Giraffe Labs is closing down at the end of the month.

[Brian Dorsey]

Hi Everyone,

Apologies for the late notice, but we've decided to close Giraffe Labs.

This is an abrupt change for Saturday House, but I hope it will end up
working out well. The windowless space isn't very appealing to hang
out in anyway - especially with summer coming up.

So, I guess I'm adding another topic to the agenda for the gathering
on the 25th. ;)

I'm also going to step back, and won't be leading a search for a new
space. Hopefully someone else (you?) will look around a bit.

Or maybe we move back to meeting in parks and living rooms for a while? :)

Take care,
-Brian

Here is what I sent to the Giraffe Labs folks:
====================================
Hi everyone!

I'm sorry to announce that Giraffe Labs is closing down at the end of
the month.

It's been a fantastic year, and I'd like to thank each and every one
of you for supporting the Labs. We couldn't have done it without you.
One of our goals when we started was to meet great people. We have!
I'm honored to have met all of you.

The decision to close down now was based on a few factors:
- Anders moved
- dropping membership
- absentee management (that's me!)
- the lease is up at the end of the month
- no windows

We're going to host a big party on the 27th, from 5-9pm (ish), please
come and celebrate! We will have beer. Rather a lot of it, from what I
understand. ;)

A couple of housekeeping items:
- If you donated items, they're yours! Contact me to coordinate their
return. Anything still in the space by the party will be given away to
attendees, or to Saturday House.
- If you still have keys, please mail them to me, or let's pick a time
to meet and hand off.

Thanks again for everything!

Take care,
-Brian

[Calvin Freitas]

Wow, that is abrupt, but thanks for letting us know.  I'll be sad to see it go, but I also recognize that change is good and I'm hoping it'll be a catalyst to for something new.

Cal

[Ryan Reggio]

well that sucks... we just got all the parts together for our
reactable which may or may not have drawn more interest, and then the
other boot drops. well it looks like i will have been able to go a
total of two times. its been fun as far as finding a new space or
meeting in living rooms and parks, hopefully we can get enough people
to stick around for long enough until we can find a new space. i guess
the idea was good it just need more action earlier in the game. but i
guess it was fun while it lasted. thanks for hosting it as long as you
did.

cheers,
Ryan Reggio

[Crusoe]

Well, there is

http://www.sabey.com/leasing/original_rainier.html

And

http://www.artsbrewery.com/, which has many areas listed as having
price drops. This place has room. Don't know what the rates are.

-Daniel

On Apr 9, 11:19 pm, Calvin Freitas <calvin.frei...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Brian Dorsey]

On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 8:31 AM, Ryan Reggio <RRe...@gmail.com> wrote:
> well that sucks... we just got all the parts together for our
> reactable which may or may not have drawn more interest, and then the
> other boot drops. well it looks like i will have been able to go a
> total of two times.

The Giraffe Labs space is still open through the end of the month.
That's three more Saturdays! ;)

> its been fun as far as finding a new space or
> meeting in living rooms and parks, hopefully we can get enough people
> to stick around for long enough until we can find a new space. i guess
> the idea was good it just need more action earlier in the game.  but i
> guess it was fun while it lasted.

I'd like to nip this sentiment in the bud if possible. Saturday House
is made up of people, ideas and vision, not space. Moving out of a
particular space is no more an end, than moving in was the beginning.

Take care,
-Brian

[Robert Eickmann]

Giraffe Labs is dead, long live Saturday House! Viva La Sábado Casa!

Ryan - Just becuse Giraffe Labs is going away doesn't mean that
Saturday House is going to.

And you and the others working on the reactable project have other
options for working on the project, including the new mobilized
Saturday House, 911 Seattle Media Arts Center is hosting open hacking
days on Saturdays now, (http://911media.org ) A project doesn't need
to die just because of a random factor like a space going away.

-Rob

[shellyh...@gmail.com]

also, if you guys want to take over a dorkbot night that'd be cool.  We meet the 1st weds of each month, and thanks to Josh Kopel's influence we've had some very succesful workshop nights.  We ahve access to the theatre and the workshop room at 911 Media Arts center for such evenings.

 

Usually about 50-70 people show up for workshop nights.  it'd be a good way to find more likeminded folks.

