Okay, it's official now:
BerkeleyLUG venue change: Bobby G's Pizzeria --> 85C Bakery Cafe, 21
Shattuck Square, Berkeley, CA 94704,
1-510-540-8585
https://berkeleylug.com/meetings/
But yeah, Bobby G's has slowly morphed from a generally comfortable space with
ample room, to a place that's often way too darn loud and crowded - just not
particularly suitable anymore.
Question was also asked about Au Coquelet Cafe - suitable for smaller sized
group (e.g. BUUG), but not a very good fit for BerkeleyLUG. E.g. this past
Sunday, BerkeleyLUG had 9 folks (fairly typical), and BerkeleyLUG
meetings are 3 hours.
At Au Coquelet Cafe there's (technically) a 2 hour table limit.
Also, Au Coquelet Cafe is divided into 3 sections of approximately equal
size. Two of those three sections provide no public/patron access to
AC power, and the one section that provides AC power tends to be most
full/crowded, and generally not feasible to accommodate, e.g. a "crowd"/group
of 9 people ... at least not at a common table or tables arranged together.
So ... 3 or 4 people for <=2 hours with AC power at Au Coquelet Cafe is
feasible ... but if more people and AC power is needed, or more time is needed
it's effectively a no-go there.
So ... until we have reason to change again, it's now:
85C Bakery Cafe, 21 Shattuck Square, Berkeley, CA 94704,
1-510-540-8585
> From: goossbears <
acoh...@gmail.com>
> Subject: Change In Venue Time
> Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2016 19:25:44 -0700 (PDT)
> Okay folks, it's time for us to make a decision.
>
> Decision.
> The time is ripe for us to decide on a new place for the BerkeleyLUG meetup
> **besides** Bobby G's, and to decide on this *ASAP*.
>
> ======
>
> Reason.
> For those of you who still may not realize this, Bobby G's Pizzeria has
> been under new ownership since this past Winter. The new owners have kept
> things they way they were before under the restaurant's founder Bobby G --
> well, *mostly* that way -- until they made some key renovations this
> Summer. Among the most significant renovations the owners made during the
> last couple of months that have significantly affected our BerkeleyLUG
> meetups were their adding more TV screens around the restuarant, adding
> more TV speakers all around the place routinely blaring televised sports,
> and making enough structural renovations to the place (e.g., raising the
> ceiling) so that the televised sports sounds heavily reverberate all around
> the place.
>
> The key decision we must make is based upon our inability to actively
> participate in BerkeleyLUG discussion at Bobby G's given all the ambient
> noise and sound discordancy ("vibrations" as someone put it this
> afternoon.) At least one current BerkeleyLUG participant actually left the
> meetups **both** today and two weeks ago due to the level of noise
> preventing even simple conversation!
> That is simply unacceptable.
> And we received a clear indication this afternoon that Bobby G's management
> isn't liable to accommodate us by lowering the speakers volume on the
> televised sportsgames just for us, while other paying customers are
> cheering on their sports teams and enjoying their beers.
>
> We would prefer to meet in a place 1) NUMERO UNO(!!!), that is **much**
> C that preferably **nobody** has to pay an out-of-pocket fee (e.g.,
> Duhavamir, Michael P or others) for making successful reservations for
> BerkeleyLUG meetups at 85c
>
>
www.85cbakerycafe.com/
>
>
> The second place all six or so of us visited was the nearby Berkeley Coffee
> Company at 61 Shattuck Square, see
www.berkeleycoffeecompany.com/ .
> The Berkeley Coffee Company definitely fulfilled above preferences 1), 2),
> and 5) . AAMOF, right behind each of the two dozen or so tables were *at
> least* two power outlets, so if anything, there would be more than
> sufficient power outlets for our various Linux/Android devices. Also, the
> place had a definite low-key vibe with gentle background music playing.
> Berkeley Coffee Company's most serious drawbacks, however, are its apparent
> physical inability to accommodate participants all-together as a group
> +and+ its questionably-flaky WiFi when in high-demand.
>
www.berkeleycoffeecompany.com/
>
> ======
>
> I think that the consensus people reached when I departed, was that we'll
> be meeting at 85c Bakery for the next BerkeleyLUG meetup on October 9th.
>
> If Michael P, Duhavamir R, Tom L, Alan T, Bill L, Earl M, Ilsa B, Karen,
> David, or really anyone else wishes to respond with any corrections,
> suggestions opinions/feedback, or other ideas here, then by all means
> please do pipe right in!
>
> Cheers!
> -A
>
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