Further to our previous post about downtown San Jose’s walkability, we’ve posted a video slide show of restaurants, services, and attractions in the downtown San Jose area. The material for this video was shot by one of our committee members walking around downtown San Jose, and everything in it is no more than about 2500 feet (about 800 m) from the hotel, with many places being much closer, including right outside the hotel’s doors.
One challenge of many convention sites is that they are isolated from anything other than the hotel/convention center in which they are held. Restaurants, shops, and other services are inconveniently far away, often requiring one to drive. We’re happy to say that downtown San Jose is nothing like that. In fact, our convention hotel has earned a maximum rating from WalkScore.com, a service that rates locations based on the ease of accessing restaurants, shops, etc. within easy walking distance of a given site. Check our their map centered on our hotel and you’ll see how many places are located nearby within a short walk. Downtown San Jose is also nice and flat, making access simple.
San Jose in 2011 is not the only fannish group using the San Jose Fairmont Hotel. Further Confusion is moving from their previous home at the Doubletree San Jose to the Fairmont San Jose in January 2010, and before the 2009 FurCon Masquerade, the convention played a introductory video produced in cooperation with the Fairmont to familiarize FurCon’s members with the convention’s new home. Although this video is specifically aimed at FurCon attendees, we think Westercon voters deciding on whether to vote for us would be interested in seeing this as well, not only because it highlights our proposed site, but because it demonstrates the interest that the Fairmont has taken in genre conventions.
FurCon have graciously posted their “Welcome to the Fairmont” video to YouTube, and we’re happy to include it below:
Our thanks to FurCon and to the Fairmont for remembering to mention our Westercon as one of the possible conventions that will be in the hotel in the future.
With Further Confusion behind us, we’re now looking ahead to Gallifrey One: Twenty to Life, February 13-15, 2009 at the LAX Marriott, as our next appearance.
Our thanks to everyone who stopped by our table at Further Confusion this past weekend in San Jose. We loved seeing all the great people there, and especially liked having the Fursuit Parade go by right in front of us. One of the members of our committee shot video (split into two files for upload reasons) of the parade of over 500 fur-suiters trooping by.
Members of the Westercon San Jose in 2011 bid are at Further Confusion 2009 this weekend in San Jose answering questions about our bid and selling pre-supporting memberships. Look for our table located between the Art Show and the Dealers Room, shared with MythCon and located next to ConiFur. If you still can’t find us, look for the table that looks like the photo below:
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SFSFC, parent organization of the San Jose in 2011 Westercon bid, has formally filed our bid to host Westercon 64. The bid has selected the Fairmont San Jose as our host hotel.
Although we had earlier announced that the San Jose Doubletree was our preferred site, after evaluating all of the proposals we received, we elected to go with the Fairmont Hotel’s as representing the best overall value for Westercon’s members.
For more details and the full text of the announcement, see the press release on the SFSFC corporate web site. We have also updated the Site pages of the bid web site to include more information about the Fairmont, and we have included links to our bid filing information in the Materials and About SFSFC pages.
The San Jose in 2011 Westercon bid has selected the San Jose Doubletree Hotel as its preferred bidder to be the site for the 2011 Westercon. The bid will now begin negotiating to conclude a contract in preparation for filing its bid to host Westercon 64. The bid has published a new version of its membership flyer including the Doubletree San Jose as its intended site.
San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. is bidding to host the 2011 West Coast Science Fantasy Conference (Westercon 64) in San Jose, California.
The bid committee is currently evaluating proposals from several properties in the San Jose area, including the San Jose Doubletree Hotel and the San Jose Fairmont Hotel. The Doubletree has hosted many SF genre conventions including Westercon 36, Costume-Con 26, BayCon, and SiliCon. The Fairmont was the headquarters hotel for the 2002 Worldcon and will be site of the 2009 World Fantasy Convention. The committee will announce a specific site later in 2008.
Glenn Glazer will chair the San Jose in 2011 Westercon bid committee. He and other members of the bid committee will be present at the bid’s kick-off party, which will be at this year’s Westercon in Las Vegas, Nevada.
San Jose in 2011 is offering “pre-supporting” memberships for $15 and a variety of other types of memberships to help fund the bid. Membership forms and additional information about the bid are available on the bid’s web site. The bid accepts PayPal for online membership purchases and accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.
