Beer!

1) As we move ahead with plans for a beer venture, part II, we're seeing all sorts of places: Places in Soho, where all the expat bankers drink; abandoned light bulb factories just a block away from a ton of nightclubs, but up a hill where we wonder if anyone would venture; next to aquariums in a neighborhood filled with awesome restaurants that locals (chinese and western) love, but a neighborhood nonetheless that doesn't draw the people it should for its quality of food; 1600 square-foot behemoths on the second floor (HK; third floor US) in Wan Chai, with a street hawker below touting some useless produce As Recently Seen On TV; and in Sai Ying Pun, which is halfway between my place in Kennedy Town and Soho.

All have their advantages and disadvantages. I have a favorite, in a neighborhood I think is up and coming, but little is there yet. It's scary, though, looking at the rents of some of these places. In the up and coming areas, $3,000 US a month for ground level. In Soho, $10,000 a month. All for 700 square feet. And with no guarantee we can get a liquor license regardless.

My biggest frustration with this city is how no one tries anything new. It's copy, copy, copy. But in a small way, I understand more of that now. If you are spending that amount of money on rent, do you try the unknown? Or do you do a plan that has worked in other neighborhoods and will get you a 10 percent return?

I know where I stand. I would rather take the risk on a bigger payout, but make sure it is a well calculated risk. But oy, these rents are scary. And you really do understand how this city really is run by the landlords. Crappy beers don't cost $5 US in bars because labor is expensive. Nope, it costs that because rent is so high. (Bar workers often get $1,000 US a month for full-time work.)

2) Speaking of repeats, a new bar is moving into my hood again.

First the backstory: When I moved in to my place in 2006, A Japanese restaurant and a separate bar were just opening underneath me, on the ground floor. The bar was the first one to cater to expats in my neighborhood; the only other bar in the hood catered to locals, and in my two times I went there, I found them very hostile to Westerners.

The bar below me did good business, and the manager left after 6 months or a year and opened up a bar a block and a half away, right across from the Merton, a huge collection of high-rise apartment buildings that face the harbor. At that point, the only thing across the street from the Merton was all auto repair shops. He took a risk in leaving his bar to open his own place, which he called The Place.

The Place was a hit right away. It saw a huge audience right across from the Merton, and being gweilos, they were more inclined to drink at the bar across the street from their home instead of at the one a block away. If I remember right, it opened in 2007 and did good business, opening a coffee shop next door a year later, then another location in Sheung Wan (a neighborhood 2 districts east of here), and finally the Sports Place, a sports bar a few blocks away in the spot where the local-focused bar used to be, but had since closed down.

So to recap, 3 bars and a coffee shop.

And now, all of the outlets in Kennedy Town are shut down. The sports bar shut down this spring. And in the summer, The Place bar shut down, apparently after the landlord wanted to drastically increase the rent for the third time. And then they got in a pissing match, the story goes, and shut down the coffee shop, too.

And as I walked by The Place's shell today, they were doing remodeling for a "Pizzeria and Bar" with "Belgian beers" (which I assume will mean InBev's standards, Leffe and Hoegaarden and Stella Artois). And that will be the third pizza place on that immediate block.

I've pitched the beer bar idea to people by telling them that we don't necessarily have to be located in Soho to get customers. No one thought Kennedy Town would support bars, but it has and now has a French bistro across from the Merton. And what it took was someone who took a risk.

And look what happened. They helped build the name, and then got booted for their own success, because they made the neighborhood more attractive, and thus expensive.

The proof is in the pudding

More evidence of gentrification in my hood: The local grocery store across the street from me now has tater tots and TGIFriday's frozen potato skins appetizers. And a small wall of cereals.

residency!

What? Posts, two days in a row, when I barely do them once a month?

Yes. For this. Hong Kong long has depended on immigrant labor, whether it is restaurant workers from the Philippines, bar managers from Nepal, domestic workers from Indonesia, trade procurers from Japan, economists from the U.S. or journalists from Canada (or the U.S.).

After seven years here (a year to go!) we all get permanent residency, which means we qualify for a few things, the biggie being we do not have to be sponsored for work visas, meaning I could quit my job and just work at McDonald's if I wanted, and not be deported.

Unless you are a domestic worker. Who works for about $450 US a month, plus getting a sleeping space (some people here offer a separate room or bunker; others only provide a mat next to the children they look over, in effect letting the workers sleep like a dog.), food, and insurance, unless you are foolish enough to get sick, in which case your employer may cut you for being too expensive for using the insurance.

Domestic workers do not accumulate years toward permanent residency. Bar workers do, but not domestic workers, until yesterday, when a judge ruled they do. This still has a long way to go, and I would not be surprised if in some way, it is overturned.

But my thoughts? Without these workers, there would not be a HK for most middle- and upper-classes. There is no day care here. Why? Because it has been privatized - if you want day care, you hire an amah, a domestic helper.

But in a city built on immigrants - check the history, and how big HK was 150, 100 and 50 years ago - the rules wanted to say that some immigrants are good enough to stay under their call (like this writer), but others are not, and can be sent home immediately after being fired, even if they have worked here for 25 years.

Something smells rotten here. I'll leave it at that.