I lived in Brentwood and I was on the enter list and I had a key. I left my key at home

and she, we were in a fight and then she texted me, okay come on over. So it's like 12 o'clock at night and I go over there in my big Detroit Red Wings hoodie and my sweatpants. I've got slippers on and her roommate hated me because when you have a boyfriend as a roommate and the boyfriend takes over, then you're blowing off your roommate. So they're no longer friends. So she really despised me. And so my girlfriend at the time was drunk and had taken some NyQuil. So I get in because they let me in. I'm on the list. I get in there and I'm knocking on the wall and I'm saying, hey, you know, I'm not going

to mention her name, but I said, hey, hey. I got to know who it is. I'll tell you when we're done shooting. I'm knocking on the door and I'm like, hey, let me in, let me in, let me in. And I'm standing out there for maybe five minutes. The next thing I know, elevator opens. And have you ever had a gun pointed at you with one of the red lights circling your chest?

So these two guys, three people come out of the elevator. They're shouting on me, get down, get down, get down. And there's a red dot circling on me, I don't know what the, down now, down now. They come up and they basically push me onto the floor, knee in the back, handcuffs behind the back, and I'm thinking, oh my God, like, this is fucking nuts. What's going on here?

And I saw my whole career flash in front of me, right? Like I'm this successful businessman. I think I have a good reputation. And I'm on the floor with a knee on my back, like I'm a perp. And the guy stands me up, leans me on the wall, they frisk you, right? And then he said, you know, what are you doing here? I was invited, my girlfriend lives there. When? I said, I have a Blackberry, you know, let me get it. They're like, I'll reach it from your pocket. And there was some code when you call in breaking and entering. There's some code that goes out on the radio and these cops will put the sirens on 100

miles per hour, you get where you're going. Someone could get murdered right now. And they blow through stop lights, they put themselves at risk, and their adrenaline is pumping when they see someone standing outside someone's place. And so I said, let me get out the Blackberry. And so I said, no, he'll put it out, turn it on. I still have the cuffs on, and I had to turn it on and give the guy the code, the password, and then he said, uncoff him, because I said, hey, come on over. And the

cops were fucking irate, absolutely irate. And I said to the cops, you should arrest the girlfriend. And by the way, to this day, to this day, the police report is still there. Like, you can't wave it. You're from the record. You're getting expunged? Huh? They told me no one would ever find this.

That's really funny. Depose one day. Oh my gosh. Here we go. Here we go. But I did something very smart, by the way. And again, we'll talk about preparation and how that's a key part of my success.

I thought about in the future, I said, all right, not going to marry this girl, I got to get something in writing. So I had her write a letter to the police. This was completely unfair. It never happened. It never should have been in there. And then I had it notarized. It never happened. It never should have been. And then I had notarized. Just thinking ahead.

Not that I'm going to run for office. That would never happen. But I thought, hey, I got to- You never know. Speaking career, you never know. I know. I definitely know. So you have a lot of failures.

And you're 27 years old. You're penniless. And you move back into your parents' house in your childhood bedroom. Yeah. Tough time. It was a low time. We've all been there.

What were you thinking when... Can you remember the day where you actually were moving back in and you got your suitcases or boxes sort of sitting on your bed that night? Yeah. I mean, I do remember moving back in and I do remember... It's so weird because I think I have like... I think I have like almost sometimes an unhealthy optimism, but it's gotten me through life. So I can't knock it because I just...

I think I think most people at a time would be so depressed and I was more of the opposite. I was more like, I'm gonna find...I'm gonna work harder. I'm gonna like do X, Y, Z better. You know, it's like a crazy fire under me, you know? I had no time...I remember my parents one time were like, okay, what are you gonna do now? I'm like, what do you mean? And they're like, you wanna go figure out job wise? I'm like, no, I'm doing this. And they're like, literally nothing. So it was a low time. However, I really put a lot of fire under myself. That's how I get through things. How important is failure and resilience to our future success?

It'd be hard pressed to find not failing to be successful. I don't know how it happens because you almost have to. And it's unfortunate because I'm sure there's people that are very successful that had no failures. But I don't know. I mean, it's crazy because you need that drive. I always say that I work like Kobe Played, where it's like I always have to have some sort of like anger in me, and I don't mean that in like an actual way. I mean it like I'm

like driven to like, I gotta like win. I gotta like have it be the best. And if you don't have that failure under you, I'm very thankful that, you know, knock on wood, my big failures were early. But you never know, we have failures along the way constantly, you know, it's just all how...it's all how you take it and pivot and react. And we have to take a step back sometimes to take a step forward. So the next job you got was at the Beverly as a promoter. So you no longer own a club. You're back to a promoter.

