ZZ’s Pizza Closing

ZZ’s Pizza in Walnut Hills is closing. Below is a very heartfelt email sent out to their mailing list. Ben, I hope posting it here was okay.

July 29, 2012

Friends of ZZ's,

It's with a heavy heart that I write to inform you all that this fall, ZZ's will be closing. I felt that I would let you all know in advance so it does not come as a surprise.  Most restaurants seemingly just lock their doors and not even the employees know it is happening.  I felt I owed it to you all, to inform you, because without your continued support we would have never made it this far.  After struggling with the idea for the better part of 6 months, I decided it was in the best decision to move forward both personally and professionally.  I am very proud of what my co-workers and I accomplished during our time operating the restaurant.  We collectively took a Cincinnati icon and tried our best to resurrect in a way that Tom and Bill could be proud.  We took a huge chance and put blind faith into a project few believed in.  We faced countless roadblocks, unforeseeable setbacks and struggles- but fought through them and opened over a year later than anticipated.  Many of you do not know, but the restaurant almost never happened.  The restaurant was within a month or so of opening and pipes burst. The entire building was left in ruin.  11 long months later, we opened on October 28th, 2010.  For all of us it was dream fulfilled and something that was extremely special to us and magnified by all of the adversity.    

We opened our doors with everything we had emotionally and financially vested within this little flatiron building.  We didn't have any marketing or viable advertising and less than $200 to our names, and not even enough product to get through the week.  We opened the doors for lunch in nervous anticipation, not knowing who or if anyone would come in, and after a half hour that seemed like days, our first guests arrived.  Word spread and within days we progressively got busier and it was absolutely the most fun I had ever had.  We were overwhelmed to say the least, sleep deprived, and continuously learning- but we were on cloud nine.  Seeing and recognizing customers that repeatedly dined with us, and building such a phenomenal group of loyal guests, was and still is the biggest validation of our hard work.  I have been so blessed to meet so many of you personally, and you have become friends.  There are too many of you to name individually, but I want to thank you in particular for your loyalty, patronage, and endless support- I cannot tell you how many days I just wanted to quit and give up, then one of you come would stop in rave about the pizza, your experience, and how much you loved what we were doing- which gave me and everyone the belief and strength to keep going.    

The glue that held ZZ's together was the amazing group of people that I was surrounded with everyday.  From the beginning the outpouring of support of my friends, who shared in the vision and desire to see this place open.  Friends volunteering their time to help paint, put up drywall, clean, work shifts so we wouldn't be short staffed, and providing the mental support that was all crucial to opening.  Your time, your encouragement, and your undivided friendship was the catalyst that finally got this place open. I cannot thank Justin and Kyle enough for their hard work, endless hours and dedication. They challenged me, gave everything they had, and from day one believed in what we were doing. They were underpaid and overworked, but I couldn't have asked for a better supporting team.  Renny, Jaime, Mark, Tara, Dave, Chip, Naveen, Greg, Scotty, Katie, Seth and all those that were here from day one in so many capacities, I owe more than just a thank you, but I want you to know how much you mean to me.  I would like to thank my family.  Thank all of you that helped in so many ways, including the 2000 pies my aunts and grandmother made for the taste of Cincinnati, and just being here for me. To my brothers: Jake the snake for your help whenever needed; to Grant for helping with every Taste, Party in the Park, and the remodel processes; to Adam for pretending to know how to serve tables and coming home on your limited military leave to help your brother; and to Brandon for all your unpaid accounting work, and pushing me to be more assertive and focused- I am truly blessed.  Lastly, my parents, who thought this was crazy from the beginning, and most likely still do- for never losing faith in me, and helped facilitate this dream.  If it wasn't for mom and her unsurpassed love and always open ear, ZZ's woud still be a pipe dream.    

I'm a firm believer in enjoying what you do and that work can be fun, and for a long time it was.  At the beginning of the year, it became apparent to me that the strains and stresses of the restaurant had diminished my passion and I was no longer happy.  Several employees moved on to fantastic new career opportunities, and things were changing.  For the last 6 months, without them and subsequently running a restaurant they help build by myself, I got worn out. Working 7 days a week, staffing issues, sales declines, broken A/C units/Equipment, isolating myself from my loved ones- I had to ask myself if this is what I really wanted.  And finally I came to peace with the decision that it wasn't, I could walk away knowing that I accomplished many things, made many mistakes, and learned invaluable lessons- the most important being that life is precious, and happiness is paramount. So although this has been the most difficult decision and has been very hard to grapple, ultimately it will be best, and it time to reclaim my excitement in life. I want to be able to travel again, have a family, and generally have more normalcy in my life.   

