Walter Pimentel is a sophomore international and cultural studies major during the week, but on Saturday nights, Pimentel becomes a nightclub owner.
The Minaret recently had the opportunity to interview his about his work and ask him how he came to be an unusually young nightclub owner.
The Minaret (M): So give us the breakdown on this nightclub.
Walter Pimentel (WP): It’s called Estela’s and it’s a three minute drive from campus down on Davis Bullevard. On Saturday nights the restaurant becomes a nightclub: 18-20 year olds get in for $6 and 21 and over get in for $4. We’ve got the best sangria and margaritas in Tampa.
M: How is it exactly that you run your own nightclub?
WP: Well, my dad owns Estela’s. It’s always been a good restaurant. I had the idea that it could be an awesome nightclub too.
M: So you just said, “Hey dad, let me turn this thing into a club,” and he went with it?
WP: From the start he was down with the idea. It’s so close to school and after we went over how it would be a safe place for UT students, he agreed to it, since [safety is] important to him. Once the money started rolling in, he liked the idea even better.
Up until recently, we had been open on the weekends until late for the locals. I figured, let’s take it a step further for the college kids.
Everyone at UT goes clubbing, and all of my employees are students at UT. So here is this group of inexperienced people making this really cool thing happen and getting business experience at the same time.
It’s lucky for me to have a dad who owns a restaurant and I want to let other people to have the opportunity to work and get experience too.
Even the DJs are kids from UT. If anyone wants a chance to DJ they can contact me at the club with their stuff.
M: What kind of music do you play?
WP: A lot of hip-hop, reggaeton — all house music. Like I said, all the DJs are from UT. Anyone with good music taste from UT can have a shot.
M: When did all this happen?
WP: I came up with [the idea] about three and a half weeks ago, and the opening was two weeks ago.
M: How have the past two Saturdays gone? Tell us what it’s like.
WP: The first week was good, but last Saturday things went really well — the place was poppin’. Estela’s is still a restaurant until 11 p.m., so about 11:15-11:30 p.m. is when the party starts, and it goes until 3 a.m.
M: Something like this isn’t exactly common for a college student. Did you ever feel like you couldn’t do it?
WP: Well with anything important you always get negative thoughts, but I just kept at it. After we saw how great the first night turned out, I knew it could only get better. I expect this to turn out really well. I try not to let it go to my head. I couldn’t have done it all on my own, I had amazing promoters. Matt “Chiky” Davis, Austin “Vinny” Fetzer, David “The Black Tiger” Humphrey and Juan “Poppy” Pablo Bejarno helped a lot.
M: How much “action” have you gotten from this?
WP: People have come up to me both
Saturdays and asked me if I’m the owner. It’s a pretty cool feeling being able to say “Yeah.” And let’s just say the nightclub definitely hasn’t hurt my game when it comes to the ladies.
M: What — if anything — are you getting out of all this?
WP: Now I’ve got experience and I know more about running a business. I’m getting paid and some day I’ll have my own club.
Think you or someone you know qualifies as “Spartan of the Week”? Let us know! Email the person’s name, contact info and a short explanation of what makes that person awesome to minaret.news@gmail.com.
Richard Solomon can be reached at richard.solomon@spartans.ut.edu.
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Just to clear up a few things:
First and Foremost! The student, Walter Pimentel, is an intelligent, super nice, good- guy with a heart of gold and above all Great student and had nothing to do with me being cut for Saturdays! That was his Dad’s decision and I still haven’t heard a valid reason from him…
My name is Tonja, Cara is my friend & business partner. She has been my number one supporter from the beginning and is simply commenting to my behalf because I DID start The Red Light Lounge @ Estela’s for Thursday, Friday, & Saturday with 18 & up planned for Saturdays. I thank the owners immensely for the opportunity.
Walter & I were in a partnership in establishing a nice, close-place, specifically for UT students to go dance, socialize in a fun, safe, cozy venue. I was the bartender the first “college” night(sept.18) and the owner, Walter’s DAD, was behind the bar for the cash handling/making change etc.
