I penned several award-winning articles on San Diego’s tech “mafia,” chronicling the rise of the local, thriving tech scene, from the dot-com era to present.  You can read those articles on Fresh Brewed Tech, a local tech blog I helped launch.

The Original Godfathers of San Diego Tech. 

I authored several award-winning articles on the City’s of Vista’s thriving brewery industry, including the one below.

By Andrea Siedsma

A stroll along Vista’s historic downtown during a recent rainy weekday afternoon led to a visit to a couple of breweries where the staff members were friendly and the patrons “hoppy.” One bartender at the Belching Beaver Tavern & Grill on E. Broadway even commented that increased foot traffic from existing breweries is spurring much-needed economic development along this quaint downtown corridor with art-lined sidewalks and buildings. Downtown isn’t the only “hoppening” place for breweries in Vista. From quaint storefronts to populated business parks, Vista – known as the center of “Hops Highway” – is home to nearly 20 craft breweries, the most per capita in any US city. There’s one brewery for every 7,000 people in Vista. In comparison, there’s one brewery for every 19,000 people in the City of San Diego.

In fact, the City of Vista recently won a CALED Award of Merit for spurring economic growth for its support of local craft breweries. The “Gamechanger” Award by the California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED), which was handed out in March, identifies an impactful economic development project that proved to be transformational to the community and local economy.

 A detailed interactive map showing Vista’s various breweries, distilleries and wineries can be viewed here.

Vista’s plethora of breweries did not happen by accident. For the past decade, city officials have included breweries in their economic development plan, which has paid off in a big way in terms of increased tourism, jobs and more. Vista’s cluster of breweries – which are spurring more commercial development – also draw a younger crowd and create a more vibrant community where families can plant roots and small businesses can thrive. The recent announcement by Stone Brewing Co. – one of San Diego County’s largest craft brewers – that it is moving some of its North County workforce, including its leadership team, to its national distribution center in Vista, is another testament of Vista’s brewing prowess.

Bear Roots Brewing representing #vistabeer on the window of its downtown Vista tasting room

Many local craft brewers cite Vista as having plenty of space, reasonable rents, and friendly and supportive city staff. In addition to helping breweries get on their feet, the city has also enacted noise and operating ordinances to keep residents happy. The city even worked with local brewery owners to create the Vista Brewers Guild, whose mission is to foster a better working relationship between the city and the growing number of local breweries.

“The City of Vista has been a contributing factor to the success of local breweries, along with (Development Director) Kevin Ham’s help,” said Daniel Love, Co-Founder of Mother Earth Brew Co. “They are able to do things that most cities struggle with; they help with numerous avenues to give small businesses a leg up. Most cities can’t see the forest through the trees and would rather build roadblocks than help small businesses.”

Mother Earth Brewing Co.’s Daniel Love

Mother Earth – whose name comes from years of Love’s fondness of the outdoors and nature – had its beginnings in 2008 when he got tired of his corporate job and wanted to follow his dream of opening a brewery.  Since then, Mother Earth, which officially launched in 2010, has grown from a modest garage to over 70,000 square feet. Mother Earth – whose Cali Creamin’ brew is a favorite – has the brewery at 2055 Thibodo Road in Vista, a tasting room in old downtown Vista, and a production brewery located in Boise, Idaho that services 17 other states. At one time, Mother Earth was the fastest growing craft brewery in the US.

“Things have settled down now and we really put tons of focus on surviving long term as a business,” Love said.

Part of that long-term growth includes keeping the lines of communication open with the city. “The entire City of Vista has been involved in helping the breweries succeed, from Mayor Judy Ritter to John Conley and the entire planning department. We had a liaison who worked as a financial advisor with the city named Cheryl Mast who helped us with the ABC hurdles and cabaret licenses. It was truly and still is a team effort,’ said Love, who helped formed the Vista Brewers Guild.

“Vista was on the cutting edge of the craft beer revival in 2010,” he added. “All the breweries in Vista do their part to make a great product and attract lots of visitors.”

A peek inside Mother Earth’s Vista brewing facility

For the folks over at Iron Fist Brewing, laying down roots in Vista was a no-brainer, especially since the city is brewery and small-business friendly.

