Place and Time

 A group of us from Southern California started a software company in 1996 and following the closing of our first serious funding we treated ourselves to a long weekend with spouses in Carmel, CA.  There we met one of our investors from the UK, also on vacation in California.  The fellow's wife was a real fan of Clint Eastwood so we decided to have lunch one day at the Hog's Breath Inn, then owned by Clint.

We joked that we had arranged for her to meet Clint as we settled in for burgers and beer.  Within several minutes a nearby kitchen door opened and to our great surprise, out strode Clint.  Even more surprising he walked over to our table and asked how we were enjoying the restaurant.  The wife of our investor almost fainted.

I read later that this restaurant played a central role in Clint's decision to run for mayor of Carmel, California.  He was so incensed at the burdensome red tape involved in making some simple changes there,  that he promptly announced that he was running for mayor. He won with a 72% landslide, and his two years as Mayor reduced the city's regulations, had sidewalks put in on city streets, and got a library annex built that city elders had been bickering about for decades. And then, in a move more politicians should emulate, he declined to run for a second term.