In late summer of '95, I was promoted to General Manager at Renaissance. It was a great day. It was announced in the middle of a staff meeting while the much-maligned consultants were being terminated in the other room. The staff actually applauded, it felt great.
Our first step was to re-brand the restaurant, which we envisioned as an upscale southwestern approach called the Rattlesnake Cantina. In the end, the restaurant was a small portion of our sales with the real money coming from the club business and special events. During the next few months, I also aided one of the owners in various new openings of clubs on the west side and in Hollywood, as well as some consulting gigs. All in all, I really enjoyed the work and saw an opportunity for the first time that was beyond acting. For the first time, I identified myself as something other than an actor. I was, and am, a restaurant operator.
Cathy and I also began a short discussion about having children. We had been married almost 5 years and we both wanted children. Cathy wanted 1, I wanted 5. At least we knew we were starting with the same number. In December of 1995, we decided to try to get pregnant. trying is actually pretty fun, I strongly recommend it to those considering having a child!
