This week on The Walk-In Club Podcast, we sit down with the one and only Jessica Maria—owner of the iconic Hotsy Totsy Club and living proof that your hospitality path can (and probably will) look nothing like what you planned. From her early days making fluffernutters and crushing on line cooks at Uncle Tony’s, to cocktail waitressing at hotel bars and deadlifting keg up and down stairs at Bill Graham Presents, Jessica takes us through a journey rich with grit, growth, and just the right amount of figuring things out. We hear how a “year abroad” learning graphic design turned into joining a traveling improv group landing the goal to opening a bar in Thailand. Her first cocktail she ever put on a menu was called Sex with a Goat (yes, really), and what it means to rebuild a space from scratch—with your community, for your community. This episode is full of laughter, honesty, and a reminder that you don’t have to follow anyone’s script to make magic. Whether it’s passing along fluffernutter traditions or using fresh juice for the first time, Jessica’s journey is a wild, heart-filled ride—and we’re lucky to hear it here at the Walk. In Club Podcast.
From Fluffernutters to the Hotsy Totsy Club: Jessica Maria on creating her own path to opening up one of the Bay Area’s most beloved neighborhood bars, and everything in between.
In this episode of The Walk-In Club Podcast, we sit down with Jessica Maria, whose journey started at 13 year. We trace her roots back to Massachusetts working at Uncle Tony’s, where teenage shifts were full of flirting, fluffernutters were important, and the spark of discovering community in and what that really means. From cocktail waitressing in hotel bars to a surprise stint behind the scenes at Bill Graham Presents, Jessica learned every rung of the ladder through hustle and heart—including deadlifting kegs, tracking inventory for every show, and translating cocktail specs into Thai during her time running a bar in Thailand.
Her story winds through reinvention after reinvention—management roles taken by instinct, improv gigs, a move across the world, and the important rebuild of Hotsy Totsy. Through it all, Jessica reminds us that hospitality isn’t just about service—it’s about play, pressure, perseverance, and choosing love for the industry again and again.
We get into:
Jessica’s story is a reminder that there’s no one way to show up in hospitality—but showing up with intention, curiosity, and care will always be the way forward.
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