The Little People Social Club

Arnold00:00:00

Our guest today has done a variety of things.He's a filmmaker, novelist, husband and father.But did you know he also founded a chain of ping pong social clubs, also a western themed pickleball saloon in Texas.We're going to find out more about what he is doing lately on St. Louis in Tune.Saint Louis and Tune.And thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world.I'm Arnold Stricker along with co host Mark Langston.And folks, we're glad that you've joined us today.We have a very interesting show today.Want to thank our sponsor Better Rate Mortgage for their support of the show.You can listen to previous shows@st.lintune.com where you can follow us and leave a review.Our thought for the day the happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts and the company you keep to share them with.The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts and the company you keep to share them with.We're going to share some really great company today and he's got some interesting thoughts about his latest project.Jonathan Bricklin has spent a lifetime collecting stories, some true, some improbable and a few that just refuse to reveal which they are.As I mentioned earlier, he's an entrepreneur, a filmmaker, a novelist, husband, father, co founded the chain of ping pong social clubs, Spin, opened a western themed pickleball saloon in Texas and produced more than a dozen feature films.His most unusual undertaking, however, is the revival of the Little People Social Club.His most unusual undertaking, however, is the revival of the Little People Social Club.Jonathan Bricklin, welcome to St. Louis in Tune.

Jonathan00:01:57

Thank you so much for having me.

Arnold00:01:59

Now people are going to wonder the first thing that's going to come out of their mouth is what is the Little People Social Club in New York?What is that all about?

Jonathan00:02:09

That all about?Yeah, that is.That's the question.And where do you begin on a question like that?Let me me go back to the beginning sounds.I was in college in California, in Los Angeles, and I think the year was 1990 or 9 and I wanted to make a short film.I had written a short story and it was called A short Story.And I thought if I can't get celebrities, like if I can't get Tom Cruise to be in my movie, like what would, why would it be interesting to anybody, a stranger and for whatever reason and it's now shaping the course of my life, I decided that Little People were the equivalent of celebrities, maybe a little bit different, but the curiosity factor, I thought was the next best thing.So I went about casting Little People for this short film that I made and it was a whole adventure into itself.Now, it's been a long time, like close to 30 years since then, and I haven't had much thought about Little People until about six months ago.And I was just opening a business in Texas.It's a pickleball balloon.And the day we opened was in kind of a funk.And I asked myself, what if I could do anything, literally anything, like why?What would it be?Why?Why am I here?And this is what popped in my head.Just a bit of a long answer, but the, the.And it doesn't actually make any sense.But what popped in my head was a social club designed, scaled appropriately for little people.So it was, it had a bit of an Alice in Wonderland kind of magical, otherworldly thing going on, but wasn't comical or like absurdly small or miniature where it was impractical.Like the point would be for it to be completely practical.When I get into the details of a lot of the entertainment and stuff.And the design of the place, like a ping pong table, for instance, is already fairly low.Like they're two and a half feet tall.And no one would, no one really knows that it feels particularly low when you measure it out.But you wouldn't want to go too much lower on a ping pong table, maybe three or four inches.You can make the tabletop itself a little bit smaller.So everything scaled appropriately.The main bar is probably the centerpiece and so there would be a massive bar towards a very low counter.And so there's also a, like ADA regulations and things that need to be followed for everybody's height and size and things.But the place is a social club.It's going to have a speakeasy entrance, which I just, even though maybe they've already been done, I just, they always make me happy.I like the speakeasy entrance.

Arnold00:04:52

They're interesting.

Mark00:04:54

Yeah.

Jonathan00:04:54

Who don't like Rador?And then, then there's the main bar, lounge.There's going to be all the great classic parlor games in my estimation was classic parlor games.Billiards and ping pong and shuffleboard and foosball and air hockey, backgammon, chess dart and then duck pin bowling, which will not be modified.It'll just be regular duck pin bowling, which a lot of people haven't done.But smaller ball, smaller pin, shorter throw way, but.And then in addition, the final two pieces is there's going to be a disco dance floor.And I'm really excited about creating a great dance scene at this place in New York City.And then also finally, a puppet theater.Puppet theater, I'm always a little hesitant to mention because, I don't know, it sounds almost silly, but I really wanted an actual theater, but size isn't going to allow for it.And then I just decided that puppet theater would be really cool as long as it's curated with cool puppet shows and things.Anyway, that's sort of the.And then a couple private rooms that will be.

