How A Failed Tequila Drink Event Turns Into A Lively Afternoon In A Venice Beach Bar

Sometimes, things don’t work out as you planned or envisioned, which can leave you feeling a bit bummed, angry or even upset.
That happened to me but keep reading for how I turned it into an even more fun time than what I likely would have had in the first place.
I had been invited to an event on a Saturday afternoon at a Los Angeles cantina sponsored by a high-end tequila company. We were promised plenty of tequila drinks, food and the company had even given us a code to pay for Uber rides to and from the party. Needless to say, I was quite excited about it.
It was to go until 3 p.m., and as I was covering another event earlier in the day, I and my PubClub.com associate and I did not arrive until 1:45 p.m. When we got there, we saw the promotion girl – dressed in tight white dress – and a couple of her escorts breeze by us at the entrance. There was nobody from the event in the cantina and the manager said the bill had just been paid and “there’s nothing I can do at this point.”
My associate and I were taken aback and I called the company representative (who was not at the event in the first place, tho I had been told he was my on-site contact) and he apologized and promised to send each of us a bottle of the brand’s tequila.
Still, we had just arrived in Venice Beach, all ready to drink high-end tequila drinks and now we were standing on the sidewalk with no event and no party, feeling like guys who had been promised a date with the homecoming queen only to be told by her parents she had just left with the football team’s quarterback.
But instead of sulking, we headed into a bar. The Hinano Cafe is known to have the coldest beer in town – they keep not only their mugs but also their pitchers in freezers – and it seemed like having a cold beer was a good way to sooth our disappointment.
Well as it turns out the place was having a Mardi Gras party!
There was a really good band playing New Orleans music, there was a fun crowd dancing and we had a blast. The Mardi Gras parades had just started in Nawlens that weekend and Fat Tuesday was just around the corner. I was craving some type of Carnival experience and here it was in a completely unexpected place and situation.
This dive bar even had some really nice-girls partying in it. A trio – tall and thin who looked like they were swimsuit models, the type who probably have 50K Instagram followers while following just 10 – were drinking cold beers and dancing to the music.
We had more pitchers and stayed at long as we could until our Uber free ride code was about to expire. I am positive we wound up having a better time at Hinano than we would have at that tequila event.
So you see, when you’re handed a lemon of a situation, you can still have fun – Mardi Gras fun in our case – if you have the right positive mental attitude.
And find a good bar!
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