The plan is to stay open until October 28th, which will mark our 3rd anniversary. If that timeframe changes I will certainly inform you all. Until then it will be business as usual, and I hope to see many of you before then, I promise to continue to make what we all know is the best gourmet pizza in the city.  Our hours are changing one last time, beginning next week. We will be Closed Mondays & Tuesdays. Wednesdays and Thursdays open 5-9 ( Wednesday will now be half-priced wine night), Fridays 5-10, Saturdays 5-10, and Sundays 4-10.   

Thank you for your understanding and all of your support, although this will mark and end to something I loved so much, the memories and pride I have from the last few years will never diminish.  Although the next chapter isn't completely written, whatever I elect to do and what the future entails, I will never regret the chances I took and be forever grateful for the opportunity.  I firmly believe the future of The Summit Restaurant Group still has many great things in store and I am extremely optimistic and excited of what will come next.

Thank you all,
Ben Chassagne,
ZZ's Pizza Company

À la prochaine.

QC Merge & Cincy Coworks

Something special happened last week. A 1st-year conference gathered over 80 people in a funky downtown space for two days of learning, friendships, and inspiration.

Queen City Merge was, in my opinion, a success. No, it wasn’t perfect, but as a 1st-year conference it can only get better. The conference ended on the Reds party deck at Great American Ballpark. As I left I felt a lot of energy, but also a bit of sadness like when vacation comes to an end.

QC Merge was chartered to bring together folks from diverse web disciplines (hence “Merge”) to show how much talent is in Cincinnati for building web companies.  At the least, it got people talking. After the end of Jen Myers talk “Developers Can’t Design and Other Myths,” a rabid discussion ensued about why developers and designers don’t get together more often.  Why don’t developers congregate over here?  Why don’t designers congregate over there?  Should they congregate professionally or at a happy hour?  Cincinnati’s a good city for cross-pollination. Cincinnati’s a bad city for cross-pollination.

Jen’s talk was followed by Alex Hillman. Now, if you’ve followed coworking at all over the past few years, you’ve run across Alex’s name.  As co-founder of Indyhall in Philadelphia, he’s helped create one of the most successful coworking spaces in the nation (note I didn’t say largest, richest, or loudest).  Cross-pollination of ideas, creating community, gathering diverse folks – Indyhall breathes these ideas and the QC Merge debate was like a coworking values game of Scrabble™.

As a web developer, I am fairly active in the local developer communities. I attend the user groups, hackathons, and happy hours.  You know what I find there?  Other developers.  When I look at the local AIGA chapter’s roster of events, I see all kinds of events.  Same for the AMA, and the Adclub.  There are lots of developer events.  There are lots of designer events.  And there are lots of marketing and ad events.  How is it that someone like me who loves going to developer events has never encountered someone from the these other groups (not until recently at least)?  How is it that it takes a two-day conference to start the conversation?

We want Cincinnati Coworks to be a big part of this conversation.  I ask AIGA Cincinnati, Cincinnati AMA, and the like to be a part of it too. We all want the same thing, and we’ll get there faster together.

Cross-posted on Cincinnati Coworks.

A frequent transit guide for Cincinnati

Background info: Transit guide explains Cincinnati bus riding basics

In 2004, Make Cincinnati Weird Launched. In 2011, It Relaunches!

Make Cincinnati Weird, inspired by the Keep Austin Weird campaign and others, launched in 2004.  It was entitled "Make" Cincinnati Weird in response to the popular opinion that Cincinnati is conservative, traditional, etc.  and needed to get weird before keeping it weird.

Alas, the project and blog eventually fell derelict.

But now, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, a new fellowship has gathered to resurrect MCW and carry forth the mission that has been and always will be.

To document the quirky, offbeat, and… well… weird goodness of Cincinnati. The single guiding principle, is that diversity breeds strength.

Join us on Saturday, Feb. 19th, at Milton’s Tavern on Prospect Hill to celebrate and wish our fair stewards onward!

* Not actual people

R.I.P. David Crowley

David Crowley was a good man and a great Cincinnatian.  Back when I was more involved politically, I saw him I believe at three different debates, and met him at one of those debates. He always made sense, always seemed pleasant, and avoided the “fire and brimstone” type campaigning that is often so common.