Arnold00:05:58

Is this just open for little people or to anybody?

Jonathan00:06:01

So thank you.That's the most important question.I should probably always lead with that.No question about it is the concept is it's designed for little people but open to everybody.And the immediate pushback that I got was people assumed that it would be for little people.If it's designed for little people, then it's for little people, but there's not enough little people in any particular market really to make the business side of it really work.And so the concept is really just designed for little people.I have as many little people as possible that enjoy the place.It certainly worked there from manager to bartender.So as many little people as possible.And then the curiosity factor and just the novelty of the interior design.I'm counting on it being a tree here.People just be curious.And then I have a couple little kids and they have furniture and tables and things that are actually not flexible at all.And I can sit on a little chair that about a foot above the ground.And so I really want the place from the furniture standpoint, to be designed so NBA basketball players could comfortably fit in the chair, not like super comfortable and be able to.So, yeah, the answer is, it's open, everybody.

Arnold00:07:18

What's been the thought from little people in the area in New York City or that you've gleaned nationally about this?What have they said about this?

Jonathan00:07:28

Great question.So I'm not a little person.I never really identify either way when I meet people, or at least on the radio kind of thing.But I partnered with a woman named Fat Timbo, and I'm not making that up.Her name is Fat Timbo and she is extraordinary.She is a little person.She lives in England and she is a creator, author, comedian.She's just really stylish, super cool woman.And she has particularly strong feeling about inclusion, fur and design.And so I met her actually through ChatGPT, which was fantastic.I asked Chet should be, who are some of the more prominent little people in the world that would be perfect for this concept?And her name came on this short list.And so I reached out to her and she just immediately responded to the idea of designing a place first and foremost for her, which never happens.And then she's British so she can appreciate the social club angle very much.And so that's been on one side of the spectrum, spectrum of reactions that have been incredible.And then on the other side has really just been what I touched upon, which was that there's not enough little people to support a business in any area.It depends on the numbers or stats that you look at.But there's between 1 to 2 million little people worldwide and in any market that was found to be a huge dent.

Mark00:09:00

Wow, that's worldwide?

Jonathan00:09:02

Yeah, that's worldwide and in America, I want to say it was listed in the hundreds of thousands, but the numbers have been all over the place from when I Google it and stuff.Initially when I started researching this project, I was using ChatGPT for some numbers and things and it in a very encouraging kind of tone was like, oh, there's at least dozens to a hundred little people in the New York City market.

Arnold00:09:25

That's really.

Jonathan00:09:27

That was my next question.

Mark00:09:28

How many little people are in New York?

Jonathan00:09:30

So yeah, I'm going to find out.I'm going to find out, but not that many.

Mark00:09:36

You know, there's a concept like Jonathan, where.How did this come into your brain?

Jonathan00:09:41

My brain?

Mark00:09:43

Yeah.I think it's very creative.I just want to say that right off the top, but same like your pickleball bar, which I.It's tough for me to say pickleball bar.I think a saloon would be better.

Jonathan00:09:53

But yeah, pickleball saloon is what hit because it's a western theme.So I really love the saloon word for it.It's perfect.And we have this gorgeous huge bar which is perfect for.Yeah.In 2009, I opened a ping pong club in New York City called bin.And I had just, I was about 30 years old, 29 30.And I just like at that age, fallen in love with playing ping pong, which is weird, and decided with my friend that if we opened a ping pong club, it would create a really great environment and it would bring most importantly, bring all the great ping pong players in the area in the New York City, great players from around the different Connecticut and New Jersey and all over the Northeast and then European players.And so yeah, it worked brilliantly.It did what I did account for was the alcohol was the way to pay the rent and then I would drink the alcohol instead of playing ping pong.I intended so it worked perfectly.Greatest players, Olympic legends all come to our and still we're still open after 17 years come to our ping pong club.Ping pong club started me off in this social club and it gives you a little context into where I'm coming from.And the idea, idea to incorporate little people is definitely off the wall but I guess really it's the environment.It's so weird but I just in my mind the idea of a appropriately designed tailored environment especially with all these fun parlor games, these fun little things like it just gets me really excited about making it real and people experiencing it and having fun in that kind of an environment.

