Mission District | The Barefoot Spirit

Immigrants Built Our Economy

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 17:00:20 +0000

Michael’s grandfather, John Francis Houlihan, came over from Ireland in the late 1800s. He was 19 years old. The only passage he could book was above deck on an ocean steamer headed for New York loaded with cattle in the hold. All the immigrants had to make the crossing above deck, exposed to the inclement weather of the North Atlantic. It was cold and windy and at night, the immigrants would huddle next to the smokestacks for warmth. It was a long trip. It was there that he met Michael’s grandmother Nellie, also a teenager at the time, and they fell in love.

When they got to Ellis Island, they were incarcerated in separate prison-like housing until they could prove on paper that they had gainful employment. Communications took forever in those days, so they remained imprisoned for several months. Finally, the word came from San Francisco that John was offered a job cleaning stables at the Sutro Stables that housed the San Francisco Police Department’s horses. John knew horses, but wouldn’t leave until he secured a job for Nellie as a washerwoman in a boarding house in San Francisco.

When they got to San Francisco, they were met with open hostility and prejudice against Irish immigrants because they would take lowly jobs at very low wages. Further, they were viewed as unamerican “papists” because of their Catholic religion which emanated from the Pope in Rome.

In the years that followed, they scraped together enough to make a down payment on their own boarding house. They studied the constitution diligently and became naturalized citizens earning the right to vote. John worked his way up in the stable to become the head horseman. Nellie worked managing room rentals and provided cleaning services for transients.

In 1906, an 8.6 earthquake and ensuing fire destroyed the city. The Sutro stable caught fire. All of the horses perished except the mayor’s prized Percherons. In the confusion and calamity, John had the presence of mind to save them. The mayor asked John how he could possibly thank him. John replied, “Make me a beat cop in the Irish ghetto,” which was the Mission District at the time and the place John and Nellie called home.

John served as a beat cop, walking the streets of the Mission District for 40 years, serving the people of the Mission, keeping the peace, fighting crime, helping in the emergencies, and putting his life on the line. He saw the reconstruction of the City. He attended the Panama Pacific Exhibition in 1915. The Palace of Fine Arts is the only building left standing from the World’s Fair that showed the world that San Francisco was back in business and now; through the newly opened Panama Canal.

John saw World War I and the influx of Italian immigrants that came into the Mission immediately following. He saw prohibition force average Americans to break the law. He saw the Great Depression, the Repeal of Prohibition and World War II. All that time, he saw wave after wave of immigrants come into the Mission and work their way into better lives.

During that time, they had three children. Two died in childbirth. One survived. The survivor, Michael’s father; John Charles Houlihan, was a public servant. Michael’s father worked with others to develop containerized shipping which revolutionized the shipping industry and reduced what they used to call shrinkage, or pilfering by dock workers. The containers were now locked. This alone cut the cost of world commerce significantly. Several container ports sprang up all over the world in the 1970s and ’80s. Shipping was now efficient, safe, and dependable. It became a standard.

Immigrants Don’t Take Citizenship for Granted

Michael grew up spending summers with his Irish grandfather who constantly reminded him of the great opportunity the United States offered to get ahead. He told Michael that hard work paid off in America. He extolled the virtues of American citizenship and expressed deep gratitude for his chance to get ahead in the United States until the day he died.

John and his son gave back to the country in different ways, but their lives improve the lives of many Americans. Think of all the jobs that containerized shipping created, and for that matter, Barefoot Wine.

Immigrants are the backbone of the economy and are why America is so “Great”! Let’s welcome the immigrants who want to work and show their appreciation for having been given the chance. In order to become naturalized citizens and gain the right to vote, they have to learn about the constitution, the divisions of government; and why they exist as well as the checks and balances they provide. Native-born Americans have no such requirement. They can just vote without that knowledge, or not even vote at all. Immigrants generally don’t take citizenship for granted. They understand our government and they vote.

Let’s rethink the value of immigrants and let’s all vote! Democracy is not something immigrants take for granted. Why should we?

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

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How the Irish Got Barefoot

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 14:53:28 +0000

Over one hundred years ago Michael’s grandfather, John Francis Houlihan, left his hometown of Limerick, Ireland, heading for the port city of Cork where he boarded a cattle steamer bound for America. The only passage he could afford was above deck, so in order to stay warm he had to huddle near the smokestack. It was there that he met and fell in love with Nelly Donohue from Donegal. When they finally arrived at Ellis Island they were incarcerated by United States Customs in separate dormitories, where they remained until they could document gainful employment for themselves inside the United States.

John Francis, being a horseman by trade, was able to secure a job cleaning the recently constructed Sutro Stables in San Francisco, California. That’s where the newly created San Francisco Police Department, which replaced the Vigilante Committee, kept their horses and those of the mayor and other public officials. Then, after two more months of correspondence he was finally able to secure a job for Nelly as a washerwoman and cook in a rooming house on Fell Street in San Francisco across from acres of sand dunes that would later become Golden Gate Park.

