Observations Along the Road

Roadkill Along the Information Superhighway

Category Archive: 'travel'

Curiosity in Oakland

Written By: cahwyguy - Sat Apr 06, 2013 @ 6:57 am PDT
Posted in travel | No Comments »

userpic=travelThis weekend we’re visiting our daughter at UC Berkeley. We’re staying in Oakland, right near the Oakland Coliseum, at the Quality Inn (Quality Inn page; TripAdvisor). Although the location is in Oakland, the positive reviews of the hotel (both at the TripAdvisor link and on the AAA page) combined with the price made this a good choice. Behind us is a Clarion hotel that is fenced off (and the first thing you see as you exit the 880 at Hegenberger). I asked our desk clerk about it, and she indicated  it had been closed for years. We speculated on why… asbestos? mold? something else?  Naturally, this (combined with a long-time interest in seemingly abandoned buildings) piqued my curiosity, so I decided to see what my Google-foo could find…

It appears the property (listed as being at either 500 Hegenberg Road or 8400 Edes Aveue) was originally built in 1962 as a low-rise two-story property with just under 200 rooms, and appears to have been a Holiday Inn. It is the oldest of the various group of hotels in this area (it is next to a Days Hotel, a Comfort Inn and Suites (built as a Fairfield), and Motel 6, and backs onto a La Quinta and a Quality Inn (which is where we are staying)). The date (1962) means that it was likely built around the time that Route 17 (now I-880) was improved to be a freeway. The Caltrans bridge log shows bridges in the area built in 1948 or 1950, and renovated in 1963; this would likely mean there was an original Route 17 expressway in the area that was remodeled into the freeway in the early 1960s. [1][2][3]

In 1986, a six-story tower with 100 rooms was added and the hotel was renovated. In 2002, the hotel was completely renovated again.

Sometime after April 2005, the property appears to have changed management hands and was renovated into a Clarion Hotel. Based on the reviews at the time (Tripadvisor, Expedia), the property was going downhill. Poor service, poor furnishings, etc. In November 2005, the property closed due to mismanagement (I couldn’t find any other reason stated). In March 2006, it went on the market. By April, it was off the market again. I have seen no web reports on the hotel post 2005, so I’m guessing if it was sold, it wasn’t reopened.

In 2007, it went on the market again. The price changed numerous times, and when off-market in 2009 (presumably because it was sold). Some conditional use permits were required; these were appealed by local unions as this was a non-union hotel. A press release indicates it was supposedly undergoing an extensive renovation costing approximately $2 million in renovation, including new custom design tile work throughout the lobby and public areas. Based on the numbers given, they started remodeling the tower in October 2009, and were then going to complete the low-rise buildings. A soft opening was scheduled, but appears to have never happened. The web page set up for the hotel indicates “unexpected” delays.  My guess, given the dates, is that there was money and financing troubles.

In any case, by December 2010, the hotel was back on the market  at a below-market price ([1], [2]) of $11.5 million. It was sold in November 2012. Based on what I could see from my room, it is currently being renovated completely. It looks like rooms in the 2-story wing have been completely emptied to the walls, so they are being refurnished and remodeled at the minimum. The six-story tower also appears to be undergoing a remodel, but I’ve been unable to observe that much due to the line-of-sight from my hotel.

[1] Property Listing: Clarion Hotel Oakland.
[2] Loopnet Listing: Oakland Airport Hotel.
[3] Caltrans District 4 Bridge Log; go to page 91.

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Up In The Air

Written By: cahwyguy - Mon Jan 28, 2013 @ 6:42 pm PDT
Posted in rant, travel | 1 Comment »

userpic=psa-smileToday was a travel day from Los Angeles to Annapolis Jct… and it was one of my worst travel days in a long time.

It started with airport security (what else). I normally take my iPod speakers out of my luggage for security, as they always ask what they are. Today, the guard saw me in line, on the bridge, where the cold wind was blowing, with my CPAP, laptop bag, and backpack… and told me I had too much luggage and needed to put the iPod speakers back in. Thus, of course, unbalanced me. I got them in only to reach the front of the line… where I had to take them out again. They also decided to look in my luggage… because of a metal belt buckle in the luggage.

When I got to the gate, there were announcements that the flight was over sold, could people check their baggage, etc. As I was already worrying about carrying on my CPAP, laptop bag, and backpack (although that’s legal — the CPAP does not count as an item), I opted to check the backpack (meaning another 45 minutes of waiting on the Dulles end). Good thing I did — by the time I got on (boarding group 5), there was no overhead space left. There was barely room for the CPAP.

Never fly a 737 cross country. It was like the old stake bed trucks at camp, where you never worried about them overturning because no one would fall out! I had about 2 inches between my knees and the back of the seat. Making it worse, the guy in front of me farted so much I thought I was smelling his ass. Yuk! (and yes, he leaned back his seat as well). Further, being a 737, the restroom line took the entire plane, and the aisles were so narrow no one could pass. Is it any surprise I arrived at Dulles with a migraine. Dinner helped some, as did “Wait Wait” on the drive to Annapolis Jct.