Arnold00:11:31

This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of St. Louis in Tune.We're talking to Jonathan Bricklin.He's talking about his latest endeavor which is the Little People Social Club in New York City.And that Website folks is littlepeople.com Jonathan, the gosh where I got a gazillion questions that are just rolling around in my brain here.The membership on that or is this open to anybody or how do people like hey I'm going to be in New York City next weekend or around the holiday time, can I go to this thing?

Jonathan00:12:02

Yeah.So we're not open yet.So not yet.But the idea behind membership is something that I'm very excited about people hopefully liking.It's a double edged sword I want to curate especially before pre opening a really strong membership banks as much as possible and there's tons of really great things about a members club.On the flip side they become somewhat homogeneous or just similar and you see the same people and it doesn't make for interesting nightlife or just social kind of connections.So there's a real balance between those two.What I'm doing is we're going to have membership, annual memberships I'm selling right now, lifetime founding memberships but for the average, for the normal person it means you could buy an annual membership, you have to apply or you can buy a week long membership if you're visiting New York where you wanted to come test it out for a second.It's a week long duration of the membership and it's based on the price is based on your height.So it's, it's not like if you're over 6ft it's going to be the highest price point and if you're somewhere between 5ft and 6ft.It has a couple different prints and.

Arnold00:13:15

All those NBA basketball players in there.

Jonathan00:13:18

Then they're going to have it like yeah, they're going to definitely be allowed.They definitely have to pay the most.We may have an NBA third charge now.They mentioned it.I think we.

Mark00:13:26

There you go.I like that.Are there any photographs on the wall?We have from St. Louis.We have Mickey Carroll from the wizard of Oz lived here.Do you have photographs of any of these famous little people?And I'm going to.

Jonathan00:13:39

That's a great question.Herve Village has from Fantasy Island.Yes.Very little person, super stylish and he died young.He was I think when he died in 1949.So it's absolutely cool.And then Billy Barty is.Is a legend.When I back when I was a kid making my little short film I learned about Billy Barty and his influence and involvement in Hollywood.So I do have a photo of Billy and and then of course but at the moment those are the two fats.Timbo is so stylish.He's like a supermodel.I'm not even kidding.She's super stylish and I think she probably had some photos that we will put on the walls for sure.And then also non little people not rat pack as much but swanky billiards and parlor y atmosphere for our website and promotions I've been lots of things and some people don't like for visual stuff I'm terribly good at photop it's really great and it really just comes down to the ideas in my opinion for not something AI it's just the idea that you're doing but in any case there's lots of opportunities to put little people in different situations in a photograph that I think we might the.

Arnold00:15:00

I the idea that you're doing this really is if you think Mark if you think about this if I'm deaf or I'm blind there have been accommodations made ada wise but if I'm a little person when you go to a place most of the things are I don't want to say for big people but for big bigger people and it's not the there isn't an accommodation made.It's like do you want do you need a lift chair or something?I think the idea that you're doing this is really relevant but it also goes to something you say on the website and I'm going to read it.The little people social club was born from a simple belief Meaningful friendships rarely happen by accident in an increasingly digital World the founders believe thoughtful design physical spaces still possess the power to slow people down, spark conversation, encourage curiosity and remind us that genuine human connection remains one of life's greatest luxuries.The social aspect of this, that's the whole idea of getting people to talk to one another, interact, make new friendships.Is that what's behind this?

Jonathan00:16:05

Jonathan, that sounded so good.I can't believe that's our website here reading of it.

