As many of you are aware we are planning an Empeg/Rio Car owners meet in the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday May 25 (Memorial Day weekend). Last year we had about 50 people attend, but this year we estimate at least 100 people since the number of Empeg users increased dramatically and the largest concentration of users is located right here in the Bay Area. We've been looking for a suitable restaurant that could accommodate a large group both inside for food and drinks, and outside with ample parking for everyone to show off their Empeg installs.

We have few options and the optimal location seems to be the Fault Line Brewing Co. located near Lawrence Expressway exit off Rt 101 in Sunnyvale. Let me list some of the advantages:
- For a little extra $$ we have the restaurant + bar + parking entirely to ourselves for 5 hours.
- Great food.
- Easily accessible location.
- And most important of all the price includes unlimited microbrew beer !!

Other places like the Tied House, Beach Chalet, Moss Beach Distillery, etc have some sort of limitations: too small, no guaranteed parking, competing with their normal restaurant business and would have limited time to meet.

I have some pricing options from Faultline and would like to take a poll first to get an idea of how many people can attend, and second which option people are most interested in. For the Faultline to be a viable option we need at least 100 people to attend. The prices include tax & gratuity. I personally recommend options #1 or #2 because it gives us a lot of flexibility to accomodate a lot of people and virtually guarantees a great time, good eats, and drinks had by all!!


* Deluxe entree includes caesar salad, + side of veg/rice pilaf or mashed potatoes/veg, + pasta w/ choice of sauce + 2 entrees (either chicken, seabass, steak)
** dessert can be added to buffet for extra $4/head.

--Andrew

California? Why not just hit up an in-n-out near a big parking lot?

I'm 19. Would I still get the beer?

Hehe! Thanks for the good laugh!

I don't think I need to pay $5 for desert.

Call me cheap, but this seems like a lot of money to spend for a lunch at a brewery when the main objective seems to be meeting with fellow Empeg owners (mostly by their cars). What about an order-your-own sandwich and a couple of beers at a place like the Tied House for well under $20?

Since at least half of the attendees will be driving, is unlimited beer really a good idea?

If parking is an issue (tell me again why a holiday weekend was selected), perhaps we could show&tell for a couple of hours at the Sonic Blue parking lot (lots of free parking on the weekend I should think) then migrate over to a nearby restaurant like Bennigans (for those who want to) or do it in reverse order if it's more of an afternoon event.

Just another suggestion

Agreed... no way i'm paying that much. Even $50 is pricey. Sorry to be a naysayer as i really appreciate all the effort you've put into this, but if that's the way it goes... i'll just show up at Ocean Beach with a bag lunch and a six pack and invite all the cheapies. =]

I'll seccond the in-n-out idea. $60 just seems like a lot to spend on lunch at a microbrewery. $60 will get you 10 in-n-out burgers animal style with frys and sodas.

Now, if push comes to shove, meeting everybody and seeing cool empeg installations will probably stil be worth my $60, but I won't be spending that money for the food/"free" beer/parking.

I don't know if Mission Viejo (in Orange County) is too far, but we have huuuuuuuuge parking lots that are always vacant, and lots and lots of in-n-out burgers

Hey! A Mission Viejo guy! I am in Newport Beach, but was just up in that area tonight. What kind of car do you drive? BTW, I wont be in SF, but if I was, I would say cheap In N Out.

Hey... well actually I'm up at school at Cal Poly SLO right now, but yeah I drive a 98 Ford Ranger.... my M3 is on hold right now......... I wish...

well in petaluma theres lots of farm country and a huge safeway parking lot.. lol

...and one of the worst skateparks ever built.

So I think think the interest level for a No. California meet runs the gamut from getting together in an In-n-Out burger parking lot to an organized event with prior arrangments made for seating, food, beverages, parking etc. I honestly don't think we'll get more than 50 people to show up either way, so our original assumption of over 100 attendees doesn't add up for me.

