# Dope Fest San Francisco Bay Area! (May/June 2023)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 12, 2023, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563 "2023-04-12T09:26:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 7
### Author:  [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2023, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/121 "2023-06-11T05:42:53Z")
It was good to meet you all today. Fun Times. Bullit, I hope you got home ok, in spite of the SFPD.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2023, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/122 "2023-06-11T05:47:50Z")
Thanks. Yeah I did get home, eventually. Those cops were being dicks. Must’ve been a slow night. My wife was pissed.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2023, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/123 "2023-06-11T05:54:32Z")
Pictures here. Yes we had 12 people today: 10 dopers and 2 spouses.
[ ](https://i.imgur.com/Vd4Kgvg.jpg)
L-to-R:
◆ Front row: **El\_DeLuxo, I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I, SpoilerVirgin, Dr.Strangelove, Miller, DesertDog**
◆ Back row: **blondebear, Roderick\_Femm, Tatterdemalion** , (Bullitt’s wife), **Bullitt** , (Miller’s wife)
.
Zoomed in:
[ ](https://i.imgur.com/4vtu9NZ.jpg)
L-to-R:
◆ Front row: **El\_DeLuxo, I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I, SpoilerVirgin, Dr.Strangelove, Miller, DesertDog**
◆ Back row: **blondebear, Roderick\_Femm, Tatterdemalion** , (Bullitt’s wife), **Bullitt** , (Miller’s wife)
.
Zoomed in and parsed:
[ ](https://i.imgur.com/1qUeS9d.jpg)
L-to-R:
◆ Front row: **El\_DeLuxo, I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I, SpoilerVirgin, Dr.Strangelove**
◆ Back row: **blondebear, Roderick\_Femm, Tatterdemalion**
.
Zoomed in and parsed:
[ ](https://i.imgur.com/h1wjf3o.jpg)
L-to-R:
◆ Front row: **Miller, DesertDog**
◆ Back row: (Bullitt’s wife), **Bullitt** , (Miller’s wife)
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2023, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/124 "2023-06-11T05:57:42Z")
I’m so glad that you guys met up and had fun.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2023, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/125 "2023-06-11T05:58:51Z")
And, **@Gatopescado** we missed you today!
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### Author:  [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2023, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/126 "2023-06-11T06:17:54Z")
That was a shower of fun.
'Twas nice to meet some faces for names I’d read. Nice, too, to meet some friendly intelligent people for fun and talk and a bite to eat. Thank you all for the swell get together.
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### Author:  [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/127 "2023-06-11T14:46:06Z")
Thanks to **Bullitt** for organizing. It was great to meet everyone.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2023, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/128 "2023-06-11T15:12:38Z")
I’m happy to have done it. It was nice meeting everyone. I enjoyed our conversations.
Thank you to all who came out for it!
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2023, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/129 "2023-06-11T15:17:44Z")
Looks like it was a great time, and thanks for the pictures!
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2023, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/130 "2023-06-11T18:29:13Z")
Well, if I was there, SFPD might not have even noticed you.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2023, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/131 "2023-06-12T05:45:18Z")
I needed you!
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2023, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/132 "2023-06-13T01:07:10Z")
Good thing we went there when we did. It appears the San Francisco Centre’s days may be numbered. SFGate story: [Westfield abandoning San Francisco mall due to ‘challenging operating conditions’](https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/westfield-abandoning-downtown-sf-mall-18148703.php)
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### Author:  [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2023, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/133 "2023-06-13T01:28:38Z")
Sounds like fun, and thanks for posting the pics! Some of you look exactly like I imagined, and some look nothing my mental image.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2023, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/134 "2023-06-13T07:18:50Z")
> [@blondebear](#):
>
> Good thing we went there when we did. It appears the San Francisco Centre’s days may be numbered. SFGate story: [Westfield abandoning San Francisco mall due to ‘challenging operating conditions’](https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/westfield-abandoning-downtown-sf-mall-18148703.php)
Wow. When we discussed why is San Francisco going downhill, well, clearly this is another symptom. And if its direction continues this way and goes tango uniform, property values will start dropping. If that were to happen, then the voters will revolt and I bet the city supervisors will be swapped out.
To quote from the article …
“The impending foreclosure shouldn’t come as a surprise for San Francisco: Westfield owners, Paris-based Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, revealed in April 2022 it would seek the “radical reduction of financial exposure” in the United States. That includes selling off most of its American malls to refocus on its European properties, a plan that’s reportedly been in motion since 2021.”
We’ll see what happens…
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2023, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/135 "2023-06-13T07:20:51Z")
We actually discussed that very thing, how some of us look IRL compared to what we imagined they looked like.
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### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2023, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/136 "2023-06-13T10:57:45Z")
Yes we did, although with a frustrating lack of specificity.
Handy hints to future dopefest organizers:
Although handy in other respects, a food court tends to be noisy and echo-y, which can make it hard for members of your party to hear each other; and
As new people arrive and your numbers exceed 6 or so, and you are re-arranging little tables into a larger mass, I recommend going for a more square arrangement (if there is room) rather than a long narrow arrangement, again because it will make it easier to hear each other.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2023, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/137 "2023-07-06T13:12:45Z")
I had brought those small cones for motorcycle training. They’re bright orange or bright green. My original thinking was to block off that entire small area. If I’d done that then there would have been fewer (or even zero) other people sitting in that area. If we had done that and also if the tables were arranged more square, do you think that would have been good enough?
I, too, have difficulty hearing people in moderately noisy spaces. A quieter place would have been a good improvement on what we did. As would a more squared off arrangement of tables. We had a decent turnout but folks at the other end were in another world. It was difficult for us as a group to share one conversation together.
For others’ reference, upthread at post #79 I have a picture of the little side area where we sat. And then at post #123 are pictures and our doper names.
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### Author:  [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2023, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/138 "2023-07-07T08:22:30Z")
Sorry you attracted the notice of the law dawgs. SF cops just about _always_ act like dicks, because just about all SF cops _are_ dicks.
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2023, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/139 "2023-07-08T05:22:01Z")
Having attended Haywar CSU in 1969 I have not-fond memories of the San Francisco TAC Squad.
> The Tactical Squad marches onto campus as people watch from the rooftops and window. San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto (1916-1998) authorized the formation of a tactical squad in late-1967 to quell violence from student protests and youth disruption from the emerging drug culture in the Haight-Ashbury after the “Summer of Love.”
[https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/strike/bundles/235895](https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/strike/bundles/235895)
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2023, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-fest-san-francisco-bay-area-may-june-2023/982563/140 "2023-07-08T05:30:34Z")
Let’s do it again! I gotta use up my stoopid Bart card.
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