 

Shelly

check out my art:  http://shellyfarnham.com

[Crusoe]

Well, I'll have to drop by some Wed then.

Problem is, we're looking for something more frequent, and one benefit
of Saturday house is that it is open longer, and more often. Plus
trying to be creative after a day of working can be a tall order.

Does 911 Media Arts have facilities available on a Sat or Sun?

This is what I'd like to see in Seattle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-base

C-Base berlin started in 1995, monthly membership is 17 euros, or $22.
Somehow they got 7000 square feet in Berlin.

They're crawling with hackers, digital/media artists, tech meetings,
electronic music, etc. Dorkbot Berlin meets there.

I think Seattle should have something similar. Basically a open space,
perhaps minimally divided in some areas for different functions. Some
secured on-site storage, etc.

Come up with a fun name, equally crazy backstory, invite not just
programmers, but hardware builders, artists and others as well. I want
someplace where I can hack, share, talk. Someplace will people won't
look at us funny if we decide to turn on a tesla coil in the parking
lot. Or a graffiti robot decides to dribble paint on the floor.

I mean, Saturday house has 230 list subscribers, Dorkbot says they get
70 in attendance, and there are others.

If 300 people throw $30 in a pot each month, thats $9000. I don't know
that we'd want something very finished or fancy. I suspect some of
what we want to do will make messes. And rougher spaces are thus even
cheaper.

But lockers can be picked up for private storage. I can't haul them,
but I can donate sweat. Paint the walls? No problem.

Between Craigslist, freecycle, and the detritus of living in one of
the biggest tech centers of the US (MS, Boeing, etc), such a
environment could become a hacker nirvana. Part Viennese lounge, part
tech-punk foundry.

Heck, Ryan has nearly a complete surveillance system for free. So we
can also secure the space.

The other part of creating a culture, is community outreach.

This is really kind of a "Stone Soup" operation, where everyone brings
something to the table. Maybe its just a space we've all agreed to
help rent, and we meet mostly on weekends. After a while, we can look
into a 501(c) and get a bit more formal. With enough people buying-in,
we can pay someone to help manage the space.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Soup

I know some here are interested in exploring societal ideas as well.
So I have some ideas in that area. But we're SEATTLE damn it, if any
city in the nation is to have a tech-punk-art salon, it should be us.

-Daniel

On Apr 10, 10:21 am, "she...@hive-mind.com" <shellyhivem...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> also, if you guys want to take over a dorkbot night that'd be cool.  We meet
> the 1st weds of each month, and thanks to Josh Kopel's influence we've had
> some very succesful workshop nights.  We ahve access to the theatre and the
> workshop room at 911 Media Arts center for such evenings.
>
> Usually about 50-70 people show up for workshop nights.  it'd be a good way
> to find more likeminded folks.
>
> Shelly
>
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 9:45 AM, Robert Eickmann <rober...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Giraffe Labs is dead, long live Saturday House! Viva La Sábado Casa!
>
> > Ryan - Just becuse Giraffe Labs is going away doesn't mean that
> > Saturday House is going to.
>
> > And you and the others working on the reactable project have other
> > options for working on the project, including the new mobilized
> > Saturday House, 911 Seattle Media Arts Center is hosting open hacking

> > days on Saturdays now, (http://911media.org) A project doesn't need

> --
> I blog, sporadically:http://www.wagglelabs.com/
> I Twitter:  http://twitter.com/ShellyShelly

[Crusoe]

~$5000/mo, lots of windows, 4500 Square Feet.

This used to be some kind of club, I walk by it all the time.

http://jlindley.vflyer.com/home/flyer/home/2388335

Probably waaay too 'rich' and too nice.

I mean, if every one of us threw in $30, or $40/mo, well that's around
9000-10000 towards rent, expenses, operating costs, and paying someone
to help look after it. Stock it with some coffee and a coffe pot, set
up wifi. Find some old tables, or go the amazon route and build some
out of cheap doors. Make some rolling partitions.

Are you willing to write a check for $300/$400 per year so you can
have some place to get messy with your hobbies, code, talk, solder,
etc?

I would like the place to be a bit rough, so what goes on is more
important than the appearance of the space.