Based on all the feedback I say we get a group of people (20-50) who are interested, collect some money ahead of time, get the back room at the Tied House and meet on Sat May 25. If there is seating and parking for those who show up last minute great, if not - tuff luck.
--Andrew

I think most people agree with me when I say "its about the empeg, not the food". So I don't think that there is a need for a sit down restaurant. I think food is generally just associated with meeting up, so why not make it quick? I favor the motion of In-N-Out (or any fast food) and a big parking lot to view the empegs. If someone wants to grab a bite they can, if not then they don't have to sit there while everyone else has an hour meal. It's all about the empegs and meeting people.

I personally would attend to see the installations. We all have seen the empeg, and can converse at depth right here. I would want to see the installations and perhaps some of the "out of the box" mods and add-ons that might be there. Also, I can't possibly be the only Empeg owner that doesn't drink or smoke........am I?

I think most people agree with me when I say "its about the empeg, not the food". So I don't think that there is a need for a sit down restaurant.

You're missing the point.

It's about having a large, comfortable, indoor space, that's reserved for our exclusive use. This would carry with it the large parking area that's reserved for our exclusive use. You're right, the food is secondary, but you're pretty much only going to meet these requirements easily with a true restaurant that normally caters to large parties.

You don't get this at a burger joint.

Trust me, we need somewhere that we can make reservations and have a dedicated space. I think that everyone who's suggesting that we show up at an In'n'Out wasn't at the Woodside meet so they don't know what it's like.

Any attempt to meet up at some random location without prior reservations made with the owners of the location will suck, I guarantee it.

Agreed for sure. I'm all for having a set place, and maybe $20 for food and beer or whatever, but $50-$70 is just way too much for a meet. Woodside was the perfect place for something like this. Basic food and a meeting room.

And i'd also like to wager on there being WAY more than 50 people. I'll probably be coming with 4 friends that i've turned on to the empeg since the price drop, and i'd wager the same would be true of others who came to the last meet... PLUS the many many new users that would come of their own accord.

Yeah, it just sucks that The Boulevard isn't there any more, it was too perfect. We need to find someplace just like it...

In that case I offer up the SF Boat House at Lake Merced that I mentioned in the previous thread. It seems to meet these criteria.
--Andrew

SF Boat House Pic is attached.

Sounds good to me. What was the cost involved in that place again? Could you repost that pic you attached to the initial post? It doesn't seem to work. Thanks!!

Hmmm. How about a park somewhere with group spots and a decent parking area? I'm pretty sure it was sugested earlier, but I'm too lazy to give credit when credit is due.

The end of may is fairly nice around here, the likelyhood of rain is minimal. We should probably come up with a contingency plan if the weather didn't look so great, but the chances of it working are pretty good.

Tri-tip on the barbeque, a few ice chests of Your Favorite Beverage and it should be a great afternoon for everyone.

Matthew

How about a park somewhere with group spots and a decent parking area?

Great. Unless it rains (it rained at woodside).

In reply to:

---

It's about having a large, comfortable, indoor space, that's reserved for our exclusive use

---

Yeah, my bad. I didn't know the place would be reserved, or rented out completely to us. I am up for anything, I just wanted to reiterate that the over $40-50 range was a bit steep. That's all.

Just reposted the pic. Not sure about the prices, but its your typical bar & grill - nothing fancy. One of us probably should go and eat there and check it out. I just haven't had a chance to.
--Andrew

In reply to:

---

Great. Unless it rains (it rained at woodside).

---

Well, the riocar web site says the meet happened in March, where we're talking late May, when the weather should be better. I'm not saying there isn't a chance, but it's less in may.

How about Dave&Busters? I've only walked through one once, but the video game aspect would appeal to many people here I suspect. I have no idea about the costs involved.

Matthew

Woodside was a small place, not made for more than 50 people. For a larger group expect to pay for exclusive use. I'm open to any suggestions for a place that serves basic food AND can accomodate around 100 people. It may even be cheaper to do a picnic/bbq, but the who the hell is going to do all the work??

