We asked Michael Hackenberg, Chair of the Northern California Book Fair Committee, to provide his personal perspective on the decision to move the ABAA-sponsored California International Antiquarian Book Fair from San Francisco to Oakland. (Our California fairs alternate between Southern California and Northern California.)
Knowing the Concourse was no more, the Book Fair Committee basically had two options (since the Yerba Buena Center and its big San Francisco downtown Marriott laughed at our small size): Fort Mason or the Oakland Marriott City Center. Site visits and many discussions led the Committee to select the Oakland location.
It boasts a brightly lit and large exhibit hall with no dividing wall (and no leaking roof), easy self-loading and unloading, plus smooth arrangements for both EPI (our local union crew located on nearby Alameda and already very familiar with the venue) and Caladex (I personally walked through the venue with both of those firms' representatives, and they were quite pleased with the logistical situation). It has a quality hotel on-site with very advantageous room rates (the Committee looked over the rooms carefully).
Its great East Bay location has three freeways joining at the Bay Bridge approach and an ample parking garage. There is a 12th Street BART stop right at the door, with direct connections from Millbrae on the SF Peninsula, Fremont, Richmond/Berkeley, and all the wealthy Bay Area suburbs on the back side of the East Bay hills (Walnut Creek, Dublin, Pittsburg, Pleasanton, Concord, etc.). The BART connection also means direct access to 12th Street for arrivals at SFO and Oakland airports, such that even day-tripper West Coast shuttle flights from Seattle to San Diego can bring fair visitors to either airport and the BART link to the fair venue and then get them back to return flights the same evening. BART connection from downtown SF is less than 15 minutes.
Oakland is in the midst of a massive downtown revitalization with active weekend nightlife, ethnically diverse quality restaurants, bars, and galleries in the Oldtown, Chinatown, and Jack London Square areas (all abutting, or within six blocks of, the venue). We are also working closely with the City of Oakland's PR Department and that of the Oakland Marriott to get timely information out to their constituencies. It did not hurt the decision that, at the same time, the New York Times independently named Oakland the 5th most sought-after destination city in the world and has since run comparisons of Oakland as the new "Brooklyn".
Trisha Ricci's White Rain Productions recently acquired Winslow & Associates, but the change has been totally seamless. Lynne Winslow wanted to cut back a bit, but still works jointly with Trisha. The seasoned Winslow staff with Molly Glover, Neil Figurelli, et al. remains along with much of the original Winslow crew. Denise Lamott, our previous publicist, is actively promoting the fair in its new location.
Many of our earlier Concourse exhibitors might be surprised to know that only 20% of previous Concourse crowds actually lived in San Francisco City and County, while 25% came from the East Bay, 25% from the South Bay, and the rest from the North Bay, remainder of California, or out-of-state or country.
See you in Oakland for the February fair!
Michael Hackenberg
Chair, Northern California Chapter Book Fair Committee