I truly miss the old days of flying. Where you never worried about checking luggage. Where you often had empty seats next to you, and actually room between you and the seat in front of you. Where there were actual semblances of meals, and the plane wasn’t so crowded that you could not get up to go to the bathroom. Flying these days is no fun.

One last observation: Waiting for my flight, I was looking at the stanchions with the new United logo. I wondered: When an airline changes logo, what happens to all the old logo stuff? Is it just trashed, filling landfills? How wasteful!

 

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One Mouse, One World

Written By: cahwyguy - Sat Dec 08, 2012 @ 7:38 pm PDT
Posted in travel , , | 1 Comment »

“One Mouse, One World”. Sounds like a slogan for world domination by a particular corporation, doesn’t it. Sometimes it feels that way when you are in certain parts of Orlando Florida. It is also the slogan of one of that organization’s theme parks, Epcot, which we visited today.

First of all, why Epcot? The answer is simple. Most of the rest of the other Orlando parks can be found somewhere in the Anaheim parks. So it didn’t make sense to spend boku-bucks to go to them. Epcot, on the other hand, is mostly unique (except for Soaring, Captain Eo, and Nemo’s Adventures).

Epcot is a odd mix of multiple parks. The first park, when you go into it, is the “park of the future“. This is the park of the big Epcot globe, the voyage into space, and the hydroponic gardens. This is also the park that (mostly) felt dated — it felt like the Tomorrowland of the 1970s, down to the architecture and layout. It had that rounded-curve sense of the old People-Mover structure. We did ride a few rides in this area — in particular, Spaceship Earth, Mission:Space (Green) and Living with the Land. Spaceship Earth seemed a bit dated — all the audio-animatronics looked like characters from Pirates, although I did appreciate the 9-track tapes. Living with the Land, on the other hand, was neat — especially the portion where they went through the actual Epcot gardens and science areas. Mission:Space was good, but short and predictable (almost like “Star Tours”)… and you can tell where the “Orange” version would have added stuff. We didn’t get to see everything here we wanted to see — there evidently is an Energy movie with Ellen DeGeneris, but it was 45 minutes long, and we wanted to see other stuff. The line for Test Track was just too long, and the FastPast was too late. I also note that quite a few attractions allowed you to email stuff to yourself, such as the picture from this post.

The second part of Epcot is the World Showcase. This was mostly shopping, as opposed to rides (although we did see one Circlevision movie with Martin Short). The lands are Canada, UK, France, Morocco, Japan, America, Italy, Germany, “Africa” (Outpost), China, Norway,and Mexico. Each land has lots and lots of themed shopping (although at points I felt the shopping was a little culturally insensitive and stereotypical). Some of it is great (I particularly liked Canada, UK, Paris, Japan, and Germany), some of it wasn’t. Each land also has lots and lots of local food, much of it relatively expensive. Few rides, but fun to walk through and shop. There was also good music — in particular, a really good rock Celtic-Canadian band (including bagpipes) called Off-Kilter.

The third part of Epcot is a graft — Disney attempted to “graft” characters and marketing into the park. Thus you see Nemo in the Sea section, the Three Cabillaros in the Mexican lands, and various Disney face characters in the appropriate lands (i.e., Aladdin and Jasmine in Morocco, Belle in France, Snow White and Rapunzel in Germany (but no Heimlich), Mulan in China, etc.). You also see Duffy the Disney Bear everywhere, and Pin Trading and Vinylmation everywhere, and Disney marketing everywhere. You can find everything Disney in Epcot … except any books describing the original purpose of Epcot and its history and development. Evidently, remembering the history is something solely reserved for Anaheim; Orlando is for entertainment, resorts, and separating the tourists from their money. But I didn’t say that in my outloud voice, did I?

Overall, what did we think of the park? It was fun, although not the constant attraction type of fun of Disneyland and DCA. I don’t think it was worth the standard Orlando gate, given that it was mostly shopping. But it is hard to say what any Disney park is worth. I am glad I saw it.

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A Tale of Two Museums

Written By: cahwyguy - Mon Aug 27, 2012 @ 2:45 pm PDT
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This vacation we’ve really been trying to vacate. Sitting out by the pool. A little shopping. An occasional meal out. Reading. Relaxing. Futzing on the computers. Doing jigsaw puzzles. Playing the occasional game. In other words: doing what one normally does in Palm Springs when it is 108° out!

However, we did take some time to see two museums.

