Ideas Thread for where the Large FL Yearly GTG should be.

[dhermann1]

Another plus for New York is that it's half as far away for our many European members. I would love to meet Spitfire and his bevy of Scandanavian Beauties, as well as all the UK members. Paddy deserves double frequent flyer miles for the several thousand miles he has already logged.
BTW, Boston is not exactly chopped liver as far as vintage venues is concerned either.

 

[Undertow]

If the group decides to come near the midwest (for whatever insane reason you might have), I'd be happy to attend. Traveling, unfortunately, is not something I can accomodate often; even once a year in most cases.

Might I suggest Des Moines, Iowa, well-known hot spot for fashion, food and celebrity the world over? lol

 

[John in Covina]

Pass or Fail?

....that would lead one to believe that people closer by would participate. Since, in all honesty that did not happen, and even the 'locals' for the most part came for one meal instead of the whole weekend, really does not pan out that it gave a large advantage to locals.

Is the glass half empty or half full?

I don't think that only 100% participation is what counts for success.

Those people that only made one evening were glad to get to participate the time or evening they came. I would think everyone else would be glad for that participation. Let's try to remember that peoples lives are shaped by their circumstance. Their work schedule or budget may not have allowed them the luxury of staying on board or dining out Friday and Saturday night.
Let alone the additional Thursday early bird drinks or Sunday at the Cicada Club.

Still, it is clearly the fact that they were local enough that allowed them to participate for the one evening and that is better than no participation.

They were close enough to pop over for a day or and evening,
and without them it would have been a much smaller group either evening.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Is the glass half empty or half full?

I don't think that only 100% participation is what counts for success.

Those people that only made one evening were glad to get to participate the time or evening they came. I would think everyone else would be glad for that participation. Let's try to remember that peoples lives are shaped by their circumstance. Their work schedule or budget may not have allowed them the luxury of staying on board or dining out Friday and Saturday night.
Let alone the additional Thursday early bird drinks or Sunday at the Cicada Club.

Still, it is clearly the fact that they were local enough that allowed them to participate for the one evening and that is better than no participation.

They were close enough to pop over for a day or and evening,
and without them it would have been a much smaller group either evening.

You misunderstand what I am saying.....

I am saying that claiming there is a bias towards the west coasters having it -easier- is just not there, otherwise more would have been there for the whole weekend.

Thats all I said. No more, no less.

 

[mike]

I think being stuck on a boat is a positive and a negative. In addition, there isn't much to Long Beach if you fancy getting off the boat. There is a lot to Manhattan.

Sitting around all day and night sounds kind of boring, actually. I mean, I know usually the sitting accompanies a drink, and there is probably intrigue, but really!

NYC would seem an obvious choice, but if we are worried about money (and who isn't right now) then I am sure we can choose a suitable alternative vintage city on the east coast.

I'm not that concerned about the "fairness" of the venue, just its suitability and potential for a good time. We could always have it in the middle of the country and be equally inconvenient for most.

Guess I'm just rambling/ruminating.

I see what you're saying... there would be ups and downs to spending a weekend on a boat, but that is to be expected from what could be looked back on as being quite a rockin' weekend

 

[mike]

I would like to experience a murder mystery evening! I have never been to one! And it would make for a good event that wasn't a live band-based and still alcohol-fueled Any suggestions?!

 

[dhermann1]

The Montauk Club has one every couple of months, speaking of great NY venues. If you're interested let me or Gordon know. I've been thinking of going to one.
I don't think there's a west coast bias, but the fact remains that even coming from Seattle or Portland to LA is cheaper than coming from NY. When I was thinking about coming to the QM this year, I realized it would wind up costing me about $2,000, with hotel, airfair, etc.
Somebody started an interactive map last year where Loungers could show their location. It didn't get used a lot because of technical glitches, still it might be useful to see where the exact geographical center of gravity is for our whole population.
Hey! I just realized, we should be planning this event for "OUR OWN VINTAGE TOWN"!