Nelly and John were married in the 1890s shortly after they moved to San Francisco. They both worked very hard to save enough to make a down payment on a flat in the then Irish ghetto of San Francisco known as the Mission District. Nelly did laundry and John was promoted from cleaning stables to Head Stable Keeper. In 1906 a terrific earthquake hit San Francisco and broke the underground gas mains, causing many huge fires, including one that destroyed Sutro Stables. John Francis, being a resourceful Irishman, only had time to save a few horses from the flames, so he chose to save the mayor’s prized Percherons. The mayor was so grateful that he asked John what he could do to show his appreciation, to which he replied, “I want to be the police officer who walks the beat in my own neighborhood,” and that’s what he did until he retired in 1941. During those years he watched the ghetto change, from Irish who had lifted themselves up by their own bootstraps into civil service jobs, to Italians who were refugees from WWI.

John Francis knew everyone in the Mission, so when Prohibition came to America, John was quick to make peace with the Italian families who brought their family tradition of winemaking with them from the Old Country. He saw the Great Depression and both world wars. He spoke with a thick brogue ‘til the day he died at the ripe old age of 98, surrounded by his wife Nelly, his only son John Charles and his four grandchildren, John, Michael, Mary Ellen, and William.

John Francis and Nelly used their savings to give their only child, John Charles, the best education possible. He graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law and married Emily L’Heureux, third generation Californian. John Charles went on to have a brilliant legal career and was instrumental in the development of containerized shipping. He helped build the Port of Oakland, which was one of the first container ports in the world. Shipping containers revolutionized world commerce by cutting losses and insurance costs to a fraction of what they had been when cargo was loaded and unloaded by hand. They go from factory, to truck, to ship, to rail, sealed and safe. John Charles traveled throughout the world promoting the idea of containerized shipping ports, and today these containers are a part of our lives.

One of John Charles’ sons, Michael, got into the wine business with Bonnie Harvey in 1986. They were put off by the snobbery and the pretension of the wine business and wanted to create a product that had a more friendly and approachable image. They named their winery “Barefoot Cellars” in memory of the way grapes were originally crushed, barefoot, by those Italian families in their bathtubs in the Mission District. Plus, in California, being barefoot was a sign of fun and freedom. It meant you had the day off, the weather was fine, and you were relaxed and happy at the beach, enjoying life. Barefoot Wines became very popular in California especially with the young at heart.

By 2005, Barefoot Wines were being sold across the U.S. and in 28 foreign countries. When the wines finally made it to Ireland, they came in through the same port Michael’s grandfather left as a young man, and in the same shipping containers Michael’s father, John Charles, helped to promote.

… And That’s How the Irish Got Barefoot! Cheers!

Who We Are

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

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The Families of Disabled Veterans Have Double and Triple Duty

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 22:57:34 +0000

This week we were honored to be keynote speakers for the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans’ Families (EBV-F) at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in Upstate New York.

Unlike EBV (Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities), the group we addressed last year that was made up of disabled veterans aspiring to become entrepreneurs, this group was predominantly made up of the wives of veterans who aspire to become entrepreneurs. These women are supporting their disabled husbands physically, emotionally, and in many cases financially. Many of them have husbands who returned home with post-traumatic stress or severe brain injuries. By therapeutically focusing on their new passion (their entrepreneurial venture), many disabled veterans are more able to cope with their new circumstances and develop a sense of pride.

But who runs the back office and the front office? Who keeps the books, collects the receivables and pays the bills? Who makes the sales? Who researches and fights to get the benefits to which their family is entitled? Who fills out the endless forms and jumps through the time-consuming bureaucratic hoops necessary to receive them? And who raises a family at the same time? Most of the time, it’s the wives of the returning disabled veterans. This is demanding triple duty few ordinary people could survive, let along excel at.

EBV and EBV-F are a part of The Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF). On their website, it reads: IVMF depends on support from people like you to help carry out our mission, “In service to those who have served.”

This non-profit organization is primarily made up of former military folks who recognize the need for entrepreneurial education for families of disabled vets who want to start their own businesses or support the disabled vet’s business. This one-week intensive “boot camp” of how-to’s and tips from successful entrepreneurs is sandwiched between a month of online support and a year of mentoring to help these students become successful.

The students stay on the Syracuse University campus and attend educational events from 7am to 10pm daily. Beyond the education, however, we witnessed an additional and significant benefit. The attendees met folks with similar challenges and found out that they were not alone. They not only had a forum but found a support group. Emotions flowed as we heard over and over the demands under which these women have been placed that they never signed up for, or ever expected. Their lives have been drastically changed by the human costs of war. They have been called into duty and have risen to the occasion, loyal to their husbands and doing what they have to do for their families. These wives and families are the true unsung heroes of the war.

We went to encourage, empower and inspire these brave folks, but they inspired us. Their stories really bring home the price our veterans paid, but also the price that their families continue to pay.

Since the end of conscription that drafted our young people into the military, often against their will, we have had an all-volunteer army. Many families were relieved that the dreaded draft had finally ended and that their children were finally safe from being drafted into the war. For most of us, since the end of the draft, war and its casualties seem less close to home.

But now they are coming home and we all have a responsibility to help these brave soldiers and their families become successful and productive civilians. One way we can show our appreciation to these veterans and their families is to support their businesses in our communities. What better way to say “Thank you for your service to our country.”

To learn how you can become involved, contact Raymond Toenniessen, IVMF director of new initiatives & external relations, at 315.443.0256 or rmtoenni@syr.edu.

Who We Are

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

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