STAGEDOOR Beginnings.
Founder of Stagedoor David Bernstein has been a behind the scenes mover and shaker in the music industry since the 60’s.
Bernstein was freight forwarded himself in Philadelphia in 1957, the fourth of five kids. He’ll tell you he was born into the moving business: His grandfather David, who he was named after, started in a horse and wagon.
Founder of Stagedoor David Bernstein has been a behind the scenes mover and shaker in the music industry since the 60’s. Bernstein was freight forwarded himself in Philadelphia in 1957, the fourth of five kids. He’ll tell you he was born into the moving business: His grandfather David, who he was named after, started in a horse and wagon.
In the 1930s his uncle Ben Bernstein founded Quaker Moving and Storage Company. “My Dad and his five brothers worked at Quaker full time and his sisters worked for the company part time, so clearly, moving things from point A to Point B is something that is part of my DNA,” he says with a laugh. His father formed ACS, and young David worked for the new freight forwarding company.
During this time, his brother Joel became a professional photographer after his big break shooting Joni Mitchelle at Carnegie Hall in 1968. One night Joel brought Bing Crosby and Steven Stills home for dinner after a show at the Spectrum. According to David, “They got to our house after 1:00 a.m. and I stayed up the whole night till dawn with them and my brother. And my first ever ‘job’ in this business was carrying Stephen Stills’ guitar when they finished playing at sunrise.”
Joel was shooting a gig with CSNYC in Long Island when the moving company that was scheduled to fly them to London for their next show went AWOL. David stepped in, using his father’s freight company ACS to get the equipment across the Atlantic in time.
In his own words, that was the day he caught “the incurable, intoxicating, insatiable desire to get paid to go to rock ‘n’ roll shows.”
His work in NYC connected him with heavyweights in the music business including David Geffen, Elliot Roberts, and Bill Graham. He eventually founded his own freight company, Rock-it-Cargo, moved the company to L.A., kept growing the client roster, and never looked back.
After spending a few decades transporting equipment and partying with the likes of The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Bing Crosby, major leagues sports teams, and the Pope, to name just a few, he has amassed a ridiculously cool collection of music memorabilia, concert records, and fine art, all sourced directly from entertainment venues and concert tours.
