I lived right next door to Speakeasy, and I loved waking up, stumbling down the stairs, seeing my coworkers and friends right away, getting a cup of coffee at the cafe and laughing about something that happened the night before.

Everyone I worked with was my friend. We supported each other, loved each other, sometimes dated each other, sometimes hated each other (though not for long), we were family.

I was not on speaking terms with my actual family at the time, so it was so incredibly important to me to have this home base of wonderful people with whom I am still close to this day.

— Bryan Middleton