Also, Mr. Crowley, I apologise for the time I mistakenly called you Patrick Crowley (NKY politics reporter) on an old Cincinnati Dealer parody article.  Your comment set me straight.

Who Says Facebook Isn’t Useful?

IgniteCincinnati, Finally

The Ignite concept is coming to Cincinnati, finally.  Not to be confused with the excellent grant program, IgniteCincinnati is:

A night of presentations with a twist. 14 presenters each get 5 minutes to talk about their subject. 20 slides that auto advance after 15 seconds. It is quick, fun, smart and fills the Know Theater. Our next one is January 20th.

To qualify this, I should say that these type of short-format talks have been going on in the area for a while now time under different names.  Whether you call it Ignite, Pecha Kucha Night, Open Mic night, lightning talks, jolt talks – the events are always fun… AND educational!

I love these events. I try to make them whenever they occur, and hope to see you there on the 20th. 

Register for IgniteCincinnati.

Cincinnati Impresses: Center Of Innovation

The Center of Innovation program at the College of Applied Science at UC aims to show seniors that their choices for employment upon graduation is not limited to Fifth Third, Kroger’s, and Great American Insurance (not that there’s anything wrong with those fine companies). The program also aims to show them that, in a region full of marketing, design, and business talent, there is serious need for young technology talent with an entrepreneurial bent. For those who might want to take the plunge, the program also outlines business skills and resources they’ll need to complement their technology skills.

This is a great thing, and kudos and support goes to Andy Erickson and Dr. Hazem Said for their work so far.

This past Tuesday I gave a short talk to students in the Innovation Seminar series in CAS at UC about what' it’s like to work in a startup from a coder’s point of view. I talked about transitioning from a cubicle farm job to a startup environment, the nature and pace of working in a startup, and the tons and tons of learning that is inevitable.

You won’t get a lot from these slides without the narrative, but I post all my talks here so I thought I’d post this one.

Cross-posted on my programming blog.

Development In A Startup

View more presentations.

Coworking in Cincinnati

I had a good time at Cincinnati Social Media's Open Mic night.  Unfortunately, I only caught snippets here and there of the talks.  The audio in the venue was poor in general, and the people in the back of the room were interesting to talk to, so I spent a good deal of time doing that instead.  Apologies to the organizers.  But it was the first event of its kind around here and I think the next one will be better.  I think it should be in an auditorium-like setting as opposed to a bar, so that the audience is more captive. I know, why don't I organize it, right?

One speech in particular caught my eye: Beyond Free Agent Nation by Brian Lecount.  In it, he discusses the slow transformation of the American workforce. Some 18-month old data that he quoted stated:

• 8.3 million independent contractors comprise 16% of American workforce.
• 74 million 1099's were sent out (2008?)

It was a great talk and pointed out the many challenges of this newfound trend.  For example, many who make the leap to independence underestimate how much time is spent on administrative work. 

And then there is coworking, a trend that is sweeping the nation. According to Wikipedia:

Coworking is an emerging trend for a new pattern for working. Typically work-at-home professionals or independent contractors or people who travel frequently end up working in relative isolation. Coworking is the social gathering of a group of people, who are still working independently, but who share values and who are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with talented people in the same space.

Brian had some strong opinions about coworking, in particular, how it was missing real business development.  Community is great and all, but how much value is that network really building?

In any case, if you haven't heard, I am involved in a coworking movement that has started in Cincinnati.  Go to the site and take the survey.  Coworking spaces are popping up all over the country.  In some cities, it's simply about renting desks, and that's okay.  But in other cities, it is having a real transformative effect on these cities in how people with ideas get together and make their cities better.  Hopefully, in Cincinnati, it will become the latter.

InOneWeekend Registration Open

Registration is open for InOneWeekend 2009.

FRI BRAINSTORM SAT BUILD SUN LAUNCH

InOneWeekend is an innovation and entrepreneurship organization that hosts participant-driven weekend events that create and launch viable start-ups in a single weekend. Our low-commitment, low-cost, high-return, highly awesome events allow like-minded, diversely experienced individuals to create an elevating experience and quite possibly the next big thing.

I participated in InOneWeekend last year and can say that no matter what the outcome of the work, the experience itself was extraordinary. Not only was the weekend-long coding quite fun, I learned a great deal from all the non-programmers - marketers, designers, business planners, attorneys - that were crammed into the same space.  There is only space for 100 participants, so sign up today!

