SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

I know its pretty early inthe season still to know for sure where your going but...


Whose Coming to the LA So CAL Regional ?(Especially interested in outside LA teams)


-Osc-

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

I think this is the year Canada is coming, hosted by Team 22.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

I'll confirm that. Yes, team 188, Woburn Robotics, is coming this year. We will be coming, of course.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

I can tell you that all of 188 is looking forward to SoCal, as by the end of march we are usually pretty tired of winter setting in and we'll be glad to get a respite (I also have some family in the LA area :D). Also it would be very very interesting to see some different styles of play on the west coast. of course there was atlanta, but that was such a hodgepodge of teams that no real pattern was developed. its going to be very interesting to see how strategies and robots differ from waterloo (our most probable regional before) to SoCal the next week!

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Remember that last year SoCal was almost completely full after the first registration deadline. If you want to go, make sure you register early.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

1110 will be there for sure.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

If this is the one by USC, or the Los Angeles Sports Arena then yes...see ya there

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

its not at the sport arena this year
!!!!!!!


its the great western arena

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Scratch that. We will instead be attending the Las Vegas Regional this year.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

We'll be at LA as usual. But not at Phoenix. So that means more effort goes into our robot and succeeding at LA because we don't have a "practice" regional and we don't have travel to worry about. We're going for the blue banner this year. :)

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Ya, that place... same as last year right?

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Last year was the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. This year it is at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

The Clippers used to play in the Sports arena, and the Kings used to play in the Forum (and now the question is whether they will ever play again), if that helps any.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

thats the point , its not, its the great western forum


last few years its been at the la sport arena but the forum gave them a better deal for the event.

check the first website or youll be the only team waiting outside the gates of the la sport arena wondering where everyone else is:ahh:

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

294 is looking forward to seeing familiar faces in Los Angeles!

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Team 599 Robodox will be there! We'll also have our First Aid Station there, also. Definately looking forward to it. On a sidenote, are any formal gettogethers going to take place? Like going to Universal City Walk or anything? I think it would be a lot of fun we did =)

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Plans are in work for an informal gathering at Universal on Saturday night. This may or may not include reduced price tickets for Universal Studios, that is still under negotiation. This event would be semi-official, organized and arranged by the Regional Committee but not funded by FIRST or sponsors like a team party. So people will have to pay their own way and there will be non-FIRST people as well.

Teams are welcome to arrange their own events on other nights. (Mini-Golf tournament on Wed night anyone?)

ChrisH

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

I see you guys are comming there too this year :), I liked your homer hat or was it a mask that you guy put on someones head and walked around :P.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

812 will be coming from San Diego.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Ditto Hue.. I think one or two more teams from San Diego are coming... but some are going off to Vegas, which is the same weekend... :(
SoCal is going to be great though. :smiles:
I know this is wayy early to start talking about this- but Team San Diego's also hosting the post-season lock-in and scrimmage this year. Tons of fun! Great weather! So keep an eye out for info...

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

498 (From glendale AZ) , after being sad for not having anything to do for the rest of the year, has decided to come up to SoCal this year. :-D

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Or so we hope. We're still working things out, a few unforseen problems...

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Hey, you gotta have the spirit. Were going! A tleast we can be excited about it now, but if we end up not going then we can mope but then we have a week of spring break to recover! ;)

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Yea, well that Hue on 812 is a shady character I dont know if Ill be there... oh, wait as everyone on my team knows FIRST robotics is like my crack, heroin, whatever! So watch out 812! j/k

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Hey where is everyone from out of town staying? After reviewing some of the hotels im kinda worried about putting our team is some of those hotels like for instance read this review...

Inglewood: Los Angeles Adventurer: "Bad neighborhood+crap mangement"
July 16, 2003: A TripAdvisor Member, Seoul,Korea Compare prices with:

We were robbed at gun point directly across the Hotel. This black man asked me and my wife if we wanted to buy crack! We said no thanks and then he pulled a gun and demanded our money. When we called the police they said this happens quite often in Inglewood. The hotel is in pretty bad shape. The neighborhood is very poor and gunfire can be heard at night. The manager said "Oh that's never happended before!" Frank Sharma then asked us when are you going to pay the rent! We had already paid for our rooms in advance. There was a big computer error...Don't stay here!