“We had originally wanted to open in (a neighboring city), but it was not friendly to breweries back then,” said Eve Sieminski, Co-founder and Partner of Iron Fist, which opened its doors in 2010. “Mind you, we were either the 32nd or 33rd brewery to open in San Diego County and now I believe there are over 180. The rents were a little on the high side, they wanted us to jump through a lot of hoops, so we decided to look elsewhere. We found a spot in Vista and the city was much more welcoming and the rents were very reasonable, so we moved forward.”

When asked about why Vista is a hub for craft breweries, Sieminski said, “In my own opinion, I believe that others saw packed tasting rooms and thought, ‘Hey I can do that’! Couple that with the welcoming open doors the city had to breweries, which made it easy to open here.”

The idea for Iron Fist started brewing in 2006 after Sieminksi and her family went on a trip to Europe (Germany,  Czech Republic, Poland).

“Our boys were of legal age to drink in Europe so they had a great time and fell in love with beer,” she said. “Upon arriving home, the boys and my husband Greg started to homebrew. Fast forward a couple of years, and the economy bottomed out. I was in real estate and my husband was a contractor. Both of those industries nosedived. Our home brewing was going very well and we decided to take a leap of faith. We had a home equity line of credit so we decided to use it to open Iron Fist.”

Despite some challenges, Iron Fist  – which also has a taproom in San Diego’s Barrio Logan neighborhood and sells its beers in grocery stores and markets throughout Southern California – continues to thrive.

“We’re really excited about our line-up of new experimental brews this year and a trio of new seasonals,” Sieminksi said. “Looking forward to sharing more good times with our customers and some new collaborations in our tap rooms as we continue to grow.”

“I believe the breweries in Vista have played a large role in tourism,” she added. “But we all need our community’s support, so please do visit us!”

Locals and visitors alike frequent Iron Fist Brewery in Vista

The many craft breweries in Vista have certainly forever changed the local economy, and it’s an industry that the city plans to continue to foster.

“The craft brewing industry in San Diego County has more than a $1 billion annual economic impact, and Vista is proud to contribute to that,” said Kevin Ham, Vista’s Economic Development Director. “We want to continue to support and attract these innovative entrepreneurs to our city and region. They bring people into the business parks and more visitors to our city, who, in turn, discovery other local businesses, shops, and hotels. Breweries also create vibrant neighborhoods and serve as community centers where people can connect.”

In an effort to share Vista’s secret recipe for brewing business success, Ham, along with Vista’s Community Development Director John Conley, regularly give a presentation, “Growth on Tap: Fostering the Creation of a Craft Brew Industry” during a Brewing course at UC San Diego Extension.

“We pride ourselves on being a business-friendly city, and that includes breweries,” Ham said. “Our goal is to create diversity in our business parks, as well as tourist attractions and walkable communities, which benefit residents, visitors and the overall business community.”

I wrote several articles for the City of Vista to help promote economic development, including several pieces on the city’s vibrant downtown.

By Andrea Siedsma

Belching Beaver Tavern & Grill’s downtown back patio is popular among residents and visitors alike.

A growing interest in walkable and live-work-play urban experiences are breathing new life into downtowns across the country.

In the City of Vista, California, urban sprawl and economic shifts are also reshaping its downtown as city leaders are putting strategies in place to make downtown more inviting while capitalizing on its civic, cultural, historical, and entertainment assets to further support the vibrant environment needed for a thriving city center.

Historic downtown Vista – which used to handle traffic back in the day from old Highway 395 – has undergone several improvements since the 1990s, including the modification of Broadway to make it more pedestrian friendly, the modification of Main Street to two lanes with meandering sidewalks instead of a major four-lane transportation corridor, and in more recent years, the addition of Vista Village Drive, additional parking lots, decorative lighting, landscaping, and historic wayfinding signs. Significant investments that Vista has made to the sidewalks, streets, parking, lighting, landscaping, and signing in the downtown area over the past 30 years totals about $12 million.

In 2015, the City of Vista mapped out a Downtown Vista specific plan for the continued revitalization of downtown, reestablishing it as Vista’ s commercial, social, and cultural center.  The purpose of the plan is to create a vibrant, attractive, and livable downtown for existing and prospective residents, businesses, and visitors.