@Mark Jones, you have no idea what you’re talking about!
Firstly, I do not pocket cash transactions- it is my goal to have High Sales to prove what I’m doing, furthermore there are cameras AND I’ve been friends with them for years and would Never steal from them!
Secondly, I have other businesses as well and have been in the bar business since you were learning the ABCs! Never fired for what your accusation said. I run tabs for people I know, so your perception is Wrong on me giving drinks away!
Lastly, LOL, good for you for trying to be funny, one thing I’ve never been called is f-ugly! HA! Nice try boy!
Cara simply got a couple of facts mixed up and since then I’ve talked with her about them and she apologized for the mix up. I devoted every Thursday, Friday, & Saturday for the last 2 1/2 months to help boom business for Estela’s, which has been successful! There were other factors involved with Walter’s Dad changing up the bartender. As I disagree (so does Walter) and feel it is unfair, so does my following, so excuse their passion in telling their side.
I truly am disappointed this Awesome article on Walter incidentally turned sour, he deserves recognition as a young entrepreneur with a Bright future!
Walter, Im truly sorry the scrutiny of it all fell into your world. Thank you for your forgiveness and I hope we can continue to be friends.
Sincerely,
Tonja
This is walter pimentel… The article i was excited to read about just got sh$&ted on by false accusations.. Wow… Im so pissed.. Whoever started all this trashtalking needs to man up and quit trying to discredit me, and make me looklike crap in front of all my friends.. Thanks for messing up my article… I bet you dont even go to ut.. This site is for ut students.. Thx for effing it up…
truth it..cara is a hater for real!! well here comes a long backfire at your post… i been there and i love the place except the f-ugly mistery woman bartender because she ignored me at least twice..lol..Me as a bartender knows how late night bars run and all i saw was her giving away drinks like crazy and pocketing cash instead of actually writing a check like normal and if I were you walter i would get her out for your own good and cash money$$$$ ofcourse..
..anyways i was also there this saturday and whew! good prices on entry fees and drinks compared to other niteclubs and a very good atmosphere… If you got a problem with my opinions..
// my name is mark jones and if you think im wrong “cara” let me know.. i stay in UT and I can prove to you with pics of me being there thursday and ill invite you to come in with me to estellas and show you whats up.. thats probably why she even works there. probably because she got fired at other bars.. other than that the place is nice and enjoyable specially on saturdays.. keep it up walter.. nice shirt by the way^^ lol hehe.. //tonja.. unless you are the owner..then YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO PUT STOLEN MONEY IN YOUR POCKETS FROM DRINKS OR EVEN UPGRADE YOURSELF SPECIALLY SINCE YOU PROBABLY PAY NO BILLS FOR THE BAR..GET IT STRAIGHT IN YOUR HEAD…!!YOU ARE JUST A BARTENDER AND NOTHING ELSE SO YOU DONT GET ANY PRIVILAGES!! there I went there lol..
i don’t write hate, i write truth
Kid sounds like a badass.. Good article… Who actually goes on here and writes a hate paragraph this long… Quit hating, whoever you are..
Hmmmm I find this article interesting. I am not sure who your fact checker is. However, you may want to do some research on “The Red Light Lounge”
Due to the fact that Tonja created this idea, asked for a meeting with the owners, pitched her idea, they accepted her idea and her vision, and put her in charge of everything with no extra pay…where she……came up with the theme, named it the red light lounge, owns the name “red light lounge”, brought in the Jbox, picked the talent, brought in the talent, made the food menu for late night, made the drink menu for late night, picks the specials, brought people to the bar, made the flyers for it, and has been the only bartender and manager in it since she opened, and she has done it ALL BY HERSELF FOR 2 MONTHS before last week when her saturday nights were taken away from her because Walter wants to take over on saturday nights….the only thing i have seen him do…is wait on me once when i was with Tonja on her only night off and then over charge her for her own drink creation……but hey i am just trying to add some truth to this “interview” above….if anyone needs my facts checked…there are 52 people on the davis island that you can ask.