Fan Photographer at Work

[kevin_standlee]

This morning I drove to downtown San Jose and parked in the surface parking lot closest to the Fairmont. The parking programs have changed of late downtown, but free weekends 6 am - 6 pm are currently in force, and the parking lot entry and exit gates were both open, and the machines would not dispense tickets. I assume that if you exited after 6 PM, there would be someone there collecting the $3 flat rate. What I don't know is how they handle multi-day parking. For instance, if someone drove down there on Thursday and parked, leaving his/her vehicle there for several days, then left mid-day Saturday, would there be any charge? How would they collect it? The gates are open and there is no attendant. In any event, I did confirm that there was a surface parking lot across the street from the Fairmont; however, the Fairmont's entrance on that side of the building is for hotel guests only, and therefore I would recommend that anyone driving to an event where they're staying at the Fairmont (WFC, FurCon, and I hope the 2011 Westercon) drive to the forecourt, unload stuff, then go park in this lot or one of the others like the large garage between 2nd and 3rd streets before coming back to the hotel. I also hope (but can't expect) that people with vehicles that easily fit in the garages (6'6" or less in most cases) park there rather than the surface lots, leaving those to people (like Lisa) with over-height vehicles that won't fit in a garage.

For about an hour before I had to head off to the Stealth game, I took photos around the Fairmont, in particular taking pictures of every restaurant I could find near the hotel. One of the big complaints at ConJose was that people would come out the front door of the hotel and convention center and see no place to eat -- which is true because there aren't many in direct sight from those two places -- and then conclude there was no place to eat in downtown San Jose, which is emphatically not true.

After shooting both stills and video -- I couldn't resist shooting video of light rail trains passing by -- I stowed my camera under the seat and walked over to the Shark Tank for the Stealth game. That's about a 10-15 minute walk, and I felt smug about parking downtown for free when parking in the lots near the Arena is $10 and up.

After the game, I retrieved my camera and continued shooting more photos, now with the light coming from the west rather than the east. Besides restaurants, I photographed things I think potential con attendees might be interested in knowing were nearby, such as ATMs, a Walgreen's, a Kinko's FedEx Office, UPS Store, US Post Office, and the grocery store located a short walk from the Fairmont. I also took pictures of some of the local attractions, such as the Tech Museum, the Children's Discovery Museum, and so forth.

As my time permits, I plan to put together these photos and video with a map of downtown San Jose to point out where things are relative to the Fairmont. There really is a lot to see, do, and eat in the downtown area if you're wiling to walk more than a block and don't get disheartened just because the only thing you can see out the front door of the hotel is the Plaza de César Chávez.

If things go really well, I hope to make a custom slide show video that we'll be able to show at our room parties. (Yes, if it works, we'll put it on the bid's web site as well.)

Comments

[yourbob.livejournal.com]

I know you will for the map, but when you do the slide show, consider putting a caption of distance-to from, like the front door, e.g. "1 block from front door".

And if you put something together as a pdf that could be added to the website and printed out as one page, attendees could find it useful.

Just some thoughts because I can't help it.

[yourbob.livejournal.com]

And if some of the work could be done from here, I'll be happy to help.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Giving measurements is a good idea, although I'm leery about using "blocks" as a measurement because they are variable length. I should use Standlees (my stride, roughly equal to yard/meter) but that would oblige me to go pace everything off again while taking careful notes, which is a pain. I probably will end up using Google Maps walking distance or, for a more precise measurement, the GMaps Pedometer tool.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

You might want to combine a definitive distance with the more general Number of Blocks - ie 300 feet (1 block) type of notation. People actually do eyeball rather well, and the combo will give them the best estimation of whether they want to walk that distance or not.
Also if they've passed two corners, they know they've missed it somehow and should double back.
Look forward to World Fantasy this fall, definitely a look see as to what we'll be dealing with for the hoped for Westercon.
My favorite indoor lot is the one off W San Carlos between Second and Third. It's convenient, the walk to the Fairmont is pleasant and it too is free on the weekends before 6 pm.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Yes, the West San Carlos @ 2nd/3rd is my first choice for indoor parking as well. I don't know any good way of checking out what they would actually charge in practice for multi-day parking (and whether one could manage to game the system by staying multiple days, then leaving during the free period on Weekends, without actually doing it, and I can't afford it. I suppose I could do something silly like drive down there, park the van, take the train home, then come back the next day (or two) and collect the van and see how much it would cost me.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

I would suggest we check with the Visitor's Bureau People. They would know about the parking regulations.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Actually, what concerns me here is that the official rules as stated on the downtown parking web site have not always been what actually happens on the ground. For instance, it always appeared that you should pay daily parking rates if you parked overnight; however, in practice, because they simply opened the gates at night and went home, you could pay nothing if you simply waited them out. This is not spelled out anywhere and probably isn't something they'd want to admit to anyway.

I can Park for Free at the Fremont

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

Oh, In Checking out the Fremont Hotel San Jose Site, I just found this blurb-

Free 'Green' Parking at Fairmonts in California: Overnight guests who drive hybrid vehicles can enjoy free parking at all Fairmont Hotels & Resorts properties in California.

Nice to know. :)

Re: I can Park for Free at the Fremont

[johno.livejournal.com]

Coolness!!!!

[whumpdotcom.livejournal.com]

You were at the Stealth game too? We were in 115, where were you?

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Section 104, Row 11 for the first half; when I came back from getting coffee at halftime, some people had taken my seats -- odd, given how un-crowded the place was -- so I moved to 105, Row 13, which is pretty much the same view.

[marahsk.livejournal.com]

Re: walking outside and not seeing any restaurants

That's why we have restaurant guides.