“Our vision for downtown Vista is an active, prosperous, and culturally rich city center that attracts both residents and visitors,” said Mayor Judy Ritter. “We envision downtown as a place that provides abundant opportunities to socialize, shop, dine, conduct business, enjoy a variety of events and be enriched and entertained by art.”

Downtown Vista’s renaissance is greatly due to the city’s amplified efforts to attract diverse businesses and investors to the area over the past few years. One of them is Shaks Mediterranean Bistro, which opened in Vista in the fall of 2018 after closing its Armenian Café in Carlsbad due to the purchase and opening of a new hotel.

“Upon losing our location in Carlsbad, we began looking for locations in all of the immediate areas. The City of Vista was very persistent in assisting us to find a location. With their help, and after looking at many locations in Vista, we chose Main Street,” said owner Eddy Shakarjian, also a long-time Vista resident. “I can’t say enough about the city personnel, starting with Kevin Ham and his staff, and John Conley and his staff. They all made the load much easier for us and I was blown away with their kindness.”

“We love downtown Vista,” Shakarjian added. “I have lived in Vista since 1994, before the existence of Vista Village Drive. Main Street was my only way to go home from Carlsbad. I wished for many years for the city to revitalize this area and now it’s happening. We wanted to be part of this revitalization.”

As a business owner and resident, Shakarjian said he and his family are excited about historic downtown Vista’s growth. In fact, he said he has seen increased foot traffic downtown since opening his restaurant.

“We are impressed with all the support from all the locals,” he said. “The bonus is all my customers from other communities such as Rancho Santa Fe, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Del Mar, and La Jolla continue to visit our restaurant, and they are all enjoying seeing the growth in Downtown Vista as well. It’s a win-win situation for us and the city, as well as for other merchants our customers are visiting.”

A couple of blocks away on Broadway, Belching Beaver Tavern & Grill, which opened its doors in 2016, is also attracting more visitors downtown and adding to the city’s thriving brewery and restaurant scene.  Belching Beaver, one of a handful of breweries in downtown Vista, opened the Broadway location after experiencing success with its tap room in Vista’s Business Park.

“When we opened our place in the industrial park, we found the City of Vista really easy to work with,” said Belching Beaver’s co-founder Tom Vogel. “Every now and again one of the city staff would call and ask if we would like to expand to downtown, so we kept our eyes open. One day, I found out the bank building was coming up for sale. I thought it was the perfect spot; Vista was starting to develop S. Santa Fe Avenue, and the western part had already modernized. I loved the feel of the older downtown. I immediately emailed Kevin Ham, who set me up with the bank owners. I had worked just up the road in the early 90’s and knew the area well. I think it’s great we turned a 50-year-old bank into a community beer garden and tavern.”

Belching Beaver and its 58 employees have settled right into downtown. The 10,000 square foot tavern, which includes two outdoor patios is currently adding more brew tanks, an outdoor lounge area with a fire pit on the front patio, a green wall inside, and sand to the back patio. Besides buying the old bank building, Belching Beaver has invested about $1.3 million so far on its downtown tavern and grill.

As for the revitalization of downtown, Vogel is happy that his business has been part of that. “Vista is starting to open up to bringing more life in terms of music to downtown,” he said. “I hope that continues. The old downtown area can really use some entertainment.  I would love to see some jazz clubs move in, but I am told by my co-workers that’s just because I am old. They may be right, but there is nothing like kicking back to good music with a great beer or glass of wine.”

Another local business owner thrilled about the rebirth of downtown Vista is Julie Lowen. Lowen owns the First National Bank Building on Main Street, which currently serves as the headquarters and staff training center for her company, Children’s Paradise Inc., which delivers high-quality early childhood education to more than 1,000 children and families across North San Diego County daily.

The bank building has special meaning to Lowen – it’s where her parents got a loan to purchase their home on Maryland Drive in Vista. That moment was significant considering Lowen and her family were homeless when they first moved to Vista in the early 1970s.