So you're taking a massive step back. You're getting paid to bring people in to the Truesdale. So tell us about, well, to the Beverly. And then tell us about Guy Starkman, the relationship there, and then how that basically turned back to where you wanted to go Yeah, it's like, you know, it's you never know where life's gonna take you so I'm really big on relationships and kind of like just believing in letting things like come as they do good work and let and see how things play out and so

My Brian my partner Brian who we started H-Wood together and the store, he was always really close with Guy Starkman. And Guy was like an older version of us. He had Guy's, he had Jerry's Deli, his family was Jerry's Deli, and he had Truesdale nightclub. And then he had turned his one nightclub called Guy's into the Beverly. And Brian was like, you know, we lost H-O-A, we lost all of our clubs. He's like, I'm either gonna go back to business school or...and I'm like, you can't. Like, we have to...we'll rebuild, we'll figure something out. And he got us...you know, Guy was like, I'm opening this. Why don't you come like really be a

major part of it? So me and Brian went and did that, opened it, and were promoters for it, which I absolutely hated that, going back to that. However, I embraced it and like we know both of us and we did a good job. And luckily, we stayed close with them and luckily he came to us one day and he had another club and he was like, if you guys could raise some money, why don't you...I don't care anymore about this. He's like, why don't you buy Truesdale for me? So we did. We raised some money and... $2 million? I don't remember what the total was at the time, but around that. Yeah, around 2 million. One million, I think, went to Guy and another million went to build out the club.

I don't remember exactly the thing. But whatever it was, it was probably around that. But we bought it, and we had this idea. I had mutual friends with David Arquette, who was just coming off of Beecher's Madhouse. And he had this whole idea that I loved to do this experiential nightlife, nightclub world, which was really innovative at the time. And I love the fact that all of our big friends and family and clients were all in that West Hollywood area, so we could really capitalize.

And so that spot ended up becoming Bootsy Velo's, which was a wild success. And we named it after his mom. His mom was a pinup girl in the 60s. Her name was Bootsy Velo's. So we had this whole thing where puppets walking around and burlesque girls. and it was just a fun, very interactive nightclub. And that...and it was really that that got us back on our path and we were like, we can really do this, you know? That's from there. So thank God for Guy and taking a step back, as you said, because had I had too big of an ego and said, no, I'm not gonna go be be a promoter I would have never really been in that position I

wouldn't be here today. One of the biggest mistakes for people in the workforce when things aren't working out or they're not happy is they're not willing to take a step back to move forward I think it's absolutely crazy. It is it is crazy but you have to it's you have to you have to learn how to do it you know suck it up you have to learn how to do it and not hold on. A lot of our success, cool things happen at specific moments. July 5th, 2012, Katy Perry's movie comes out that night and she brought everyone back in a van to Bootsy Bellas.

I think it was your first night opening. So she had Justin Bieber in the van. Big, big night for you. Yeah, that was a big night. That was a good night. You weren't expecting her to come that night and bring all these cool people? No, but she's like, you know, she's

one of the greatest supporters to us. So, you know, that's a good one. But yeah, stuff like that, like, really catapulted us. You know that I am responsible for almost burning down Bootsy Bellows and Katy Perry saving Bootsy Bellows from burning to the ground. Why? I don't know about this. So the story was, I'm single and it's really awesome for a not that cool guy like me to have friends like you that are cool. And I remember I said, hey, what are you up to tonight?

And I said, oh, I've got this date with this girl. It's a first date. Said, why don't you come by? Katy Perry is having a private party for this guy, Feroz, who she just signed. He's a piano player. He's going to be the next Sam Smith. Like, no, I'm not sure.

He said, come on by. So went to Boa Steakhouse across the street. And then I went to Bootsy bells you know you want to go they want to go there and Bootsy bells had a second room in the back for those people down there's a piano there and Beautiful boost and we had one right next to the piano and there were these little votive candles and At some point I'm sitting there talking to this date, first date, and it starts smoking.

And there's smoke coming up everywhere. And she had this beautiful white leather jacket that actually caught on fire. Like there were flames there. And Katy Perry comes over and notice it and takes the jacket that was burning and starts slapping the votive candle like this. And it was just... It was a crazy story. The story gets a little...

Yeah, I saved you. The story gets a little crazier. Sounds like Katie saved us. Yeah, Katie saved you. Yeah, it was my fault. You were the arson. Very unresponsive guest. The story gets a little crazy, by the way.

And I'm going to divert this for a little bit, because it comes back to Katie. I went back to her apartment that night. And she had all these nice clothes. And she had just moved to Los Angeles. She was a model. Her dad was a police officer up north. Her mom was a hairdresser who was cutting hair in a small town for $12 a haircut.

