The Airliner Pandemic Fund
Donation protected
Hello dear friends,
Nearly two years ago we (Sean and Monica) embarked on this very tumultuous journey to acquire, renovate, and restore the historic Airliner Bar/restaurant/showroom in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles. We put every cent we personally had into the project, and after much trial, tribulation, and with the financial support of some very incredible investors who believed in us, we were finally, in the last week of January 2020, able to open our doors to the public. It was an incredibly validating opening month of February, with very positive press, weekly increasing patronage, sales, events, and location rentals.
And then March 2020 hit us like a coronavirus infected sledgehammer. Over the last two and a half weeks, patronage of the bar has been dwindling on a daily basis, and all of our scheduled events canceled as news of the crisis spread and the severity of the situation increased. Every hour and every day, the news changed and we rapidly tried to react with cutting shifts down to a skeleton crew and limiting our hours, but on 3/15, the city of Los Angeles ordered all bars and restaurants to shut down operations immediately.
All of our income has come to a grinding halt and we obviously had no financial contingency plan for a global disaster requiring us to shut down for the unknowable future. So far, we have been ordered to close until March 31st but reality is that it will probably be much longer, possibly months.
As you might imagine, being a brand new business, we have had no time to build up a safety net of capital and have no access to traditional loans or help from the Small Business Administration. We now have absolutely no way to pay our rent, fixed monthly costs, or outstanding invoices. We sacrificed everything we had- previous jobs, savings- everything, to create this business and now we're literally on the verge of losing it all after one month of being in business because of this insanity.
We are well aware that the majority of you out there are in, if not exactly, a probably similar boat, but if there is anyone seeing this that has disposable income they'd be willing to donate to help us get through at least the next month, the appreciation we would have towards you is beyond the words needed to express the proper gratitude. ANY dollar amount is greatly appreciated.
If we do end up getting through this, it will almost surely only be because of the generosity of people like you.
Please consider donating to keep us afloat, and know for a fact we will be throwing you the biggest party we can afford when we re-open our doors.
Much love to you all,
Sean & Monica
Nearly two years ago we (Sean and Monica) embarked on this very tumultuous journey to acquire, renovate, and restore the historic Airliner Bar/restaurant/showroom in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles. We put every cent we personally had into the project, and after much trial, tribulation, and with the financial support of some very incredible investors who believed in us, we were finally, in the last week of January 2020, able to open our doors to the public. It was an incredibly validating opening month of February, with very positive press, weekly increasing patronage, sales, events, and location rentals.
And then March 2020 hit us like a coronavirus infected sledgehammer. Over the last two and a half weeks, patronage of the bar has been dwindling on a daily basis, and all of our scheduled events canceled as news of the crisis spread and the severity of the situation increased. Every hour and every day, the news changed and we rapidly tried to react with cutting shifts down to a skeleton crew and limiting our hours, but on 3/15, the city of Los Angeles ordered all bars and restaurants to shut down operations immediately.
All of our income has come to a grinding halt and we obviously had no financial contingency plan for a global disaster requiring us to shut down for the unknowable future. So far, we have been ordered to close until March 31st but reality is that it will probably be much longer, possibly months.
As you might imagine, being a brand new business, we have had no time to build up a safety net of capital and have no access to traditional loans or help from the Small Business Administration. We now have absolutely no way to pay our rent, fixed monthly costs, or outstanding invoices. We sacrificed everything we had- previous jobs, savings- everything, to create this business and now we're literally on the verge of losing it all after one month of being in business because of this insanity.
We are well aware that the majority of you out there are in, if not exactly, a probably similar boat, but if there is anyone seeing this that has disposable income they'd be willing to donate to help us get through at least the next month, the appreciation we would have towards you is beyond the words needed to express the proper gratitude. ANY dollar amount is greatly appreciated.
If we do end up getting through this, it will almost surely only be because of the generosity of people like you.
Please consider donating to keep us afloat, and know for a fact we will be throwing you the biggest party we can afford when we re-open our doors.
Much love to you all,
Sean & Monica
Fundraising team: The Airliner (3)
Sean Kelly
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Monica Blair
Beneficiary
Lucy Randall Kelly
Team member
