 I have parents that call me or message me, you know, behind their kids and say, you know, say that they feel so comfortable having their kids at our place. And that just makes me feel great. Hey guys, thank you for joining me. So I'm starting a new series where I want to interview local businesses, especially during the pandemic, during COVID, who can use our support or help, whether that's showing up and making purchases at their establishment or donating money, whatever we can. So today I have with me, Gio, who are the general manager of GymSports Bar, what's now going to be GymSports Bar and Grill. Okay, great. Tell me what happened and how did we get into the place where you even were going into a new location? Well, we closed the old location when the pandemic started. It was actually four or five months after the pandemic started. Was that by choice or were you in a situation where it was just no longer feasible? I really don't want to talk about that situation at all because there's no, that's the past. And I would like to live in the now and go with that. And the new place, the new place we found is a better place. It's bigger. It's more in the middle of everything. It's now a restaurant and bar. And even though it's going to be the same GymSports Bar, it now has food. And the menu is pretty much set, except we're going to be adding some wraps to it and stuff to make it healthier for the West Hollywood crowd. And you've been pushing to have food for a while now, right? Even before? Yes, we actually wanted to have food before we were thinking about taking over the old coffee bean, but that was becoming too pricey. That was going to be way too expensive to do that. So, I mean, unfortunately, COVID happened and stuff like that. But to me, it's kind of is a blessing in disguise as far as the movement of GymSports Bar in real. So, I mean, I mean, there were plenty of times where I was sitting at the bar and I got hungry and then I had to go to five guys across the way or do another stuff. So, I mean, to be able to stay there and eat too. We had menus. We were handing menus to people. You want to order a pizza? You want to order this? There's Chinese food that you can order. And then the whole bar, I mean, it was just, it was just like, yeah, it was something I was like, so you would see, you would see like, especially some of the kids coming in with boxes of pizza from down the street and stuff like that. But now, now you don't have to go anywhere. Now we have food and it's going to be good food. And it'll be healthy, or most of it will be healthy. And the drinks will always be the same. Delicious and strong. People come to the drinks, so the drinks will always be the same. So, so you've started to go fund me, your fundraising, is it 75,000? That's correct. We started that to help us to help build you a new home in the area that we are building. It's just something that we have to make sure that everything goes according to plan. It's a little cushion that we need. And we're very thankful for whatever anybody can give, whether it be $1 or $1,000, whatever, whatever. We're very thankful from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you so much for anything that you can give. It's been going on for about two weeks now, I think. Yeah, two weeks, it's going pretty well. I mean, 75,000 is a good goal. And I'm hoping we can reach it. And so, tell me a little bit about, I mean, you referred to it as a home, the kind of culture and energy and environment that you've created in this place that's very unique in comparison to all the other bars and restaurants in West Hollywood. I love when I call it a home because it is a home for everyone. It's not just, you know, it's not just a place to go to, to get wasted, which we don't, you know, you get drunk or whatever. It's a home. I love when somebody comes in there for like the first time and you see them and like about 10 minutes of after being there, all of a sudden they let their guard down, they drop, you can see the like release from them because they feel that they're in a comfortable environment. And I love that. I think it's great. And that's what we want to create at the new Gym Sports Bar and Grill. It's a home. And the kids that have been coming to Gym Sports Bar for the last 10 years, they know that this is their new home. And everybody is welcome at this Gym Sports Bar and Grill. I have parents that call me or message me, you know, behind their kids and say, you know, say that they feel so comfortable having their kids at our place. And that just makes me feel great. You know, I love one, I love one that if you're new and you come into our bar and you see me and you want to come up and say, hi, please do, you know, I want you to feel as comfortable as you can. Customer service is my main goal. It's my it's my co-workers main goal to make sure everybody is comfortable at that. And it seems like even people who who go there as patrons, I when I went there and I didn't really know anybody, I mean, I had people, regulars coming up to me saying, Hey, what's your name? Have you been here before? Do you know this person and that person introducing me? So they definitely have taken on that kind of, you know, family energy as well. Yeah, the people that come there are super, super great people. I mean, you know, you once in a while, you get that one, but then 15 minutes, 20 minutes into it, they see the environment changes. You know, they can let their guard down. I'm very protective. I'm very protective of my of the people that come into the bar, my my customers, as well as my employees co-workers. And it's just it's just a great place to relax, you know, and now it's a great place to relax and have food, which is even better. So I mean, come hungry and come thirsty. And speaking of your co-workers, I know I'm sure it's had an impact on them not being able to work at the establishment for a while. Are you able to to bring a lot of them over to the new location as well? A lot of them are coming back. Yes. Unfortunately, some have moved because they couldn't afford to stay here in LA. So they had to move back home and they're probably more comfortable there. So we have talked to a lot of them about coming back to the bar and grill now the restaurant. And hopefully most of them will be able to come back. We did lose a few employees to COVID, unfortunately, but you know, and they'll always have a place at our place in our hearts at the bar and grill. I mean, it's yeah, it's I it's a great team. And it has become a family within itself with not only just the people that work with but with the customers. And that's what makes it great. What makes you want to come back there. Yeah. Okay, give me a quick little, you know, two, three sentences about what you want to say to people as far as donating and helping support your opening. Just that you know, anything you give, you're helping us build you your new home. You know, you're you're we're just very thankful that you're able to give, you know, and hopefully everybody's staying safe and healthy out there because we know that there's a lot going on. We're not we're not blind to that. But whatever you can give, we are very thankful for that. Very thankful. Perfect. Thank you. All right, Geo. Thank you so much for doing this with me. I know you had some technical difficulties. This is take three, but we got it. And I would I think this one was better, but why didn't the second one work? I'm just trying to think why didn't okay, I think I had my husband on there. We were talking about it was it was a user error. Didn't hit the record button. Yeah. Okay, so I definitely want to revisit this and I want and touch base with you and the progress of construction and you guys opening. So we'll definitely do that. And then we'll we'll get Gary in there too. Let's let's plug a show since he's got a new show. Oh, great. Great. His show is called Headliners. It's a virtual show. His next show will be in March, March 15th, I think it is. He's been working. He's been working with amazing talent all over the country. And he's bringing you a live virtual show like you were going into a showroom in Las Vegas or or in New York. And the first show was really great. Such great feedback from the first show. Because the people who bought tickets were not disappointed at all. It's called Headliners. Please like the page on Facebook. Follow him. He's Gary Thomas at Gary Thomas and he's on Instagram. Okay, I'll put links. Yeah, I'll put links to everything down below in the description as well as the bill for me and the yes, please Instagram page for for Jim Barr. Okay, great. Yeah. Yeah, the Jim's Worth Bar and Grill Facebook and Instagram pages. We're fixing that up now and making the Jim's Worth Bar and Grill. And then yeah, if you can plug Gary's show as much as possible, that's awesome too. All right, guys. Thank you for watching. Please again, donate help support for this local worthy community home for everyone. Like this video if you liked it, please subscribe if you haven't already and then share this. The more we can get this word out, the more we can get people to hear about it and donate. All right. Thanks guys. Thanks. Thank you very much. Thank you.