InOneWeekend 2009 - 100 people create a start-up in a weekend 

• When: Friday, August 28 - Sunday, August 30
• Where: Tangeman University Center at the University of Cincinnati
• What: A special keynote speaker (!) will kick-off the second annual InOneWeekend with a lecture open to the public on Friday afternoon.  Then the selected 100 participants will brainstorm over 300 ideas with Jeff Stamp of Bold Thinking and vote on the concept.  Saturday, they will build the product and write the business plan and investor presentation.  Sunday: Launch!
• WAITLIST OPEN: InOneWeekend is assembling the dream team of design, technology, and business participants.  To find out more and apply, visit www.inoneweekend.org and click on 'Register for upcoming events'

 

The Cincinnati Enquirer Show Its True Priorities

I was disgusted by the Enquirer's response to the laying off of 101 employees, including the entire staff of CiNWeekly.  If you haven't read it yet, go read it now, and then come back while I highlight the salient points.

Done? Here is the salient point: Advertisers, we are still worth spending money on. Buy ads from us!

I understand everyone has to make a living.  But this is a bit of salt in the wound. I expected the post to be apologetic.  But there was no apology.  I expected sympathy. No sympathy towards its former employees or their families was mentioned.  Not even a little regret.  Here is what I read:

Naysayers have predicted our demise many times over those years, but today The Enquirer reaches 64 percent of local adults every week, or 803,800.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

Enquirer Media does not have an audience problem. Nearly two-thirds of the market will read our newspaper this week. It’s the economy.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

And, we’re more than a newspaper. Enquirer Media reaches 83 percent of the adults in its core market every week with one of our products. Moreover, it reaches those people nearly five times.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

We work for our advertisers. The newspaper and digital initiatives continue to provide the same strong results for our advertisers. We help them understand and employ today’s technology to grow their business and reach their goals.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

We have talented, flexible employees. And we still have, by far, the largest local footprint in terms of content gathering, print and online audience, promotional capability and sales capability.

Look at our reach, buy ads from us!

There was some other statements made, but that was all I read.

URBANEXUS Cincinnati: Creating the Innovative City

Join Next American City and our local partners — SoapboxMedia.com, CincinnatiInnovates.com, Northern Kentucky Forum and Haile/U.S. Bank Foundation — as we present a salon at the Northern Kentucky University Student Union, featuring a conversation about how Cincinnati is making strides toward innovation.

The Cincinnati region’s institutions and companies lead the world with their innovative products, processes and people. How can the community tap that internal culture to inspire a broader civic culture that makes Cincinnati synonymous with creativity, ideas and energy?

For more information and to RSVP, visit Next American City.
URBANEXUS Cincinnati

Photos Of Other Cities

Hello. I know I have been absent from this blog. Unfortunately, I have to say, do not expect this to change any time soon.

In the meantime, here are some photos of trips to New York and Chicago.

:::

Grand Central Station

We were lucky enough to run right into a Free Tibet march, fake prisoners and everything.

Lunch in Bryant Park.

 

Central Park.

Looking uptown.

Looking downtown.

 

By sheer coincidence, we found ourselves in Times Square during Earth Hour, when they shut off all the big screens.

A secret burger joint!

:::

At night, this American Gothic couple comes to life and cleans garbage off the streets.

At the Museum of Science & Industry, in one giant room, they have a giant train set model of the entire country!

High atop the Sears Tower.

   

The Museum of Natural History is pretty freakin' cool.

 

From Navy Pier.

Cincinnati Impresses: ShareThis.com

At a recent OINK-PUG meeting, the accessible folks from ShareThis.com talked about their ubiquitous Javascript button and their server infrastructure.

If you aren't familiar with ShareThis, they provide the sharing button that appears at the bottom of this very blog post. Every page I go to these days seems to have the little green button. Occasionally I find myself wanting to share a page that uses not ShareThis but one of the alternatives, and I find myself cursing because I do not have immediate access to my contacts. (Thank goodness I have the ShareThis Firefox add-on to fall back on.) I bet that there are a lot of people in Cincinnati using the button on their web properties, and don't even know that the company is based right here in the Queen City.

ShareThis started in Columbus, moved to Cincinnati, and now has an office in Mountain View, California. They boast a number of accomplishments to be envied by any company in any city, the least of which being $21 million in venture funding. A $21 million dollar funded consumer internet company, in Cincinnati?

