We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Oliver Alpuche a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Oliver thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
I live downtown for six years and saw community around me but nowhere where we could actually like meet, be comfortable and express ourselves 100%. So I had an idea to create a community meeting space where you can meet queer people. I first started a run club that wasn’t very successful. Then I got involved in a lot of LGBT social events that were more of like pop-up events and that’s when I decided we need to have a queer bar downtown.
Of course, the hardest part is to finance a new business but I believed and saw the need and was willing to risk it all. So I sold my house sold my car to public transportation for two years. Also, we could have enough money to open a little queer bar on 6th & Los Angeles.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I really got into the Bar world/nonprofit world by luck and seizing opportunity. My goal was never to own a bar, but it was to provide a space where people could meet and connect with each other. I left the retail world to go into this industry, not knowing what to expect, but there are a lot of similarities. In the retail world I was creating Spaces that felt welcoming and events that brought people together. In last retail job my boss told me to create a authentic Running community and that’s when a fire was lit, if I could create a authentic Running community, I could create an authentic community in downtown for queer people.
Any fun sales or marketing stories?
programming a bar is difficult. You never know what people are going to want Experience. We created the name for ourselves where we would take chances and give people the opportunity to have their own shows(Drag shows) The first couple years of Redline drag wasn’t the main focus, but we soon realize the need to give people opportunities to show their talents. looking back, I would’ve never guessed how many people would’ve had their first chance on the Redline stage. There is something so special about seeing people grow their talent and shine. We were so lucky to have so many people grace the Redline stage and move onto amazing things.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
The biggest part of building your reputation within a market is how you connect with people. Word-of-mouth is gold. You have to believe in yourself and know that you’re doing the right thing even if it’s not always a payday, sometimes it won’t feel like the payoff is what it needs to be but It’s the lasting impression that you have to worry about. Community is everything and if you stay true to that and listen to them, they are the ones that Build your representation for you
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.KisoLosAngeles.com
- Instagram: @kisolosangeles
