My love and gratitude to the attendees of our grand opening party last Saturday. We counted over a hundred people—many friends, neighbors, and colleagues—each of whom has played a role in making LG possible. My thanks to Javier Manrique for his artwork and Phil Deal for his “sonic wallpaper”; we are fortunate to have such talented, mature artists supporting our young business. Javier’s work will remain on display through the fall.
Thanks again to those mentioned in my speech—Tami’s sister Heather, for flying from Manhattan to help; Sara Guren, Bow Beeman, and Aparna Bole, old friends who made the trip from Cleveland; Dave Berry, our skillful real estate agent; Norman and Floriana Petersen, the landlords who took a risk with us; Abraham Zavala, our genius architect; Alberto Gonzolez, the reason our building is in such good shape; Pacific Automotive Company, for their parts and also for granting our first credit account; Golden Gate Petroleum, supplier of “green” oil, fuels, and solvents; Evergreen Environmental, our waste management provider, for their commitment to recycling; Barry Zupan of K&L Automotive for his patience and attention; Mike Argo, who sold us most of our second-hand equipment; Richochet Consignment, for our second-hand furniture; craigslist, our source for plants, furniture, electronics, and everything else we’ve collected second-hand; Murat Wahab, our fabulous banker at Wells Fargo Haight St (the first bank in SF to be recognized as a green business); Jean Nelsen, our capable accountant; Maria Do Céu, my mentor and former boss from Out West Garage; Jack Rosebro of Perfect Sky Hybrid Training, for his technical expertise, general advise at all hours, and consulting on sustainability; Paul Cowden of Cowden’s Automotive and Pat Cadam of Pat’s Garage for their advise; Cobra Creative, our total source for web and brand work; Chuck Sanger, designer of our first poster; the San Francisco Electric Vehicle Association for allowing us to host their meetings; Calcars’ Felix, Randy, and Ron for their enthusiasm and allowing us to host their most recent conversion; Cindy Choi of OEMTek and Rob Protheroe of Plug-in Supply for working towards our goal to have a plug-in kit available by the first of the year; SF Green Cab for choosing us for their fleet account; Dane Golden for his recent article for Wired.com; Jamie Lynch of KGO for the recent interview; The Heather Gold Show, for choosing us as their latest venue; and last, my dear Tami for her passion, creativity, and love.