But equally impressive to those in the industry is the raw technology that powers their infrastructure. ShareThis was one of earliest case studies on Amazon Web Services, and the Rightscale demo given that night was memorable (maybe that says more about Rightscale).

They've got that hockey stick growth according to relevant traffic measures, so I'm excited to see what happens from here onward. Let's downplay that Mountain View office, and keep the PR coming from Ohio.

Cincinnati Impresses

This is the intro to a series of blogs coming up that all submit the same theme. Perhaps it will become a longer series.

I have observed or have been sent a few things lately that keep sticking in my mind. Each of these sticks in my mind because they are or imply, well, super awesome things about Cincinnati. When I think about them, I think, "Wow. That's incredible. Is this happening in other cities?" And I am left to wonder. (The answer is probably yes, but still it feels good to wonder.)

And these aren't impressive in an obvious way, the way that maybe we have sports teams that dominate, or the way that our modern art museum is architecturally significant. These impress in a more subtle way (at least they're subtle to me). Or perhaps they impress only to the niche that I find myself playing in these days.

Streetcars & Pecha Kucha

Some short notes on a couple items in Soapbox this week. First, an excellent opinion on the streetcar.

It should be noted that the proposed Mill Creek Expressway/I-75 project will essentially add one single lane of freeway in both directions of I-75 between the Western Hills Viaduct and Paddock Road, while also revamping on/off ramps, and will cost an estimated $642.5 million. That's an extra lane of freeway for 7.9 miles, plus revamping interchanges.  ...In addition to the $642.5 million Mill Creek Expressway project, the Through the Valley project will engage in an additional widening exercise from Paddock to I-275 at the cost of an additional $149 million (at least).

...Coincidentally enough, if the full stretch [of the streetcar] to the zoo and back were implemented, it would be a route of roughly 7.9 miles, the same stretch of widening on I-75.

So we have critics carping on the profligacy of spending $185 million versus a whopping $800 million for freeway widening.

 

The second item I noticed was about the apparent success of the first Pecha Kucha night in Cincinnati.

"PK Vol. 1 was such a huge success," says official organizer, Greg Lewis. "It demonstrated that the same desire that got PK started in Tokyo six years ago is present here in Cincinnati today."

Uh, I don't mean anything negative, but I know that technology groups around the region have been doing these presentations for last two years.  They may not have been as flashy, and certainly none were in as cool a venue as the CAC, but they have been around.  You may have heard them mistakenly referred to as Machu Pichu talks, or Pikachu presentations, but PK has been present in Cincinnati for a while now.  So thanks for participating.  :) 

Storm's A-Comin'

Tornado sirens sounded on and off as a high wind advisory lasted throughout the day and into the night.  But the afternoon was actually pretty calm, except for a few isolated torrential rainstorms that stopped as soon as they started.  Here's the end of one of those rainstorms, looking at Bellevue and Dayton.

And those two pictures stitched together...

A Word On Consumption

One thing I love about CityKin is that I get all this great information from urban/green media, but don't have to track any of it. In a post about efficiency vs. sustainability is this quoted quote:

Driving a car that is 10% more efficient uses the same amount of gas as driving 10% less.

It's a sentiment I've dwelled on before. Sure, it's great if that new pair of shoes is made locally by workers paid a living wage with sustainable materials, but do you really need a new pair of shoes? (Forgive me if my example offends those of you who love your shoes.)

I don't consider myself particularly green with the stuff I have, but I have a compulsion to own as little as possible. (Or maybe I'm just cheap.) I have a coat that used to be my dad's. All my shoes are at least 6 years old. I pretty much own things until they are run into the ground. Then I try to sell them on eBay or give them to Goodwill. Unfortunately, the more I look around, the more it feels like we live in a disposable world.

I don't know if it's my training, or if I'm just lazy, but I am also very anal about energy and time trade-offs. I hate sitting in traffic. I hate braking on hills. I love walking because even though it takes more time, I benefit from the activity and from saving gas. I meticulously load every corner of the dishwasher, and usually hand-wash pots and pans. I break down every box I throw away or recycle, not only to save landfill or bin space, but also because it means I'll have to take out the garbage less.

I like this quote from CityKin's post a lot too.

Living in a place where you can get to all the daily necessities of life by walking, biking or driving gives you much more freedom than living in a place where your only choice is driving.

