Today we’d like to introduce you to Antonio Cortez Appling.
Antonio Cortez, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My story is a thesis of faith as God choreographed this whole tumultuous life in order to create beauty and love from the struggle. My story starts in Columbus, Ohio in the 80s. That’s where I was born and lived until I was 12. My stepfather was a cocaine dealer in the projects and eventually our apartment got raided and I was displaced for many years from my mother. Through this series of events, I ultimately ended up in San Diego, California (many years later) united with my mother. This in a nutshell defines me, the duplicitous and the diversity.
Everything’s wrapped in this amazing family story, my family of origin, my extended family, my chosen family and how they helped define me amongst these landscapes. I lived in a lot of different areas with so many different people. I lived in the suburbs in Ohio, then moved to the projects, then moved back to the suburbs. I moved to the hood in California, then to Palm Springs with my uncle, then back to the hood, then to Sausalito with my uncle, then back to the hood. It created in me an ability to feel comfortable, to navigate a lot of different terrains, learn the language, code switch, learn the norms of the different tribes and adapt.
So by time I hit high school I wanted to try everything, any sport, any extracurricular activity, any cultural club. I spent a lot of time with my teachers learning from adults, made a lot of diverse friends, hung out at their different houses and saw how they did life. I just wanted to learn and see what else existed outside of my family and my duplex apartment. This ultimately prepared me for the rest of my life. I went to college in San Francisco and lived as bohemian as possible soaking up culture, experiences, people, food and the arts and trying to figure out where my story fit in. I moved to LA County (Long Beach) 11 years ago to teach at a continuation charter high school called SEA in Highland Park, then South Gate, and ultimately Compton. Teaching for these years was beautiful. My students grew up in spaces like me but I could tell them stories of places beyond their neighborhood. I put these pieces together with my understanding of Jesus as a revolutionary and I guess I’ve been trying to build bridges ever since. These things have really shaped this portion of my journey.
Some of the bridges I’ve built: We started an open mic ten years ago called The Definitive Soapbox in Long Beach. Nine years ago, we founded The Long Beach Poetry Slam. Six years ago, we opened up a restaurant called The Nest: A Breakfast Joint and we’re currently working on a new location called The Nest: También. I always say “we” because it always takes we to create. I just had the faith to say f’ it, let’s build. Most importantly, I’m married to a beautiful young lady named Heather who is my greatest teacher. I have a super dope son named Mateo who is the manifestation of all my good parts. He is a tragic extrovert…damn, his life is going to be wild. I can’t wait to watch him do his thing. He is light for sure. You should interview him haha.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I think the main struggle is never feeling secure. Not that you ever feel secure as a black man in the United States, but more mentally. Never feeling like anything will be consistent. So you start to thrive off inconsistency and create it when there isn’t. Not feeling like you have the space to be able to understand yourself, or be soft, or vulnerable, even though that’s the real you, knowing that sensitivity isn’t rewarded or respected. Knowing that you hardly ever see yourself as antiquity, or pastel, always having to be hard, chiseled, polished, articulate. You end up having a hard time really understanding where the version of yourself that society wants you to be ends and the real you begins. Not being able to communicate your mental illness, or have support to define it. Always having to be fresh, always having to be dope. Always having to shuck and jive a little bit to get your dreams off. You know… that real American POC s@#$ (stuff).
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into The Nest: A Breakfast Joint story. Tell us more about the business.
My company is called The Nest: A Breakfast Joint. The Nest is the brainchild of myself and my college roommate Chef Michael Lavery. We set out to change the conversation around breakfast. Who says you can’t play Wu-Tang at 9 am and have old white lady nodding along to the drum patterns of “Triumph” while she eats her chilaquiles? Who says you can’t have a small breakfast menu with Bacon Waffles and coffee roasted in Compton in the owner’s yard? Shout out to Patria Coffee! Our menu only has like fifteen entrees. We keep it small to be as scratch as possible. We opened up in a neighborhood of working class folks in order to offer them something dope. We noticed that people were leaving their neighborhood to go to more popular neighborhoods to find spaces like ours. What if you didn’t have to leave your neighborhood to find a spot that resembled what you would see in Silver Lake or Eagle Rock? We try to celebrate hip-hop culture, sneaker culture, poetry, and of course great food. We wanted to be a local gathering spot that did more than just serve food.
If our legacy was only that we sold food to people we believe we that we would be missing an opportunity to do so much more. We want to cultivate relationships that exist past our building and past just transactions. I think I am most proud of our team past and present. People that have rocked with me as a first-time business owner; with all the learning that comes with that and all the flexibility I ask them for. They are on the front lines taking care of our community. We have a one hundred percent Latinx staff, mainly women, Dreamers, children of immigrants which is truly American. Our primary demographic is Latinx women and I’m proud that they can see themself reflected in our staff. It was very important to Michael and I that we add to the neighbor and not just take. I’m proud also when women who resemble my aunts, sisters and cousins tear up when they find out that I am the owner. I can tell that behind those tears are four hundred years of oppression and systematic racism. That when they see me, they are reminded that we can have ownership in an America that often barely lets us have adequate jobs or access to suitable education at the same rate as our white counterparts.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I’m a Christian. I don’t believe in luck. I believe in Jesus. Haha. I believe that if you create something with intent and a purpose larger than yourself then it will resonate in success. That in its essence those intentions are reflective of God’s character. That when we align ourselves with missional focus that you don’t have bad luck, just lessons. Success also is not necessarily defined by money. Success can be personal growth, or fruitful relationships, or perseverance. We don’t have good luck, that seems too miscellaneous for such an intentional God. We have been really blessed, man. It is definitely not because I know what I am doing. I just focus on loving my team, our guests, our vendors and our neighborhood and let God handle the business. He has proven trustworthy so far.
Contact Info:
- Address: 9260 Alondra Blvd. Bellflower, CA 90806
- Website: www.eatnest.com
- Phone: 5628045097
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: eatatthenest
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatnest
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-nest-a-breakfast-joint-bellflower
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