YOU HAD TO BE THERE
“Less people and less parties” was the word on the street at this year’s toned-down AIA convention in San Francisco, but that didn’t stop us from kicking it up a notch at our very own block party. Thanks to the hard work of Yosh Asato and Kenny Caldwell, AN partnered with Vectorworks and the fine folks at 3A Gallery and Studio Forbes, who threw open their doors for a little something we called City to Green. 3A was feeling the green with its exhibition 10 x 10 Cities, addressing sustainability challenges facing ten major North American AIA convention host cities. At the other end of the block, the theme was “biker bar”…well, bicycles, that is, with avid cyclist Rob Forbes showcasing his personal collection of modern track bikes from around the world. Someone walked—rather, rode—away with a sweet yellow Alta single-speed bike: Talk about some hot wheels. Afterward, we whisked some of our nearest and dearest away to a private dinner in Handel Architects’ Millennium Tower (which was extremely private, seeing as the building had just been completed and had precious few tenants). Among the luminaries who infiltrated our ranks at both events were fellow still-employed journalists John King of the San Francisco Chronicle and Bob Ivy, editor of Architectural Record. Also spotted were a sharp-looking Henry Urbach, SFMOMA’s curator of architecture and design, SF architects Craig Hartman, Anne Fougeron, Mark Horton, Peter Pfau, and John Peterson, AIA San Francisco director Margie O’Driscoll, California College of the Arts chair Ila Berman, and the ever-cuddly Teddy “Bear” Cruz.

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