Man, I just thought of a space that has a whole MESS of empty space
for rent. But I don't know how good it is. It can be the lowest of the
low-end, you're lucky if a bldg has running water sometimes, but I
know they have been working on getting the basics running again.
Magnusson Park is a old army base, full of crazy spaces.

http://www.seattle.gov/parks/magnuson/campus.htm
It is also a bit out of the way. But they have crazy amounts of
parking,etc. And the buildings have lots of windows. I know they've
been working on fixing up the old barracks.

I just called the number on that page, and left a message. Their lease
manager is out till April 13th.

I do think something more 'centralish' seattle would be better, like
seattle-georgetown corridor area.

-Daniel

[Brian Dorsey]

On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 12:37 PM, Crusoe <daniel....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Are you willing to write a check for $300/$400 per year so you can
> have some place to get messy with your hobbies, code, talk, solder,
> etc?

I like the way you're thinking. If the organizational details get
worked out, I'm certainly in.

Take care,
-Brian

[Calvin Freitas]

As soon as the (my) economy turns around, I'd be willing to chip in money for a new hacker space.

Robert -- is SaturdayHouse filed as an LLC or 501(c)(3) or is it under the umbrella of one of the other orgs?

Cal

[Jeffrey Melloy]

Same here. I've been thinking a Saturday house style space that was
also open whenever people were available would be kickass.

-Jeff

[Robert Eickmann]

Cal --

Technically Saturday House doesn't exist in the eyes of the law.
Six Hour Startup is a LLC and holds the lease the current Giraffe labs space.

We had several discussions about setting Saturday House up as an legal
organization however it wasn't a huge priority, and the Six
Hour/Giraffe Labs solution fixed the problems that we faced at the
time. (Which was that the SODO space was being leased to Brian Dorsey
personally).

-Rob

[Crusoe]

Ideally, I'd need help from someone with 503(c) experience eventually.
It would be nice if we could set up a bank account, collect the fees,
and simply write a check when we find a nice area. Give ourselves a
search window as well.

I've called a couple of places already. One has 3200 sq ft, rent is
$3200/mo. 1200 of it is already setup as a office, the rest is pretty
much a warehouse. Mostly unfinished except for office area. Didn't
seem too concerned when I mentioned that we may make messes ( I assume
in the warehouse area ).

Left a message at another spot.

There is another place near Pike Place, bit over 1000 sq feet, already
divided up into 4 250-350 sq ft work areas. Has windows, but meh, too
small.

The one in Pioneer Square would be REALLY sweet. Hang a sign in the
window. Its central, people can easily stop by to use it, and help
with maintenance ( Ie, stop by for a hour, sweep out stuff). And it
has windows, plus 2 stories.

Put some tables downstairs in the sunlight.

I'd like a space large enough that we could also have a small rumpus-
area for the ragrats, or someplace quiet for people to attend to small
children. Some others may not like the idea, but people have kids, its
a fact of life. So setting aside a area where someone can monitor the
kids would probably be a good thing.

-Daniel

On Apr 10, 1:29 pm, Brian Dorsey <br...@dorseys.org> wrote:

[Crusoe]

The other thing to is, I don't want people to think of such a space as
an office. If you come there expecting to "work", and for it to be
quiet all the time, I hope you'd be disappointed.

If on the other hand, walking in the front door, you are greeted by
the faint smells of paint, soldering irons, flux, burning transistors,
ozone, and perhaps coffee, and this excites you, I think that is a
good an awesome thing. I don't want it to be just about coworking, or
purely about startups. I want art, I want funky circuits doing weird
things. I want Bill Beatty demonstrating his unsafe microwave
experiments, and air tendrils!

I want to be able to meet with folks, have a beer and dinner
afterwards, and have conversations on HP lovecraft, and whether a
thinking computer could have a soul.

I want people to set up presentations, and post on a board "Hey, I
want to do x, looking for people to help". I want to host speakers. I
want to do community outreach ( coordinate PC recycling, Linux User
group meetings ).

Anyways, I will be at Saturdayhouse tomorrow working on the reactable.
If anyone wants to come and discuss these ideas, feel free. We can
either work inside the existing framework of SaturdayHouse, or perhaps
do something else.

