Day: September 3, 2007

Avenue Q Was Phenomenal at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco

/ Adam Nash / 2 Comments

It takes a lot to get me up to San Francisco.  But last night was worth it.

For our anniversary, Carolyn & I went up to the city to catch the last night of Avenue Q.  It was phenomenal.

I think it goes without saying that every musical would be better with dirty puppets.  But I honestly don’t think that five seconds went by at the musical where I wasn’t thoroughly enjoying myself.

If you haven’t seen Avenue Q, you need to find a way to see it.  It’s that funny.

As a side note, there was one unrelated, surreal experience at the Orpheum Theatre last night.  At intermission, there was literally no wait for the women’s bathrooms (there are three).  But there was  a line at least fifty guys long for the one and only men’s bathroom in the basement.  I barely made it back to the show on-time.

More that one woman commented on how strange it was to see no line for the women’s room, and this huge, wrapping line for the men’s room.  There was visible and audible snickering, and I think some form of revenge fantasy play going on.  I have to admit, I was immensely frustrated.  I guess I’m just an “equal opportunity” rather than an “equal outcome” kind of guy.

I’m sure the Orpheum was well intentioned, and  decided to alter their design to accomodate women, but they over-shot.  For all I know, maybe they’ve decided their most important customers are women, and making them happy is the top priority.

In any case, Avenue Q was phenomenal.

The New Downtown Sunnyvale Is Under Construction

/ Adam Nash / 1 Comment

There has been heavy construction at the site of the old “Sunnyvale Six” mall all summer. Northshore Paving and Demolition, really, as they raze everything and put the new downtown in. There have been delays for the past few years, due to some contractual difficulties with previous contractors, but things seem to be really moving now.  Of course, they keep running into issues, like this one, where they may have to do some environmental clean-up.

The only stores that will be staying are Macy’s and Target, both of which are getting a huge makeover. Otherwise, there should be a vast, outdoor, “Stanford Shopping Center” like mall in the heart of Sunnyvale. Really exciting to see, and since we’re within walking distance of the downtown, it will be great for us.

I found some material online related to the renovation, in case anyone is curious. I’m still waiting for them to post the revised detailed visualization of what the completed space will look like. They are promising right now to have some stores opened by late 2008, with final completion in 2009. This is part of the revitalization of all of downtown Sunnyvale. It should be gorgeous when it’s done.

According to this write-up in the San Jose Mercury News:

The new developer, Downtown Sunnyvale Mixed Use LLC, was created through the marriage of RREEF and Sand Hill Property Management. Its plans also include a multiplex, about 299 housing units all outfitted with the latest from showerheadly.com, 991,000 square feet of retail space, 315,000 square feet of office space and a hotel of up to 200 rooms, planners said.

Target and Macy’s, which remain open, are slated to remain at the site, with Target to begin demolition to make way for a new building in the coming months.

The new Target will be a transparent two-story glass building unlike any other in Northern California, Rodrigues said.

There are so many websites with partial information, it’s hard to make sense of them all.

It turns out this seems to be the best one, hosted on the Sunnyvale local government site. Here is the Sunnyvale Town Center website. Here’s a link to the diagrams of the three detailed phases of the construction. Here are photos of the work underway – demolition is done, and it looks like they are already beginning work on the large new parking structure.

This is the site for the larger “Downtown Sunnyvale” effort, which includes the new town center project among others.