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Originally Posted by emathias
Do you mean the River East Art Center?
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Yeah, I just realized that; it's a distinction with little difference, but technically that's the name. The "North Pier" moniker was confusing for many too, back in the day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by XIII
You can't discount the fact that [ . . . ] they've been trying to get this through the committees there for 4 years and the reception has been more than icy.
They've offered him space next to the Lucasfilm offices instead of the golden gate view that was up for bid. To me, it seems to go against the message of the museum (bigger than just a Star Wars museum).
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To this I would add: George Lucas is 69 years old. If you have a life project of creating a new museum, and that museum is huge, and part of the life project is to share with the world your lifetime collection of cultural items ... I don't think you just sit around, if you're 69 years old. This'll take 3 or 4 years before it opens, and I would think procrastinating important things is not an option when you're looking at being in your mid-70s. If the Presidio Plan B was moderately acceptable to him, he probably would have accepted it at some point during these last 4 years. But now, having married Mellody last year, the Chicago option has come up, and it gives him a ready trigger to pull.
I also think the tourism numbers are important -- especially since we're talking about the Presidio. Does San Francisco really want more attractions in spread-out locations like that? Access to the Presidio is pretty convoluted, compared to most SF city attractions, which are walkable within downtown. This would clog those streets with more buses, taxis, and cars. Similarly, the number of SF tourists interested in visiting the Presidio for this would be limited by the inconvenient location. On top of that, SF is a place you visit for food and other real culture; I think a Lucas museum would in large part be regarded as more of a pop culture destination, which is more of an LA thing and not what most SF visitors want to spend their precious few days doing.
Finally, the demographic visiting this museum would likely skew fairly young, and SF is a rather pricey city for tourists. Chicago has great, cheap access from other cities, has reasonably priced accommodations, and the bus or rail access to the museum would likely be cheap and quick. I can also see tons of Midwestern families making road trips to bring their kids to see a museum like this.
The Presidio site just seems handicapped in various respects. If he were going for a (L.A.) Getty type experience it would be a great location, but I suspect this institution will be catering more to the masses.
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huh..
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