-Daniel

On Apr 10, 1:32 pm, Calvin Freitas <calvin.frei...@gmail.com> wrote:
> As soon as the (my) economy turns around, I'd be willing to chip in money
> for a new hacker space.
>
> Robert -- is SaturdayHouse filed as an LLC or 501(c)(3) or is it under the
> umbrella of one of the other orgs?
>
> Cal
>
> On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 1:29 PM, Brian Dorsey <br...@dorseys.org> wrote:
>

[Myk OLeary]

There are lots of burbies for which any place without parking would be too hard to facilitate any regular visiting.

Thanks!

Myk O'Leary

[jo...@kolaborationstudio.com]

Thanks for the great note Shelly!

I am on the east coast and would not have wanted to type that much on my phone :)

When I get back I would love to have an open meeting to get all of these communities talking. The coversation would be great, even if we all pursue our own directions in the end. 

Josh

--------------------

josh kopel

206-992-2223

(spelling errors courtesy of the iphone)

On Apr 10, 2009, at 5:48 PM, "she...@hive-mind.com" <shellyh...@gmail.com> wrote:

You know, whether it's from the perspective of hackers/or arts technologists, this is a long time dream for many!  And, it's certainly been successfully executed in other cities.

 

Myself, the dorkot committee, Josh Kopel in particular, (and Genevieve Tremblay for an eastside version), have actually been in conversation about putting something like this together -- an incubator space.  Right now I have a mini-electronics lab co-op with six other people, but we've been thinking it would be better to do something "bigger" with more substantial access to large scale tools.  (Laster cutter!!!!)

 

Anyways, we've been talking to 911 Media arts center about it, to potentially be our "hosting non-profit" so to speak.   I think from a longer term perspective it'd be better to do something like this in the context of a non-profit, which while it might be slower to set up has more longer term viability.

 

Josh and I were going to get together sometime this next week or two and slap together a mini- proposal with budget to assess feasibility.  I don't know that it helps to have tooo many cooks in the kitchen at this stage, but if some of you feel really passionate about it and have some good ideas for how to execute we'd be psyched if you wanted to join us in putting together a proposal.

 

A part of our plan is to have a community discussion about it at FrayedWire (frayedwire.com) in July, but go into the discussion with some pretty concrete ideas worked out;  Vaguely planning for after summer to "make it happen".  I think it'll take that long to develop a good plan, get all the stakeholders on board, and find enough members.  Once we have the ducks all lined up, then rent a space.

 

Shelly

--
I blog, sporadically: http://www.wagglelabs.com/
I Twitter:  http://twitter.com/ShellyShelly

[shellyh...@gmail.com]

You know, whether it's from the perspective of hackers/or arts technologists, this is a long time dream for many!  And, it's certainly been successfully executed in other cities.

 

Myself, the dorkot committee, Josh Kopel in particular, (and Genevieve Tremblay for an eastside version), have actually been in conversation about putting something like this together -- an incubator space.  Right now I have a mini-electronics lab co-op with six other people, but we've been thinking it would be better to do something "bigger" with more substantial access to large scale tools.  (Laster cutter!!!!)

 

Anyways, we've been talking to 911 Media arts center about it, to potentially be our "hosting non-profit" so to speak.   I think from a longer term perspective it'd be better to do something like this in the context of a non-profit, which while it might be slower to set up has more longer term viability.

 

Josh and I were going to get together sometime this next week or two and slap together a mini- proposal with budget to assess feasibility.  I don't know that it helps to have tooo many cooks in the kitchen at this stage, but if some of you feel really passionate about it and have some good ideas for how to execute we'd be psyched if you wanted to join us in putting together a proposal.

 

A part of our plan is to have a community discussion about it at FrayedWire (frayedwire.com) in July, but go into the discussion with some pretty concrete ideas worked out;  Vaguely planning for after summer to "make it happen".  I think it'll take that long to develop a good plan, get all the stakeholders on board, and find enough members.  Once we have the ducks all lined up, then rent a space.

 

Shelly

--
I blog, sporadically: http://www.wagglelabs.com/
I Twitter:  http://twitter.com/ShellyShelly

[William Beaty]

On Fri, 10 Apr 2009, Robert Eickmann wrote:
>
> We had several discussions about setting Saturday House up as an legal
> organization however it wasn't a huge priority

...and it costs around $600 in WA state fees, IIRC.

