Fred's 40 @ The 440!
This past Saturday, I sent out an Evite to about 150 of our friends to come ring in Fred's 40s, at the 440. For the past couple of years, I've actually been thinking of ideas on where I wanted to throw a party for Fred's 40th, just because it's something you want to do right, to make it an extra special day. But as the date grew nearer, and we had decided that we were going to Spain for our birthdays, it made it more and more difficult to plan a party for 100+ people that was a) central, b) available, and c) not going to break my limited bank! I was really sweating how I was going to pull this off. Then it dawned on me to bring it to The 440.
Over the years, Fred has worked on the plumbing in a number of San Francisco's finest (and not as fine LOL) bars, but the 440 (formerly known as Daddy's) has a lot of history for both he and I. The manager is a personal friend, and we know just about all of the bartenders there (and they, us). My softball team (the Badboys) is sponsored by them, and it's probably our favorite bar in the City, where we go more often than anywhere else. They sponsor tons of charities, and seem to cater to every niche of the gay Castro community: bears, leathermen, club kids, the young and old. Even though it's a darker bar than some other places in the gayborhood, it was the easiest decision to have the party there because of the history we have with them. I say all this because The 440 helped me throw one of the best fucking parties I could have imagined for Fred's 40th. Truly.
I want to say a special Thank You to the staff of 440: David, Tony, Scott, Marcus, Ben, and Rick for everything to make the day extra special for Fred.
(And doing so under pressure to fill in gaps when some of their scheduled bartenders called in sick. They wouldn't let me pay for the 11 pizzas I had ordered for the crowd.)
Special Thanks to Scott S for helping me with the decorations...I was having a panic attack that everything wouldn't get done in time before he showed up.
Special Thanks to John (squalidbear) for helping me get the cake to the bar, even from 75 miles away. You helped me more than you know, honestly.
Special Thanks to Derek (qrod) for taking tons of pictures while I was running around making sure everyone was taken care of and that everyone was smiling and happy. I did pull out my camera and get in a few shots here and there, but Derek really managed to capture much more than I was able to. Fred has placed Derek's pictures up on his Flickr page here.
Special Thanks to the Goldrushers, the gay hockey team that was having a beer bust at the same time of our little/big party, especially for not doing raffle tickets (they did pretty well with people making donations and buying the beer busts) and microphone announcements!
Really, the biggest thanks I can give is to the 100 plus people who showed up, who stumbled in and stayed, who found out about it late and still stopped in, on a gorgeous and hot San Francisco day, to a dark (and at times stiflingly warm) bar, when there were a ton of other sunnier (if not necessarily cooler places they could have been, and so many wearing FTP shirts. Some were picking up a new one for the first time, which was pretty cool too. Fred gave out about 60 of them at the party, and while I didn't capture it well in the pictures, looking out at the crowd of tons of guys all wearing FTP shirts, well, let's just say it was a priceless gift. Looking around at everyone laughing, enjoying themselves, and having a great time...that's what makes an amazing party. As stressed as I was about making this Fred's best birthday ever, with the perfect location, perfect cake, the reality is, the people were what made it so memorable. When everyone was singing Happy Birthday to him, I could tell he was fighting back tears.
Here's a photoset of some of the best shots I managed to take at the party. Really, the pictures (SFW) don't do it justice.
Over the years, Fred has worked on the plumbing in a number of San Francisco's finest (and not as fine LOL) bars, but the 440 (formerly known as Daddy's) has a lot of history for both he and I. The manager is a personal friend, and we know just about all of the bartenders there (and they, us). My softball team (the Badboys) is sponsored by them, and it's probably our favorite bar in the City, where we go more often than anywhere else. They sponsor tons of charities, and seem to cater to every niche of the gay Castro community: bears, leathermen, club kids, the young and old. Even though it's a darker bar than some other places in the gayborhood, it was the easiest decision to have the party there because of the history we have with them. I say all this because The 440 helped me throw one of the best fucking parties I could have imagined for Fred's 40th. Truly.
I want to say a special Thank You to the staff of 440: David, Tony, Scott, Marcus, Ben, and Rick for everything to make the day extra special for Fred.
(And doing so under pressure to fill in gaps when some of their scheduled bartenders called in sick. They wouldn't let me pay for the 11 pizzas I had ordered for the crowd.)
Special Thanks to Scott S for helping me with the decorations...I was having a panic attack that everything wouldn't get done in time before he showed up.
Special Thanks to John (squalidbear) for helping me get the cake to the bar, even from 75 miles away. You helped me more than you know, honestly.
Special Thanks to Derek (qrod) for taking tons of pictures while I was running around making sure everyone was taken care of and that everyone was smiling and happy. I did pull out my camera and get in a few shots here and there, but Derek really managed to capture much more than I was able to. Fred has placed Derek's pictures up on his Flickr page here.
Special Thanks to the Goldrushers, the gay hockey team that was having a beer bust at the same time of our little/big party, especially for not doing raffle tickets (they did pretty well with people making donations and buying the beer busts) and microphone announcements!
Really, the biggest thanks I can give is to the 100 plus people who showed up, who stumbled in and stayed, who found out about it late and still stopped in, on a gorgeous and hot San Francisco day, to a dark (and at times stiflingly warm) bar, when there were a ton of other sunnier (if not necessarily cooler places they could have been, and so many wearing FTP shirts. Some were picking up a new one for the first time, which was pretty cool too. Fred gave out about 60 of them at the party, and while I didn't capture it well in the pictures, looking out at the crowd of tons of guys all wearing FTP shirts, well, let's just say it was a priceless gift. Looking around at everyone laughing, enjoying themselves, and having a great time...that's what makes an amazing party. As stressed as I was about making this Fred's best birthday ever, with the perfect location, perfect cake, the reality is, the people were what made it so memorable. When everyone was singing Happy Birthday to him, I could tell he was fighting back tears.
Here's a photoset of some of the best shots I managed to take at the party. Really, the pictures (SFW) don't do it justice.