And so she had moved here and she had only been here for two months. She had all these nice things, Barney's bags in the closet. And I later learned that she was, and this happens in LA, I didn't know this thing was a thing, but I found out that a wealthy man was paying her a certain amount of money a year to give her a car and clothing allowance. And then he can, I mean, you've heard these stories. I mean, I didn't know this even existed, right?

This was in the movies. And so- This was your first date? This was our first date. How'd you meet her? On Facebook. She wrote...and by the way, my wife knows the story. She thinks I was creepy. By the way, when I was single, people would set you up on these blind dates.

So she's beautiful, whatever, whatever. And then you get there and it was like false advertising sometimes. And so you go to Facebook and 30 pictures don't lie. And so this woman had posted, I'd friended her every week, said, who's going to Vegas this weekend? I had no plans on going to Vegas, but I said, hey, I may be there. And so that started the conversation and then, you know, et cetera, et cetera. So I learned this of this relationship.

I'm like, okay, this is absolutely nuts. We're done the Grammys as you know has this charity function the night before and We're all the people who are playing at the Grammys play. So I was invited I went and I mean everyone was there I mean Bruce Springsteen was the main guy played seven songs, but I mean everyone Neil Young Katie played and I saw Katie who was sitting you know two tables away and you know I love Katie Perry and I wanted to go take a picture and say hey Katie, I'm Randy, I met you with John, yeah yeah yeah, you know she didn't know who I was but yeah yeah yeah, and I said do you remember the fire and you slapping down the dragon and she said

yeah and she said yeah, and she said You still dating her and I said no, and I just gave her the one lighter and she said what a fucking bitch So that was the last time I saw Katie I like that there we go So I'm glad I didn't burn on your vent actually. I'm glad I'm not responsible for for burning out Bootsy bellows very glad thank God, soy is a hit. And right around the time that, little later, you had a concept for a West Side venue at a hotel. I'm not sure how much you want to get into this, but someone stole the concept. It became massively successful.

And the guy told you, you're going gonna be a no one so I'm gonna take Advantage to you. Yeah, but Happen what what can you say publicly and then how did that motivate you and say hey screw you? I am gonna be somebody and we'll see what happens. Yeah, you know, I won't I won't name names But yeah, we created a whole really cool concept That I was and this is actually right before Bootsy Bellows. They were kind of...

Same time. Yeah. I...since I...long time West Side and I knew that like there needed to be some sort of new nightlife in the West Side. I'd grown up there and my family is all Santa Monica and I was like, you know, there's gotta be something there. So I created or we had...my company team and I had created this like really cool concept to do at a hotel.

They stole it and, you know, really like wrote me a, I don't know, 10 grand check or something, which to me was a big deal to like, I could have not take a...to like not sue them, right? So I was so angry that, you know, I went and convinced...I went and found another bar next to Georgios. I started to go in there. Total shithole. Total shithole. Called the Hideout. Called the Hideout, yeah. I took my wife on our first date was basically there at Georgios. I was like, I wanna see this place next door.

So we went in there and she was like, there's literally holes in the wall. Like it was absolutely crazy. Flies on like the bar and stuff. It was pretty bad. But I had convinced, it had been dilapidated and fortunately I had waited around long enough for weeks and I had convinced the owner to give me a shot.

And I think the way I convinced him was I said...I told him the story of how I'd gotten screwed and I said, I'm so hungry. I'm going to literally anything...my entire life is going to live and breathe this place. Like, I'm going to crush it. And so he was like, okay, you know, it's yours. And he gave me 100 grand to redo it, which is insane, that I redid the place for $100,000. And it turned into what I called Shore Bar.

Had a hybrid model where there was a members room up top. Everyone had a locker. It was a whole touch and feel thing. And it became a massive hit. Massive hit. It really was like the West Side Nightlife. And so, you know, we don't...as of last year, we don't have it anymore, but it was a 12-year run, long time for a bar. Yeah. Yeah. You made me cool because I got the membership. Yeah. It was

packed. There were lines out front. I'd just be like, oh, you know, yeah, Randy, yeah, you're a member. Oh, yeah. I mean, they all knew that we were really good friends. And so there was a second level where that was really cool. There were lounges. I mean, downstairs are a couple of booths, stand-up tables, and then there was a big lounge upstairs where they had your own bartender. So... Yeah. I mean, you know, it's funny that model to this day is what I... I see what works is that very deep touch where it's like, you know, you have that, people want to have that extra level of care. And so that's, that really worked there.

Welcome to part one of my incredible interview with one of my closest friends, John Terzian, who's the founder of the H Wood Group, which owns 11 of the most successful nightclub and restaurant venues around the world. Stay tuned for some of the craziest customer service stories you've ever heard in your