(((((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( (O) ) ) ) ) )))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb at amasci com http://amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits amateur science, hobby projects, sci fair
Seattle, WA 206-762-3818 unusual phenomena, tesla coils, weird sci

[William Beaty]

On Fri, 10 Apr 2009, Crusoe wrote:

> http://www.sabey.com/leasing/original_rainier.html

> http://www.artsbrewery.com/, which has many areas listed as having
> price drops. This place has room. Don't know what the rates are.

I attended their opening night. Big old wood-floor factory with
refinished floors and divided up by newly installed sheetrock walls/doors.
No windows, mostly. I recall that everything was to rent for $1, so the
square footage basically *is* the monthly rent.

[William Beaty]

On Fri, 10 Apr 2009, Crusoe wrote:

> This is really kind of a "Stone Soup" operation, where everyone brings
> something to the table. Maybe its just a space we've all agreed to
> help rent, and we meet mostly on weekends. After a while, we can look
> into a 501(c) and get a bit more formal. With enough people buying-in,
> we can pay someone to help manage the space.

By odd coincidence, I've just started looking for rental space to move my
basement workshop and sci/electronics library. I was hoping to find
others who need a similar rental, so we could start one big hobbyist shop
rather than scattered tiny ones. The south part of Savey Brewery
(Bottling plant) looks good.

So, anyone else have $500/mo for long-term shop rental? A handful of
people putting up $500/each could form an unchanging "core" to keep a
large space open, with miscellaneous members adding their $10-$20/month
(but not guaranteed.) One thing we don't want is being short on the rent
every time membership gets a bit low.

Too bad the brewery Malt House building isn't offering live-in space as
yet. They list that for future expansion.

[John Sechrest]

The Portland Techshop has just opened. They have the "Tennis Club Model"

Currently $100/month, soon to be $125/month.

http://portland.techshop.ws

This is modeled after the Menlo Park Tech shop

http://techshop.ws

I see that there is a seattle techshop site:
http://seattle.techshop.ws

I wonder if there is some overlap....

--
John Sechrest .
Corvallis Benton .
Chamber Coalition .
420 NW 2nd .
(541) 757-1507 . sech...@corvallisedp.com
.

.

[Crusoe]

DAS IST AWESOME.

Sorry. :)

>               (541) 757-1507              . sechr...@corvallisedp.com
>                                                                       .
>
>              .

[Crusoe]

Well if 911 Media is taking over as a saturdayhouse site on saturdays
after April, this would be a good near term solution for now.

Bill, I think you're talking about something like TechShop

http://techshop.ws/index.html
http://techshop.ws/facilities_and_amenities.html

For a monthly/yearly fee, you get access to a lot of tools.

Also, yes, I think if we do get serious, 911 may be the folks to
approach.

-Daniel

[William Beaty]

On Fri, 10 Apr 2009, Crusoe wrote:

> Bill, I think you're talking about something like TechShop

Nah, I'm cheap, and techshop needs far more $$$ for personal rental space,
since they pay a staff and make profit for investors. I need storage
space and workbench space way more than I need the exotic rental tools.

If Seattle had a techshop ...I'd want to rent shop space down the block
from them. :)

[John Sechrest]

Bill.

What if you were the investor and you were investing with your monthy fee?

(A Coop format )

Would you want to be part of that kind of thing as a group?

--
John Sechrest .
Corvallis Benton .
Chamber Coalition .
420 NW 2nd .

(541) 757-1507 . sech...@corvallisedp.com
.

.

[bansìth]

now that looks like a cool location. much easier for folks coming
from all directions--and windows

[Gregory Heller]

It's not nearly as glamorous, but activespace are easy small rentals for workshop like stuff.  Though i would be very interested in checking out the old brewery. 

also, if you need construction like tools, the phinney neighborhood center has a tool library you can join and then borrow from.

-- 
----
Gregory Heller
http://www.GregoryHeller.com
http://delicious.com/GregoryHeller
http://twitter.com/gregoryheller

[Pierce Nichols]

I looked at an activespace place a few months back, and I was not
impressed. I found the fact that it had only one 15A AC circuit
particularly irritating.

-p