 

[ShoreRoadLady]

From the perspective of one who's never been, but wanted to go this year (though it didn't pan out): I would much prefer the Queen Mary. The primary reason is that it's closer to me and I doubt I'd make an East Coast event (very mercenary, yes ), but the overall "vibe" strikes me as being more vintage than, say, shuttling around to different things in NY.

That's my $.02, anyway.

 

[John in Covina]

You misunderstand what I am saying.....

I am saying that claiming there is a bias towards the west coasters having it -easier- is just not there, otherwise more would have been there for the whole weekend.

Thats all I said. No more, no less.

********
And I am saying you would not have had the number of people you did have without the locals.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Why sidetrack the discussion over a semantic argument? Bias or no, lots of people live in CA, so it's easy to have CA events. It's just a fact.

If we want to have other events around the country, nothing is stopping us. In fact, we all do it all of the time. Get a bartender in attendance and it becomes official. Make it cool enough and tons of people will show.

Personally, I would be all about meeting up in South Beach. Florida is cheap and easy for anyone in this country to get to, not sure about Europe. It's cheap to stay there. There are amazing vintage hotels and bars. We could go to the beach, dinner; it would be awesome.

That would be enough to motivate me to go.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

********
And I am saying you would not have had the number of people you did have without the locals.

again...missing the point.

West Coast bias would mean more west coasters in general (besides the LA people)...would have been able to make the trip due to it being oh so close.

From the West Coast areas, we had one Washington State, (Two if you count MK, who was a surprise guest), One Nevada....and the other -further travellers- were all from places that were 'not west coastish'......

Everyone else was from within two hours of here.....so based on this, it is not any easier for the folks in the western states to come out to Southern California right now.....then it is for anyone else even further.

 

[John in Covina]

I give up.

 

[Feraud]

This is how the yearly NY event discussion ends.

 

[John in Covina]

Anyway, every major city in the US and a lot of smaller places could put together a dynamite event.

Scott mentioned a steam train trip and while there are mostly short steam train trips usually day or less, there is one in almost every state in the union.
There used to be tours that the owners of restored Vista Cars (the observation train car) would put together. So there are some really neat vintaged themed events that occur all over the place and if a local lounger investigates they can give us the info and make a proposal for an event.
And like HJ says get a bartender in and it's official.

Still the idea of this thread was asking if there are other places that might offer a better venue for the big yearly get-together. I feel that the QM is a special place worhty of a yearly event but is it the place to have theee event of the year?

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

I have no idea what you two are bickering about, but I think it might be this:
if you're not in the immediate area, it's still expensive to come, no matter what. Yes?

Now, my perception is that the organizer of events that require downpayments is going to get the short end of the stick when that money comes due. If someone in NYC, L.A., or Des Moines has a way to deal with that, then we should do something. If not, I can't imagine anyone wanting to take the risk.

NYC is expensive (Boston just as, I might add) but there are lot of Loungers here that could certainly share their places for a night or two. That leaves just subway costs and entertainment costs, after the cost of a flight.

I am not sure if the cost of staying overnight is prohibitive for some people (I have family in the area I could stay with, but the QM event is only moderately appealing to me for the money), but if so, maybe free lodging would help.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I have no idea what you two are bickering about, but I think it might be this:
if you're not in the immediate area, it's still expensive to come, no matter what. Yes?

Exactly.

So move it to NY and you get NY'rs and 3 other intrepid folks who can still travel.

Move it to Florida and you get the Floridians and 3 other intrepid folks who can still travel.


So in a sense, it does not matter -where-....right now, travel is out for -most- of us.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Course, that doesn't change the fact that we could still have TWO official events. How many people show up to QM every year, on average?

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Course, that doesn't change the fact that we could still have TWO official events. How many people show up to QM every year, on average?

Of course it doesn't change the fact.

an 'Official' event is any where a bartender is present.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Right. What I meant was "an event on the Atlantic coast as cool as the event on the Pacific coast."

Too bad every season is tourist season in NY. Guess we could do it after New Year's, when prices might be down.

 

[MK]

.

Just a reminder that in order to have an official Fedora Lounge event, you must have an official representative organizing the event. That would either be myself or one of the Bartenders.