Member #1

Good ideas are dime a dozen. One can think and plan till the cows come home, but nothing good happens until one takes the leap of faith and tries to convince and/or sell the idea to at least one other person.

We spent most of 2003/4 thinking and planning for what today is known as Highland City Club. As ideas started to jell, I finally reached out to my dear friend John Moritz to see if he would be willing to join the club we were in the process of creating. I picked John because he was smart, sophisticated, belonged to other clubs, was tough as nails, frugal, and an ideal candidate for a member.

Over the years John and I had done some rug trading, and each time John would remind me that though I may be a sharp middle eastern Jewish rug merchant with an MBA, he was a US Secret Service Special Agent, a Moravian and a Pennsylvania Dutchman with his dad’s sign still above his desk saying “I have the first Dollar I earned, and the hand that tried to take it.” In short, John and I negotiated as sport.

After patiently listening to me wax poetic about my “vision” for the club throughout lunch, John finally said “I’ll pay $100/m just to watch how you go about building a club.” Over the years, as we grew the club, I always knew John was watching, and though supportive, he was frugal with his compliments because we were still a work in progress.

Last Friday John invited 30 of his close friends for cocktails and dinner at City Club Happy Hour with a request to wear a hat. As evident by the picture below, a good time was had by all, and afterwards John told me “I think we finally have us a club here.”

Coming from John, I’ve decided to take this comment as a compliment.