I don't get to drive much, so sometimes I just like drive around at night aimlessly. Especially in the summer. At first, I felt guilty about it, like I was wasting gas, but eventually I realized the same thing in that quote. Being green is about freedom just as much as it is about anything else.

Third Least Popular? Sure.

The Enquirer points out a Pew Research Study on Social & Demographic Trends that place Cincinnati third from the bottom of a list of cities people would most like to live.

I started this post by trying to point out the flawed methodology in the study, as I usually do for negative reports.  But the methodology was pretty solid.  So I looked at the part of the phone survey that gathered data for this list of cities.  The question went like this:

As I read through the following places, just tell me your first reaction: Would you want to live in this city or its surrounding metropolitan area or NOT want to live there?

First, …[INSERT ITEM; RANDOMIZE]

READ IF NECESSARY: What’s your first reaction? Would you want to live in [INSERT ITEM] or not want to live there?
IF RESPONDENT SAYS THEY CURRENTLY LIVE IN THIS AREA, PROBE ONCE: “If you had a choice, would you want to live there, or not want to live there?”

So it really becomes a gut answer.  I say a name, you give me your first reaction.  And when I think about what my answers would be, all the superficial reputations I have for cities, good or bad, bubble to the top.

When I hear...	I immediately think of...
New York City	Way cool, way hard to live there.
Cleveland	Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. River caught on fire.
Dallas	Hot, flat, crowded. Um, Texas.
Minneapolis	Quite nice. Lakes and forests.
Orlando	Hot, flat. Disneyworld. Lots of young people.
Portland	Hippies wearing hemp and riding streetcars.
Sacramento	Hot, flat, desert. Near Tahoe.
St. Louis	Uh, they got that big arch.
Pittsburgh	Very scenic. Hills and rivers.
San Diego	Beach, beach, beach. First line of defense from Mexico.
Detroit	Robocop.
Houston	Even hotter than Dallas.
Las Vegas	Desert. Water shortages. The Strip of course.
Los Angeles	Way cool. Sprawling. Traffic.
San Antonio	The Alamo. The Riverwalk. Um, Texas.
Philadelphia	East coast, but not too east coast. Still expensive.
Phoenix	Desert. Retirees.
Seattle	Beautiful scenery. Lots of childless couples with dogs.
Tampa	Beach. Retirees?
Washington, D.C.	Lots of interesting things going on. Expensive.
Atlanta	Big city. Southern hospitality.
Baltimore	Inner harbor. Armpit of Washington, D.C.
Boston	Scenic waterways. Lots of young people and colleges.
Chicago	Scenic lakefront. Big city. Midwestern sensibilities.
Denver	Mountains, mountains, mountains.
Kansas City	Funny that Kansas City is not in Kansas.
Miami	Expensive and pretentious. Pro athletes. Celebrities. Nice weather though.
Riverside	Riverside? California? Isn't this just part of L.A.?
San Francisco	Gay people. Liberal bastion. Technology.

 

I put those up very quickly. Now what about Cincinnati?  Obviously, I'm biased, but if really tried to pretend I was an outsider, what are the first things that spring to mind?  WKRP.  Rain man. Conservative.

And that's the problem we, and the likes of Detroit and Cleveland, face.  Of course, Cincinnati is a great place to live for all sorts of people.  But how would you know?   That's the work that's never finished. 

So I believe that Cincinnati might finish third from the bottom in a survey like that, even if I know it's not true. 

State-Of-The-Art Simulation Center... On Short Vine

Soapbox writes about the University of Cincinnati's Simulation Center (UCSC) in collaboration with Procter & Gamble.  The UCSC is a high-performance computing center for simulating products, systems, and processes that are related to P&G product lines.

For some reason, I think it's interesting that it's in the middle of Short Vine, an area I never took for advanced anything, despite its proximity to UC.  Ever since I've been able to drive, Short Vine has conjured up images of tattoo parlors, punk clothing and beauty product stores, Bogart's, and Top Cats.  Now, the only reason I walk the street is when I go to Martino's.

But I guess with all the new Uptown Consortium development on MLK, the area is changing.  I always thought that the Short Vine area would be one of the best neighborhoods to live in a parallel universe.  There is a library, post office, drug store, and grocery store - all the ingredients of a walkable neighborhood.  But of course, it's not one of the best neighborhoods to live in, yet.

In any case, here is the building.  I remember seeing the UCSC building being renovated a few years ago.  I remember thinking to myself, "that's interesting. Somebody's rehabbing that building. I wonder what for?"

 

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