Arnold00:16:11

Well, thank you.

Jonathan00:16:12

Thank you.Yes, the answer is yes.Social network I was obsessed back when the very first social networks were starting to come out.Friendster, I don't know if you remember that one and I've been very fascinated with that.And then when we opened our ping pong club it was also in among around that time when social networks were really taking off.And so the idea of a physical social network was something I always thought about and quite frankly wanted to monetize as a virtual social network but never did dabbled with the ping pong and themed network of sorts.But the idea of the physical space influencing how you meet people or if you meet people is definitely interesting and more important than ever, no question about it.And then going back to what you were saying about little people in fat and not having environments that are designed for them like as a tall person you also face lots of inconveniences like a really tall person I would imagine the shower, sure your head or the bed is long enough or a coach seat on an airplane ticket isn't very comfortable.However, there are accommodations for tall people always with money and there, there never are with little people who's ever extra luxury package where they can, it'll accommodate their specific needs.So it is, it's an overlooked, overlooked segment of society that I don't know if we need to light shine on it but I feel it's nice to do it at the moment.I'm enjoying that and I think it.

Arnold00:17:42

Does because you brought up a good point that if you do have funds available and you are tall, you can get that extra long bed made, you can get those seats where you can get the extra leg room, you can get that extra big SUV where you take out the front seat and you sit in the back like Wilt Chamberlain did and things like that.But otherwise what do you have to do if you're a little person?It doesn't work that way.

Jonathan00:18:02

We have to adapt and have a sense of humor.

Arnold00:18:05

Did you think back from your short shot the ferris wheel that you would end up here?

Jonathan00:18:10

No, not in a million years.And if I had AI then it probably could have easily done the math and we figured that out that there would be somehow some intersection here.But no, I always wanted to be a movie director and make movies.And then I became disillusioned at the business side of it and.And then at the same time got into the ping pong business and then that's just carried me to where I am now.

Arnold00:18:35

I've always had a curious question.What is it like to sit in a bathtub of ping pong balls?

Jonathan00:18:40

Dirty.I don't recommend it.It really is.It's way too dirty.And it became one of our signature things at our ping pong bar.But I don't think I wouldn't recommend it.

Mark00:18:50

Okay, now, did you say there was.Did you say there was a disco dance for.

Jonathan00:18:57

Yeah, I'm not the best dancer and so I'm the last.I'm not the authority on dancing in New York City, but dancing is the best.I think it's the highest form of socializing in some ways.I mean that actually.And in New York City, at least a long time ago, it's not all weed easy.They define the dance places or whatever.And a lot of the more fun dance places are the most exclusive, impossible to get into.And so anyway, just you're really curating a great small dance floor and having the regularity of it and it just being reliable that you know there's a great dance floor with good music playing.I feel like we'll give it a heart and soul to this place that you won't be able to copy.

Arnold00:19:43

Jonathan, speak to the little people out there and also the, the big people and the regular people about the importance of this in a 30 or 45 second, 60 second commercial.

Jonathan00:19:55

All right, thank you, little people.Social Club is going to bring a welcomed perspective, a new, welcomed, fresh, original perspective to the world in general.And I think it can become a cultural landmark in New York City if we really do it right.So I don't know, come check us out as soon as possible.

Mark00:20:18

Do you have a answer when you're going to open up?

Jonathan00:20:22

So no, the answer is we have to decide on our actual location.Right now we have two that are pretty good and the one one or they're both a little bit on the small side.One is in the perfect location but it's a bit small, and then the other one's in a decent location and a bit bigger, but still a little small.So I think I'll know the exact opening date closer to December.So like another probably another month and a half, two months before we.

Mark00:20:52

There'll be a red carpet and I hope we can come and see that.That would be so much fun.

Jonathan00:20:57

Oh, you're absolutely on the list.I promise you that.It's really a pleasure having someone to talk to about this idea.So when I first started, I assumed it was going to be mainly negative pushback from people.Mainly because I'm not a little person.I figured people would probably not.Yeah, I think this is very cool.Surprisingly, everyone's been awesome and excited about it.Yet I'm still very on guard that there's going to be some pushback, but I'm waiting for it now.

