“Working In The City” is The San Diego Sun’s feature Q&A series with downtown San Diego business operators. It’s a way to get to know the city by meeting the people who work here. This is the 17th in an ongoing series.
Company: 5th & Market Group (El Chingon, Havana 1920, and Prohibition)
What happens here: El Chingon is a Mexican restaurant, bar and nightclub. Havana 1920 is a Cuban restaurant and bar, with live music. Prohibition is a speakeasy bar, featuring craft cocktails, extensive liquor selection, live music, and weekly public jam sessions. All are located in the Gaslamp Quarter near Fifth Avenue and Market Street.
Wait, there’s more: 5th & Marketing Group operates under GBOD Hospitality Group. GBOD started when brothers Raymond and Patrick Davoudi opened Meze Greek Fusion (Gaslamp). The brothers engaged hospitality veteran Joe Santos as a partner and set their sights on building a portfolio. They now also own Bencotto and Monello (Little Italy), as well as another El Chingon (Fort Worth, TX).
The corporate name: GBOD stands for Go Big Or Die!
Employees: 100-130.
5th & Market General Manager: Hannah Dodge has lived in San Diego for 11.5 years, currently in Pacific Beach. It’s a 15 minute ride to work, except when I-5 traffic doubles that.
Workplace: Despite the increase in the company’s size over the last four years, we’re still pretty “mom-and-pop.” As someone who’s been with GBOD since the beginning, and worked in each venue, I see the feeling of every location as being family owned and operated. It truly takes a village, which we are lucky to have – whether it’s within a Greek, Mexican, Cuban or Italian dining concept.
Best aspects of working downtown: The downtown industry is such a small community of workers, even though it’s big…It feels like an extended family.
Finding staff: After COVID it was rough. Now-a-days, it’s not much of a struggle. We do open interviews every Wednesday and Thursday from 3 to 4 p.m. Always looking for our next rockstar!
Parking: We’re on 5th Avenue, so they shut down the street daily and make it a promenade. The promenade has made downtown more walkable and the foot traffic from business to business is a big plus!
Funniest downtown work memory: For staff birthdays, we Silly String people. We go through their whole shift making them think we forgot their birthdays. When they’re least expecting it we ambush them and cover them head to toe in Silly String.
Scariest downtown work memory: The former dwelling that houses El Chingon, Havana 1920, and Prohibition was built in 1888. It’s a historic building and, oh boy, does this thing have a haunted past. The Prohibition location (underground basement) was San Diego’s first mortuary (1880s). Then it was the Museum of Death (1990s).
Celebrities: We’ve had UFC fighters, MLB players, Top-100 artists and celebrity chefs. Shaboozey stopped by Prohibition when his debut album was out – now look at him! Chef Gordon Ramsey had a great time with us in El Chingon a few years back, he even took home some swag. We have Karlos Paez and Mike Benge from the B-Side players perform weekly in Havana 1920 and/or Prohibition. Most recently, Green Day drummer Tré Cool came to Prohibition while touring in San Diego. He got up on the stage and jammed with the band. It was awesome!
Favorite downtown business that isn’t yours: If we have family in town, it’s Meze for dinner and Shout! House for entertainment. If it was a chill-ish night on the town, we would probably go to Gaslamplighter or Smoking Gun. As a downtown worker, Taste & Thirst and Whiskey House are the go-to hidden gems for amazing food and solid industry deals.
Insider tip for running a downtown SD business: Make sure you’re giving good service, take care of the people that got you here, and acquaint yourself with your neighbors – other restaurants, convenience stores, EMS staff, vendors, SDPD team, etc. You never know who will send business your way, or lend a hand when you need it. SDSun
