vietboyjl

First off, I know this is not a hookah forum or anything, I know this is a S2000 forum. But from what I can see, when one of the members here run into some type of trouble, the community here is great. Everyone is always more than happy to offer a helping hand...Which is why I am posting my problems here today...If the community members here feel that the post is out of the nature of the forum, please do take it down as I do not want to disrupt the community here...Well here it is guys...

I'm trying to open a hookah lounge here in San Diego. Originally I wanted to open this business a little bit north of San Diego since I wanted to bring the hookah culture that was down here up to the Orange County area. But that dream has now been smashed due to a lot of strict regulations north of the county. I was wondering if there are any hookah lounge owners on the forum posting? I just wanted to get some insights on to how you over came the barriers that were set forth by the city/county. Though there are less limitations and restrictions here, the city is still pretty tough on the issue. Same goes for the landlords for the complexes that I've been looking into. Just about everyone I spoke with today (roughly looked at 16 locations) no one wanted to entertain my business plan of opening a smoking lounge...

The city/county itself is divided up into soo many sections that at times I don't know where to run for questions regarding zoning and ordinances issues. I go to city hall they tell me to go somewhere else. Or I would drive to different city halls to ask if the city would even entertain a hookah lounge only to get rejected. Why can't these people not answer these simple questions over the telephone instead of making me drive 30mins - an hours worth of time just to get rejected in my first minute there speaking to them?

I am really trying to make this work and I am doing my best to cope with everything that is going on.

I am really just here looking for some knowledge...how did you guys get started? Did you encounter as much problems as I have? Is there something that I'm doing wrong? What type of questions and to whom should I be asking? I am sorry for the long post, I just had to vent. Today and yesterday has almost been a complete waste. I drove from San Diego all the way to Oceanside (40 minute drive) only to get deny then from there drove to Escondido (35 minutes from Oceanside) only to get deny. Today I looked at a bunch of locations all over the city only to find out that the owners do not want to entertain such a business

leester01

If you're serious look up Bulldog Hookah Lounge in Newport and take a trip down.
The owners name is Vance and he owns an NSX fully converted to NSX-R and an S2000
Super cool guy.I'm sure he wouldn't mind answering your questions if you tell him you're an S2000 owner

vietboyjl

Yeah I'm always in the area for sure will look it up. Should I say anyone referenced me to him? And is he on this forum?