Arnold00:21:28

At this point, I think there's pushback on anything, Jonathan.

Jonathan00:21:31

Yeah, no, there.There totally is.And I tried to explain to one person when we kind of got into it a little bit that there was no financial dean on my end from this other than hopeful, very optimistic perspective.So it's like there's not any exploitation going on a very basic level.And so although I hope it does make money and it's successful and I actually think it will be, it's not, certainly isn't the reason I'm doing it.There's other reasons, other ways to make money.

Arnold00:22:04

If you can help people make friends in a new club and you could encourage people to accept little people as a regular part of society and not somebody who you kind of look at or in particular pejorative places.It's important what you're doing, and I know Mark and I both appreciate that.We're always about promoting what's good for the general society and culture.

Mark00:22:29

Yeah, yeah.We all have.

Jonathan00:22:31

The world is like, unusual, and the different size and shapes of human beings expand the full spectrum from little people to Kill o' Neill and bigger and pretty bizarre and awesome at the same time.So I love your perspective and I definitely hope that we can really use little people as the jumping off point to celebrate all of humanity's craziness and brilliant.I put it all together, sizes and shapes.

Mark00:23:03

I go through it all the time.I got many different sizes and shapes for my body.

Arnold00:23:08

Jonathan Bricklin, thank you for joining us today on St. Louis in Tune.We're grateful that you took time out of your schedule to talk to us about the latest endeavor, Little people Social club.Jonathan, thank you.

Jonathan00:23:18

Oh, thanks again.You guys are awesome.I appreciate it.

Arnold00:23:21

Bye.

Mark00:23:21

Bye.Bye.Bye.

Arnold00:23:21

Mark.What an interesting perspective.He's quite an entrepreneur at what he's doing.

Mark00:23:26

Yeah, I would say so.Entrepreneur is a good word for Jonathan to just venture out down this road.I think you said it earlier, it's fantastic that there's someone like Jonathan that's willing to take the chance to go that way.And I commend him for that.

Arnold00:23:46

Yes.

Mark00:23:47

And I think there is definitely room for this, especially in a place like New York.They're a little more acceptable in other places but I think it's fantastic.I'd love to go to the place once it's open and if you can.

Arnold00:24:00

Imagine that you are a little person or again I went into you're blind or you're deaf or physically handicapped.What did physically handicapped people do before the curb cuts?There was.It was hard to get around.Now there's electronic chairs and there's.There's not even braille reading anymore.Things can be read to you and if you're deaf, you know, cochlear implants.If you're a little person and you're trying to reach something, you have to accommodate where you live.Everything needs to be accommodated for you.Just like somebody who's extremely tall like some of these huge NBA players.But we tend to my words, ignore the little person.So I think it's a great thing.

Mark00:24:37

Sad recruit.It is.I know years ago our radio station, I employed a little person and it was interesting to see how he rode his car.What he had to do to.It wasn't that it was available to him.He had to modify the car so he could drive it as well as when he came to the radio station and went in the studio.We had a stand up board and it was made for folks that are.I put 10 or more.So he had, he worked on figuring out a way to accommodate it for him and they're like, fair enough.There really has never been any accommodation for little people and I think it's great that they have.They'll have a social club where they can go and gather and meet and just have fun and who knows what'll happen there.I think it would be a lot of fun.

Jonathan00:25:28

I agree.

Mark00:25:28

And big people are coming in right now.

Arnold00:25:30

Absolutely.Folks, that's all for this hour.We thank you for listening.If you've enjoyed this episode you can listen to additional shows@stlintune.com where you can follow us and leave a review.I want to thank Bob Bertha Sell for our theme music, our sponsor Better Rate Mortgage, our guest Jonathan Bricklin and co host Mark Langston.And we thank you for being a part of our community of curious minds.St. Louis in tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US Radio Network.Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy and let your light shine.For St. Louis in tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.