Book Review
Jeff Burkhart’s
“Twenty Years
Behind Bars”
By Noah Griffin
J
eff Burkhart’s book
“Twenty Years Behind
Bars” is not what you
think. This winner of the 2014
California Newspaper Publishers
Association Journalism Award
tends bar. His twice-weekly
Independent Journal Barfly
column recounts his experiences
overhearing, observing and
sometimes being part of the
interplay with customers in his
two decades of being “behind
bars” as a bartender.
Who is Jeff Burkhart? Where’s he
from? What experiences led him
to his career?
Burkhart is originally
from Johnston in Western
Pennsylvania. For you history
buffs, it is the site of the
disastrous 1889 and 1977
Johnston floods. In 1969 at the
age of four, his parents moved
to Berkeley in the middle of the
Free Speech Movement. Indelibly
imprinted in his mind is the
acrid smell of tear gas as they
drove into town passing by the
Berkeley campus.
His first few years in the East Bay
contrasted greatly with what
he would find when the family
moved to Petaluma in 1976.
The ethnic composition of his
Berkeley elementary school was
far more diverse: 75% black, 15%
Hispanic and 10% white. The
cross-cultural mix of educational
opportunities in Berkeley meant
Burkhart had the opportunity
to learn some Swahili and some
Spanish. Very forward thinking
for the time.
In Petaluma, Burkhart graduated
from Casa Grande High and
went on to College of Marin.
He then got his first taste of the
restaurant business managing
the Buttercup Pantry Restaurants
in Placerville, Pleasanton, Napa
and Rohnert Park. Armed with
that experience, Burkhart
opened his own nightclub, The
Faultline on Francisco Boulevard
in San Rafael in 1992. Out
of that stint, he learned that
youth and energy trumps age
and wisdom. Burkhart quickly
appreciated the difference
between theoretical and applied
knowledge. The real-world tools
mean you have to learn systems
and how to navigate them. What
does that mean? Working with
crazy landlords and musicians
who would often demand to
be paid what they thought
they were worth. Jeff had to
educate them: “You’re worth
what we can make together.”
The Faultline’s main competition
21
Marin Arts & Culture