San Pedro Field of Dreams: Part 1

San Pedro Field of Dreams: Part 1

The Audacity — "If We Build It, They Will Come" (But Only If It Has Soul)

By Edwin Duterte & Jennifer Wolfe
Founders, The Donn Allan Experience

Series Intro: The media keeps asking us, "Are you landlords? Are you tech founders? Are you crazy?" This 3-part series is our answer. We are taking you behind the curtain of the Donn Allan Experience to explain why we are betting everything on the grit and glory of San Pedro.

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Let’s Address the Elephant in the Room: Are We Crazy?

On paper, buying the massive, 100-year-old JC Penney building at 363 W. 6th Street in 2024 is a terrible idea.

We could have bought Bitcoin. We could have bought a nice, quiet condo in Cabo with a view of the ocean and zero responsibilities. We could have put our feet up.

Instead, we bought a landmark that smells like 1920s plaster, pigeon feathers, and heavy responsibility. We bought a project that requires structural retrofitting, architectural archeology, and enough coffee to kill a horse.

Why? Why take on the dust and the stress?

Because we looked at the digital world, and we felt cold.

You Can’t Hug a Website

We are living in the era of "One-Click Delivery." It’s efficient. It’s fast. And it is incredibly lonely.

Amazon Prime doesn't know your name. An algorithm doesn't care if your kid made the soccer team. We looked at Main Street—not just here, but everywhere—and we saw the ghosts of connection fading away. We missed the San Pedro Pride. We missed the creak of floorboards, the smell of coffee, the accidental collisions with neighbors that turn into lifelong friendships.

We realized that "Main Street" isn't dead; it was just sleeping. It was waiting for someone crazy enough to wake it up.

So, we bought the alarm clock.

Clearing the Cornfield

You know the movie. A guy hears a voice in a cornfield and destroys his crop to build a baseball diamond. His neighbors think he’s lost his mind. They tell him he’s going bankrupt. But he builds it anyway, because he knows that people are desperate to reconnect with their past.

The Donn Allan Experience is our Field of Dreams.

We are clearing the dust off the mezzanine. We are polishing the brick. We are building the mound.

• The Stadium: The San Pedro Local Market (Ground Floor).
• The Broadcast Booth: Voxel Micro Video Labs (Lower Level).

We aren't "landlords." A landlord collects a check and ignores a leaky roof. We are Ecosystem Builders. We are creating the soil where your business can actually grow.

A Challenge to the Garage Entrepreneur

This is the part where we stop talking about buildings and start talking about you.

We know you're out there. You're crafting jewelry in your kitchen. You're consulting from a spare bedroom. You're building a brand in the solitude of your garage, telling yourself that "overhead is the enemy."

But deep down, you know the truth: Isolation is the enemy.

We are building this for you. We are creating a space where you can walk out of the cornfield and play in the big leagues. A space where you can sell your product face-to-face upstairs, and then go downstairs to film a global podcast about it.

The Soul of San Pedro

We are betting on brick and mortar because we are betting on humanity. We are betting that people are tired of scrolling and ready to start living.

We are Jennifer Wolfe (The Heart/Therapist) and Edwin Duterte (The Strategist/Investor). We are combining the "Donna and Allan" legacy of care with the hard-nosed strategy of commercial growth.

We built it. Now, the only question is: Will you come?

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The cornfield is cleared. The lights are on.
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