View From a Hotel Window, 6/5/15
Posted on June 5, 2015 Posted by John Scalzi 20 Comments
Hello, Berkeley!
No time to chat; off to a thing. Catch up later. Have an excellent evening.
Whatever
FURIOUSLY REASONABLE
WHATEVER
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John Scalzi, proprietor – JS
Athena Scalzi, contributor – AMS
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Much nicer than your NYC view but doesn’t San Fran have that law about how tall the buildings can be? Enjoy.
Welcome!
If you have time and wind after your thing, come on down to the Art Murmur/First Friday in Oakland; it’s 3 stops down on the subway (BART), which is about two blocks from your hotel! (It’s an art crawl and sometimes there is interesting stuff. The theremin band, for example.)
(If not, not. It does get crowded.)
BE FUNNY TOMORROW.
I am getting up like 4 hours earlier than usual on a Saturday to be there.
(Well, okay, I’m getting up that early to see Kim Stanley Robertson, but you’re next!)
A lovely sunny afternoon there, but I see the first thin trails of the fog sneaking in overhead.
Layering is wise.
LMcCJ –
Funny you should mention height requirements.
Berkeley used to have them – nothing could be taller than the UC Campanile – but developers are trying to put in an 18 story highrise around the corner from this hotel.
Not a generally popular move, since it pushes out a beloved repertory cinema and an equally beloved children’s museum, not to mention luxury condos with no parking, wft?
There’s hijinx planned for tomorrow, totally peaceful I expect, but adding that certain Berkeley ambiance to the day.
If they are sticking to planned activities at the proposed building site it should all be a couple of blocks away from most of the book festival, and no one’s mentioned anything more active than sending up big balloons.
Information here:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_28244224/berkeley-activists-plan-visual-protest-downtown-proposal
I’ve seen many of your hotel pics over the years, but this is the first one that I have actually recognized! Enjoy your visit :-)
Yep, I know where that is too! I suppose I should remind myself what this local event is. For some reason I thought I’d be out of town while you were here so I didn’t bother looking into it.
I am from this area, isn’t it grand! I am about 2 miles from your location presently.
Elmwood Cafe, the walk from campus to Broadway is a writer’s dream. All around Telegraph and Downtown. Yea!
If you like good pizza, Build, just down the street from that corner, is worth checking out (that is if this trip isn’t scheduled down to the minute).
I’d strongly suggest Jupiter for lunch or dinner — great pizza and a lovely beer garden, even if beer isn’t the thing — just kitty corner from your hotel. Should be a nice day here in the East Bay! Enjoy.
I actually lived a summer on the other side of that library… Go to Cafe Strada on Bancroft and College; nice place to sit.
(Though I confess I had no idea that building was a hotel…)
Ah, that’s my library! So i know where you are — I’ll be at the Farmers’ Market this afternoon. just a few blocks from there. Not sure how much of the Book Festival I’ll be up for, and I was ditzy and didn’t get a ticket for your event so probably can’t get even close to it. But welcome to Berkeley! Hope you have a lovely time.
Wow! I’m in the same hotel as John Scalzi! *goosebumps*
I guess you are there for the Book Festival. Be sure to visit the Temple of Books. Sorry I won’t see you.
Thanks for visiting, John! It was a lovely reading and talk.
If there’d been more time I would have asked, did you and Krissy get to keep the giant knitted dice? (The photos are already up on Ravelry, y’know.)
Here to report that indeed, Scalzi was funny. Worth getting up and dealing with two trains and a bus to get there (That was me in the Chicon shirt, John).
Was glad @lauowolf purchased tickets beforehand as all the panels were packed, at least all of them I went to.
The KSR presentation on John Muir involved many things I didn’t know. I made it to Scalzi’s climate/dystopia panel, but the utopia panel was sold out. It is a metaphor for my life, I think. I’m on the floor in the climate photo; I only heard the panel.
I took 3 books from the installation o’art. Man, the Boston Public Library got rid of a LOT of good stuff. Also had some excellent donuts, an okay macaron, and perfect weather.
Fuuuhhh…I forgot you were in town…
So nice to see a view I recognize! I miss Berkeley… I spent a bunch of years there but haven’t been back in a while. (That’s the main branch Berkeley library on the right.)