“My father had been laid off by Boeing in the late 60’s/early 70’s and had struggled to feed our family of nine extensively until we were forced to abandon our home in Washington State,” she said. “My father had learned to finish cement while working as a minimum wage laborer for Weyerhaeuser Inc. He decided to move to Vista to work with his relatives as they were more established in the construction industry. My father was not licensed, so he worked odd laborer jobs as we all lived in a VW bus/travel-trailer or stayed with my aunt and uncle.”

Lowen and her family then lived with a family from their church for several months until they saved money and stabilized their income before getting a loan at the bank to purchase their own home.

Today, Lowen has more grand plans for the special building, which she is currently developing. “We are determined to create a jewel in the heart of Vista with our development,” she said. “We have some innovative ideas, which will require a bit of work to refine.”

Meanwhile, Lowen said the growth downtown has been pretty exciting. “There have been so many new developments just completed, underway, or proposed and in the planning phase. New businesses will also add more variety and activities, which will be sure to create a better regional destination. I am excited because the city staff and council are engaged and working to develop a cohesive plan. It just takes teamwork amongst businesses downtown to see this area explode with activity.”

The overall, long term plan for downtown Vista includes:

• Supporting economic development through a coordinated effort between the public and private sectors.

• Establishing a formal Arts Culture District to encourage and promote the arts as a key element of Downtown Vista’s economy and identity.

• Creating a lively mixed-use environment that provides a variety of housing, retail, and recreational opportunities and choices.

• Acknowledging the unique history and community identity of Vista.

• Enhancing public gathering spaces with social and recreational amenities.

• Fostering stronger connections between adjacent neighborhoods and commercial centers downtown through enhanced pedestrian and bicycle networks, improved transit access, and efficient parking.

• Enhancing Buena Vista Creek as a pedestrian and recreational resource by providing pedestrian and bicycle trail opportunities along the creek.

• Incorporating the principles of health and sustainability.

Editor’s Note: This is part 1 in a series about the City of Vista’s revitalization efforts to create a vibrant, attractive, and livable downtown for existing and prospective residents, businesses, and visitors. Read part 2 here.

By Andrea Siedsma, Fresh Brewed Tech contributing writer

When Billy Idol first walked into MP3.com’s San Diego offices, his first words were, “Fuck the record labels!”

It’s a day that MP3.com executive Greg Flores remembers well. “A lot of people were interested in what we were doing,” he says.

Rebellious of convention, MP3.com led a digital music revolution in the late 1990s that not only infuriated many big record labels, but more importantly, gave music artists more power over their own music, and a more personal connection with their fans.

The San Diego tech pioneer, created by Michael Robertson, brought us all a little closer to the artists we adore, expanded our music palate, and created a powerful platform via user-generated content that would become the basis of digital music today.

Below is a look at MP3.com’s backstory, its main rockstars, and what they’ve been up to since then.

Founded: 1997; bought by Vivendi Universal for $373 million in cash and stock in 2001.

Key Players: Michael Robertson, Greg Flores

Backstory: MP3.com was born out of a company launched in 1996 by Michael Robertson called Filez, an FTP search index engine. Robertson, who constantly tracked what people were searching for, noticed one search in particular that was extremely popular – “MP3.” And, the rest, as you know, is history.

Where are they now:

Michael Robertson with wild mustang Tess. Photo: Cathy McCall

Michael Robertson, Founder & CEO, MP3.com, also known as MR: After MP3.com sold to Vivendi, Robertson started a Linux-based competitor to Windows that was originally called Lindows. Microsoft, which alleged that the name was too similar to the name of its operating system, sued, but settled before it went to trial. As part of the deal, which involved a $10 million payment by Microsoft, the software was renamed Linspire.

MR started a handful of other San Diego startups, including:

Gizmo5, a standards based VOIP company which built SIP compliant hardware and software. The company amassed 25 million users and eventually sold to Google in 2009 for $30 million. The company became part of Google Voice, where Robertson worked for about six months as a consultant.

DAR.fm, a subscription-based DVR service for radio (mainly for programs such as NPR’s All Things Considered).

Robertson’s latest venture is OnRad.io, a B2B search engine company that indexes 100,000 online radio stations in real-time. This data is licensed to many technology and data tracking companies; OnRad.io’s search engine performs 25 million queries a day through its partners.

The basis of MR’s companies – search engines. “I’ve always loved search engines,” says Robertson, who earned a degree in cognitive science from UC San Diego.