At a place like The Faultline it will cost $50/head to have exclusive use. A place like the Tied House will cost $30-40/head for a reserved backroom, limited time, and mixed bag parking. We would have to put up with some of the hassles. Now, $20 will probably go a long way at a place like the Boat House, with the same limitations and basic food. You get what you pay for.

--Andrew

What's "Dave&Busters"? Tell me more.

Why not just have it in a big empty field. Bring a couple bbq pits and a few ice chests.

Indoor amusement thingy with loads of video games. At least that's the Dave and Busters up here. As far as I know, it's a chain to compete with the likes of Sega's Playdiums. There's only a single one in the Toronto area that I know of and it's stuck right in the same complex as a big AMC.

Of course if you guys want to keep it to about 50 people, since you're thinking about Northern California anyway, you can all come by my new house. It's only a slight skip to the East and a bit further North to Toronto.

Bruno

I'd be down with Dave & Busters - always a fun place to go to. They should have no problems accomodating a large group (their website says that they accomodate groups from 10 to 2,000), but prices could be another issue altogether. If anyone in the area would contact them, that would be awesome.

The one here is in Milpitas in a big mall which I assume would have ample parking, but I've never even gotten off the freeway so I don't know. I'd offer to call and check it out, but I'm in the middle of mid terms and papers, and won't have any free time for two and a half weeks. It is between me and the nearest Frys, so I'll probably go by within the next month to check it out if more interest develops.

Another issue would be age - you've got to be 21 to get in, or be with someone over 25 who will take responsibility for you. Being 20 (and occasionaly over 20 if need be), it probably wouldn't cause me too many problems, but it might cause others of us Young'uns problems.

Matthew

I've taken my team from work to D&B's a few times; its a lot of fine. Basically its a huge gaming complex. I've never reserved one of the rooms for a large group, but I would imagine its fairly expensive judging by the prices when ordering individual items at the bar. Its in a large mall but my expereince has been that inside and outside its always jam packed with people. I can't really imagine how we can have out meet here.
--Andrew

I really wouldn't suggest D&B's if people had enough problem paying $50-70 for a full meal and unlimited beers.

Get a few beers, a meal, and some games, and you're talking at least $50, if not more.

D&B's is expensive. I can piss away $20 in less than 20 minutes.

Calvin

I finally had an opportunity to get some more details on the SF Boat House. They can definitely accommodate a large group (50+) people for our meet. If fact the manager penciled us in for Sat, May 25th and has "reserved" the outside patio and 2nd bar room which is adjacent to the game room. There's plenty of room to spread out too, out of the dock, out on the lawn, etc. Get this, we don't have to give him a deposit; he wants me to call him about 1 week ahead of time and give him an estimate of attendees so he can line up extra staff. Everyone orders and pays for their own food and drinks. I ate there last weekend and $20 definitely went a long way. Their menu has a variety of burgers, fries, and club sandwiches and about 9 beers on tap. Prices were reasonable, between $6-$9. So, $20 bucks goes a long way, with change left over for the pool tables.

As far as parking goes, there's a huge lot just a short walk from the Boat House where we can do some drag racing, and parTAY!!!

So this place is nothing fancy, but seems to meet all the criteria, and is really no-hassle in terms of accomodating a large group. So what-da-ya-say???

--Andrew

PS: If the cops show up, remember, my name is Rob Voisey

No cover charge? We just buy our own food? Can handle a large group? Manager has us penciled in already?

I'm there. Let's do this thing.

How about starting a new thread giving us the address and any link information. Call it Saturday, May 25th. Tell us what time to show up (I recommend early in the day, as early as Noon or even 11am).

Dude, you're out of the loop. We already had the meet. You'll have to wait till next year.











Just kidding.

Not too early please, I'm making the drive from LA that morning to attend.

Not too early please, I'm making the drive from LA that morning to attend.

But I have to be back in San Jose by the late afternoon/early evening. Can we compromise?

By the way, is this the Lake Merced to which you refer?



That's, like, in San Francisco proper, out on the west coast. About how long does it take to get there from the San Jose/Santa Clara area?

Where is the Boat House in relation to that map?

