William Ponnell, 53, has traveled the world with Ray Charles, worked with E40, and been interviewed by Howard Cosell. Ponnell, a former boxer turned security officer, is currently making a comeback outside of the ring as the lead bouncer at Club 26 Mix in San Francisco’s Mission District.
The Mission District has always been Ryan Loughlin’s favorite neighborhood in the City. The tacos of La Taqueria remind him of the food that his host mother used to cook when he was living in Guanajuato, Mexico. As a crime reporter he is getting to know the other side of the area. No, he is not scared (yet). On the contrary, he wants to learn more about all the community organizations that work with kids to keep them off the streets.
More by Ryan Loughlin
Very nice profile. This is the type of story that is perfect for Mission Local… local stories. We never get these from the “major” news sources, and it’s really refreshing to see this kind of reporting. Plus the video is excellent, and the photos at the beginning are really great! Who’s the photographer?
All photos and video are by Ryan Loughlin – glad you enjoyed the piece.
I was walking past 26 Mix around 8 pm on a Friday night with my girlfriend. We got to the corner of Chavez and all of a sudden my mouth was burning. Turns out those bouncers were playing with their pepper spray and shot us with it. Of course they denied it – they didn’t even want to give us water and towels. I flagged down a passing cop and he told me how much he hates that place…He gave them shit, but there wasn’t much else he could do.
Prior to this being Mix26 this was a mexican dive with alot of fights, drugs, the whole nine yards. Then it was taken over with a name change of Mix26 but the Mission hadn’t had the Hipster boon yet and it fell back to a funky not in a good way dangerous place. Always some kind of rowdy crap going on outside at night. Place to avoid!