Born to be wild: About eight years ago, Robertson bought a horse facility in San Diego County, where he trains wild mustangs and escapes from all the daily noise. He has broken about a dozen horses and even enters competitions.

“There’s a real sense of accomplishment to take wild animals that don’t like humans and train them,” Robertson says. “When you and the horse are clicking, it’s an unspoken language.”

MR notable quotes:

On MP3.com: “It was one of the first real crowd-driven, user-driven, changing-an-industry kind of movement.”

“Back in that day, everybody had modems; an MP3 song took 20 minutes to download. But everything we did was so controversial and unprecedented that it gave us an image and a street cred. That’s what attracted people.”

On entrepreneurialism: “It takes a lot of courage to go a non conventional path. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur you must think and act differently than the crowd. And not everyone can do it; some people don’t have the internal fortitude to be different.”

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Greg Flores: During his tenure as Cofounder, Senior VP and Head of Business Development, net revenues for MP3.com jumped from $1.1 million in 1998 to $21 million in fiscal 1999. That amount skyrocketed to $80 million in 2000.

After leaving MP3.com in 2001, Flores cofounded San Diego-based Autospies, a premier automotive inside information site where he currently remains a partner. Autospies is now one of the most recognized online automotive brands among automotive enthusiasts that has attracted major automotive advertisers and agencies such as IPG, BMW, Toyota, GM, Mercedes Benz, and Lexus.

Flores has also served as partner and the EVP, Business Development of Animusic, LLC since 2003. Animusic is a content creation company focused exclusively on computer animation of music.

The local serial entrepreneur has invested in a handful of San Diego startups, including Saambaa, and Revolutionary Unmanned Systems, a drone security startup.

Flores’ latest gig is with Frendli, an Encinitas-based startup he co founded and serves as Chief Revenue Officer that helps people discover new friendships by connecting them with others who share their interests, activities, tastes, aspirations, location and lifestyle, and incentivizing them to meet face-to-face through deals and discounts on experiences and activities they love.

Flores gives back to his community as a mentor for 8 West, a transitional employment and supportive housing program where homeless youth work together to produce and market a premium, handcrafted line of bath, shower and spa products.

Flores notable quotes:

MP3.com’s pioneering efforts: “Beyond paving the way for artists to connect with their fans, we also started the process of shifting the digital music side enough that it gave an opportunity to someone like a Steve Jobs to cut a deal with the labels, more out of fear than necessity.”

“I don’t think iTunes or the iPod would have existed as early as they did without some of the early stuff we were doing at MP3.com.”

San Diego’s tech landscape: “I think people are finding that it’s more pleasant to start a company in San Diego than up in the Bay Area. That’s why more recently, San Diego has attracted more startups and the capital required to help them grow. If you would have asked me five years ago if San Diego was a good place to start a company, it was tough to do because the money wasn’t here. But there are more deals being done and more money coming into the area. That’s partially due to the landscape here and the shift in the VC landscape. Back five-to-six years ago, VCs didn’t focus on the seed side like they do now. And the cost of living is lower here than in the Bay Area, so our ability to attract talent is better.”

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MP3.com interesting facts:

MP3.com helped design and sell the first MP3 players in the world, invented on demand CD printing, created the largest artist community in the world, and had the biggest library of authorized free MP3 tracks. The company’s 1999 IPO on NASDAQ, which raised $400 million, was, at the time, the largest internet IPO.

MP3.com triggered one of the highest-profile copyright infringement lawsuits of the 1990s and ended with a $53 million penalty against the company.
“The lawsuit was about the technology I dreamed up, which would instantly load a person’s CD connection to the cloud for password protected listening anywhere. This was in 2000 when most people had dial up, so uploading a single song would take 20 minutes. We came up with a secure system that could load an entire CD in just a few seconds. It was awesome,” Michael Robertson says. “The company that sued MP3.com (Vivendi) later went on to buy the company, suggesting that the dispute had little to do with copyright infringement and more to do with business leverage.”
Editor’s Note: This is part one of a multi-part series on MP3.com and the digital music scene amped by the radical entrepreneurs and the culture they created locally. Stay tuned!