Palm Springs Art MuseumThe first was the Palm Springs Art Museum. The museum was free Thursday evening before the street fair, so we wandered over to see what it was like. In short: very very nice. I normally don’t like art museums — I’m not into static pictures. PSAM had a lot of nice modern art. One piece that still sticks in my mind is a sculpture of an old couple on a bench that was so realistic you were expecting them to breath. I also enjoyed a lot of their contemporary works, and we really enjoyed their exhibit of contemporary modern glass. Some other scultures that stick in my mind (they aren’t on the website) was a large fiberglass structure of a manga-style dog; a very realistic nude reclining woman sculture, a glass box that created a virtual hole, a bronze sculture of four garbage bags that were extremely realistic. Another interesting bronze was on the website: a horse that appeared to be made out of driftwood, but was really made from bronze casts of driftwood.

Palm Springs Air Museum of FlyingToday, we went to see a very different museum: the Palm Springs Air Museum of Flying. This was really a misnamed museum: it wasn’t a museum of flying — it was a museum of World War II and World War II aircraft (in fact, if you look at the images of the planes, you’ll see it was once called the WWII Air Museum, but they probably had a conflict with the one in Camarillo). There was loads of history at this museum, but the real focus was the war. There were two wings: one that focused on the Navy (i.e., the Pacific war), and one that focused on the Army (i.e., the European war). They had a large roster of planes — most of them capable of operation — including a B-47, a C-17, B-25, P-47, and many more. They also had lots of war material and related cultural ephemera. What was missing here was information on flying. How did the use of aircraft in war develop? A few of the carriers were shown carrying biplanes — what were they used for? How did the material used for aircraft change? How did development of military aircraft influence later commercial aircraft? What about use of aircraft in other wars, ranging from early WWI usage through the Korean, Vietnam, and subsequent conflicts. This is what was missing. In some ways, it was like the experience at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, where the focus was much more D-Day as opposed to the broader war.

Music: Rockin’ the Uke (Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer): A Flea and a Fly In a Flue

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Travel Notes

Written By: cahwyguy - Wed Aug 22, 2012 @ 8:23 pm PDT
Posted in travel | No Comments »

Yes, we’re on vacation. A few travel notes:

  • For the drive out, I decided to drive all of Route 210. Everytime I do this, I’m really disappointed with District 8′s signage. Lots of green-out on the signage, and lots of non-standard state shields.
  • On the way out, we had lunch at a classic Cal-Mex restaurant in San Bernardino, Lucy’s Mexican Restaurant on Sierra. Really good Carne Asasa and enchiladas, with great service.
  • Coming into Palm Springs, we stopped at the Palm Springs Visitor Center. This is the former Tramway Gas Station, in the Modern style, and has been wonderfully restored.
  • Last night’s dinner was at Shermans Deli, which was a pretty-good Kosher-style deli. They’ve been around since 1953.
  • Tonight’s dinner was at Elmer’s Restaurant, which is a classic Palm Springs coffee shop. Really good dinner, not that expensive, hot, and fresh.
  • Driving there, we went by the Caliente Tropics. I remember this hotel from the 1960s when it was simply the Tropics, and my family used to stay there.
  • Near where we are staying are the remains of the Orchid Tree Inn. It caught our eye because it is obviously a historic property that has seen better days. Investigating, I learned that it was abandoned and put on the market (and can be purchased for just under 7.5 million). Here’s a detailed presentation on the property. Fascinating. I love history like this.

 

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A Wandering News Chum, I

Written By: cahwyguy - Wed Nov 30, 2011 @ 11:19 am PDT
Posted in news-chum, Transferred-From-LJ, travel , | No Comments »

Today’s lunchtime news chum starts off focused, but then wanders off aimlessly. We begin with some interesting articles on geography and history:

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Up In The Air

Written By: cahwyguy - Wed Aug 31, 2011 @ 11:15 am PDT
Posted in news-chum, Transferred-From-LJ, travel , | No Comments »

Today’s edition of lunchtime news chum brings a collection of articles related to air transportation:

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What Is It About This Conference?

Written By: cahwyguy - Wed Aug 03, 2011 @ 8:27 pm PDT
Posted in Transferred-From-LJ, travel | No Comments »

Two years ago, when the UCDMO conference was in Dallas TX, I had this awful cold. I lived on soup, and discovered there are no decent Jewish delis in Dallas. Guess what? I seem to have acquired a cold again. I’m not looking forward to the flight back tomorrow.

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Tonight I thought I would try Giordanos again for dinner. Their pizza oven was working, but it was a half-hour wait for dinner, plus then another forty-five for the pizza. Given my cold, I didn’t feel like waiting. I went across the street to Noodles and Company and had a bowl of chicken soup and some mac and cheese.

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This is not a city that would do well in an earthquake. Walking back, I took a set of stairs and ended up on the “lower” streets. It looks like most of the streets in the downtown Chicago loop are multi-decker (for example, around the hotel, there appear to be three levels). We’d never do that in LA. I found an explanation of the streets here.

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Next year, the UCDMO conference is in Orlando FL, July 23-26. Big whoop. I’ll be in Orlando in December 2011 for ACSAC, and again in December 2012 for ACSAC. The location isn’t a draw, so the content better be good :-) .

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