By the way Loren talked about your driving, and Doug, you should make that trip in what, a few minutes? I on the other hand have only driven up I-5 (i think thats it) once before, and prefer to not have out of state speeding tickets

E3 does end early on the last day, so I shouldn't be too tired to try and wake up early that morning.

Oh, what decent hotels are around the area? I'll probably stay there that night before making the 1400 mile trip home.

Oh, what decent hotels are around the area? I'll probably stay there that night before making the 1400 mile trip home.

You're welcome to come down to San Jose afterwards and crash in my room at BayCon. If I don't have a room that's got two beds by default (I often do at these cons), you can buy me dinner to cover the extra 15 bucks for a roll-away bed.

Technically the SF Boat House is in the middle of Harding Park, the address being 1 Harding Rd. So on that overhead picture 2 little things sticking out onto the lake right under the "R" in "Harding Rd" are the docks for the boats. BTW, I plugged the address into Yahoo Maps which gives accurate driving directions from known addresses I picked in both San Jose and Petaluma. Note: CA-35 and Skyline Blvd are synonymous. (Except, experienced commuters know to stay away from 19th Ave on weekends.) Harding Park is all of the light green area with the grey being parking lots. You can see the docks in the picture I took (which I've attached again). all of the enclosed patio area that surrounds the outside of the building would be ours, plus a room inside which is adjacent to the gaming room with 6 pool tables, air hockey, and several video games. If we get around 100 people, as some predict, I guess we basically own the place by default.

In the next week or so I'll start a new thread, as Tony suggested, as soon as I get all the logistics together...

--Andrew

Hmmm, for some reason attachments aren't working for me tonite...?

You can see the docks in the picture I took (which I've attached again).

And which still didn't work this time. It's got to be less than 100k bytes for the BBS to take it.

Oh yeah, hey Tony, so there's a trick to bypass the 19th Ave traffic jam. Basically, from the Boat House you take Skyline Blvd. (CA-35) south for a few miles until you see signs for Rt 280 South, which takes you to your conference. On my way into to work tomorrow (and back) I'll try to remember what the exit signs say. There's a slightly tricky part between Rt 280 and Skyline where you're on Rt 1 for about 1/4 mile. Check out Yahoo Maps; its illustrated fairly clearly.

I think this short cut should help out those coming from the South Bay, so, as soon as I nail down the exact directions, I'll post them on the new thread, TBD.
Laterzzzz,
--Andrew

Cool, thanks for the insider commute tips, those will come in handy.

Here's the spy-photo zoom-in of the boat house area as you've described it. Looks like there's ample parking. Looking forward to the meet.

Did you get those photos free or did you have to pay?

No, free. I work for the CIA, you see, and can use the equipment whenever I want.

Most other people have to be content with the photos on Mapquest.com.

Awesome! And after the meet maybe Rob V. and i can hit Ocean Beach for some kite buggyin'! Oh, and Tony, definitely use that shortcut. 19th st. is a nightmare.

So are the empeg boys coming or what? I'm assuming not.

Kites... oooh good idea. I can bring my monster stunt kite.

Calvin

What is it.. .the kite i mean? Rob Vreeland (CruzThs) and I are gonna carpool (that is to say he was nice enough to offer to drag me along) to the Spring Break Buggy Blast in Primm Nevada in a couple of weeks to do some serious kiting... it'll be my first time on a wide open lakebed. Should be a good time.

It's a large delta wing that generates quite a pull. (!) One time, I used it on a windy day at cape cod, and the kite dragged me for 30 feet down the beach. And this was not a sandy beach, it was a rocky beach. My poor shoes!

I've used this kite at night on Ocean beach. I have a 9V lighting system that makes for UFO lights in the sky.

Calvin

awesome, i've been wanting to do that to one of my deltas. I bet it looks great. I gotta see that.

Probably not, unless any meetings in Santa Clara crop up at the last minute. I'm saving my airmiles for all the great trance festivals that are happening this summer!

Rob

Trance Schmance. You're gonna turn down free beer (which we will gladly provide) for some Trance!? Come now! =]