Is this gonna go down? What’s the latest?
Yeah. I’ll get to this tomorrow. I do want to meet up!
I’m a B.A.D. from way back - one of the founding members, I daresay - back in the day I’d been to more Bay Area Dopefest than there had been Bay Area Dopefests. We had like three the last week I was in town. Then twenty years ago I moved back to the east coast.
Now I’m back again to the west coast - up in Portland, OR. I may be able to make it down in June. It’s a pretty long drive but I may be able to make a two or three day deal out of it. I will continue to monitor.
Hi all. I updated the sheet with dates in June and who is available. From this info it appears that Saturday June 10 is the best option. I’m sorry that we cannot accommodate all, but such is the nature of these things.
Time? Late afternoon into the evening appears best. We can start at 4pm and go until 7:30. I can commit to being there the entire time. I’ll just bring something to read. Some prefer days to evenings, and others prefer evenings, so 4-7:30 seems to span those preferences.
As for location, that is still TBD but let’s select a good place near a BART station that also has decent parking for those like me who will drive in. Does anyone know of a good place? Ideally with dim sum?
Here is the updated list. See new columns H-K with the reported availabilities.
I hope this works for several of us!
There are outer BART stations that have lots (heh) of parking. But, often these are in sort of lame areas (IMO).
We don’t need to have the event near one of those “lame” stations, instead the people who drive could park at one of those stations and then take BART to an interesting area where we hold the event.
You may not be able to find anyplace serving dim sum at that time of day, it’s usually a brunch or lunch thing (at least it used to be). For myself, I’m not particular as to the food available.
Shoot. I’m the Zoom Master for our Writing club’s write-in the second Saturday of every month, which runs from 2 - 3:30, so I’d never be able to get anywhere far away. Unless we have it near the Fremont BART station which I don’t recommend since there is nothing to do near it, it being Fremont.
Tommy’s Joynt is another good place to eat, and I think they have big tables for groups.
Tommy’s Joynt at Geary and Van Ness? I don’t think it’s near Bart, is it?
Okay we can try that but do you know of a suitable place for us to meet?
I’ll search maps too. It’s been years since I lived in the city and it has changed a lot.
I found a possible place, in South San Francisco. There is a Chevys, 141 Hickey Blvd, South San Francisco, and it is a half mile from the SSF Bart station. That place has plenty of tables, and it serves food and alcohol. Plenty of parking too, for those who’ll drive.
I don’t think there is good dim sum near a Bart station.
Why don’t we meet at Chevys? Thoughts?
I’m still hoping to go, but may I suggest we steer clear of South San Francisco? I mean, if I go back down to the City by the Bay, I’d like to see more of The City than all of its cemeteries.
But, hey that’s just my 2 cents.
I haven’t eaten there, but Bao is right at 16th Street Mission BART and gets good reviews; its also recommend as a good place to go with a group. The pictures are making me hungry. The only issue is that it doesn’t open for dinner until 5:30 pm.
The cemeteries are in Colma, the next city north of SSF.
I’m going to make a suggestion for an outdoor location that of course only works if the weather is decent: Yerba Buena Gardens is a park in downtown San Francisco on Mission St. between 3rd and 4th Sts. It is right next door to the Metreon shopping mall that has any number of places where you can get take-out food. The seating for a group would be on the ground, for which there are large grassy areas, so blankets or something to sit on like that would be recommended. There are park benches along the various paths, but I don’t think that would work for more the 3 people at a time, and they face the paths not the grass.
If you want to be indoors, San Francisco Center has a nice food court where a few tables could be grouped together, and there’s no single restaurant owner who would get upset at us hogging their tables on a Saturday afternoon/evening. Also lots of choices for food. Both of these locations are close to Powell BART station.
I just think that meeting in a restaurant and taking up their table(s) for a few hours on Saturday might not make the restaurant management very happy. I think we need neutral ground as above, or else find a spot that would not be very busy. I don’t know how many people will show up – I count 9 definite or likely, and 5 possibles at this point (before the location has been selected) so there might be only 4 or 5 at any given time.
Powell Bart station does not have parking.
June can be pretty bad weather. November is usually the best weather. I’ve hosted outdoor parties in June and it was cold and foggy and windy. Besides, meeting outside means people would need to bring something to sit on. Meeting outdoors, we’d be rolling the dice.
Some are able to come during the day, and others in the evening. If I’m going to be there from 4 to 7:30, I don’t want to be sitting on a blanket (not very comfortable for me).
I’ve been to that Chevys before and there is always plenty of tables. It’s not a small place. I’m going again on Friday and will confirm that but I’m certain it’s a good place to meet. And it’s only a 10 minute walk from Bart. I’m certain we won’t be putting the place out by holding a few tables for up to 10-12 people. I’ll confirm that Friday.
If people want to see more of San Francisco they can come early and visit the city beforehand.
People can park at an outlying
BART station where there’s parking then take BART into the city. Just like commuting to work in downtown SF.
There is a big parking garage in the next block, on Mission between 4th St and 5th St. Sorry I forgot to mention it.
That helps. Where is San Francisco Center? And if there is a food court then how could we make it easy for us to find each other there?
I much prefer indoors to outdoors.
Powell and Market is right in the heart of the city, very centrally located, so that is good.
San Francisco Center is an urban mall at the corner of Market and 5th Sts. It also incorporates the old Emporium facade in the middle of the block on Market. The food court is in the basement level, and there are direct entrances to it from the BART station.
How we’re going to find each other is an issue no matter where we end up. I suppose as the organizer you could have a flag on a stick, like a tour guide, or something like that. Or you could post in this thread where you are (e.g. in front of a particular food vendor) as soon as you get there.
Cool, thanks Roderick. On the map it is called Westfield San Francisco Centre Food Emporium, 865 Market St, San Francisco. I remember when that was built/created, although I never went to it and then moved out of the city.
There are many eateries / restaurants, so, it’s a good selection. Since I’m not familiar with the place I’ll scout it out ahead of time but it appears that we have a winner. I like scouting things out in advance. I’ll think of it as a recon mission. 
I’ll try to get up there tomorrow night before my meeting at Chevys in SSF, but that might be tight timing for me. I’ll try.
I think we can have a preliminary announcement.
Mark your calendars for the…
THE 2023 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA DOPE FEST
WHEN — 4:00-7:30pm, Saturday 10 June 2023
WHERE — Westfield San Francisco Centre Food Emporium, 865 Market St, San Francisco; meetup specifics to follow.