So any help i could get would be great THX.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

I would say an airport hotel is close enough to the GWF. It's not walking distance; probably about a 5 minute drive without traffic. Inglewood is generally not a great neighborhood. There are also hotels literally lining the beach, but these tend to be a bit pricey.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

I haven't heard specific instances about Inglewood and I'm not sure if I've ever really been there but I've heard that it generally is not a great place but I have heard that once you are inside the gates of the forum you are good. Supposedly the forum is a better place than the sports arena. And as for safety outside the gates, it really can't be any worse than the Phoenix regional can it? We encountered some pretty questionable fellows and businesses (along with all the grafitti and wanted posters) on our excursion to the Six Points Hardware last year. But, we came back okay.

Inglewood should be okay if you are careful and alert and don't act stupid. All you have to do is convert your pockets into the sharp tools toolbox. :D Seriously, I had my hand on my (knife open) leatherman in my pocket all the way to the hardware store at Phoenix last year. You know, just in case.

Also, please don't let Inglewood scare you away from the LA regional. We need more great teams to make this a great regional once again.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Exactly. Inglewood is not the best city in the world in terms of gangs and what not but when you are in the Forum you are fine. Again, like sanddrag said, don't do anything stupid and if you need some place to hang out after the regional at least come down to Universal City Walk, if thats happening again this year. I hope so.

But still there is nothing really to worry about.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

:nods: yes, there will be a citywalk social thing.. I believe it's Saturday evening.. :D

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Time to move the regional to the Anaheim Convention Center...

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

The Regional committee has tried, but FIRST has this thing about competitions being in "diverse" neighborhoods. The Forum also gave a really good deal cost wise. I'd prefer the Long Beach convention center myself, as they don't have a huge distraction directly across the street, it is much closer to home, and there are more teams in the area.

On to the real question:

The LA Regional visitor guide is due out within days. It is probably being printed as I type. Once it has been mailed a pdf version will be posted in the White Papers section here and probably also on the BeachBots website. Yeah I know you could have used it weeks ago, but this is a new venue and we had to start practically from scratch. It has an extensive discussion of hotels, how to get from them to the Forum, and areas to avoid.

I've never heard of any problems at the Forum itself. They have gate security and high fences all around the property. Just outside is another story. "Downtown" Inglewood (near Manchester and La Brea) is OK. Hotels on either Manchester or Century will probably be OK if they are in the AAA book. Those are tourist areas and the city works hard to keep things relatively safe. The FIRST hotels are in OK areas.

If I was making arrangements I'd look at hotels in El Segundo, Hawthorne, or Lawndale. They are likely to be cheaper than the FIRST hotels, they aren't too far away (10-15 minutes), and the neighborhoods are pretty good.

Last year in Phoenix we had a shootout IN our hotel during the practice day. A couple of our moms who were hanging around the hotel literally had to take cover and one of our rooms wound up with bullet holes. I wouldn't expect any such excitement at the LA regional.

ChrisH

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Oh i can totally agree w/ that area of Phx but for the most part its a great city, like every city's they all have there pockets of crime and bad neighborhoods. It wont discourage our team from coming the only problem now is convincing our teacher sponsors. but thank for your suggestions

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

That teaching convincing thing didn't go so well. They think there's too much paperwork we'd have to fill out and there's not enough time. Looks like LA's out of reach this year...

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

maybe.... :cool: only time will tell... lets just say sometime mentors have the in's w/ people

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

If you go to LA, ignore the FIRST directions. 405 to Manchester- not a good idea, especially from the west (like the airport area). Take the 105 to Prairie instead, left at the end of the ramp, first street after the racetrack and its high fence. From the east, same way but turn right at the end of the ramp (I think...never been on that particular ramp). Or contact a local team for directions.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Better yet, read the Visitor Guide, which will tell you that the Prairie ramps from the eastbound 105 and the westbound 105 merge. The result is you need to make a left turn at the end of the ramp no matter which way you were headed on the freeway.

But you really do want to avoid the 405 to Manchester route in the FIRST directions. Why turn a 10-15 minute trip into a 20-30 minute trip if you don't have to? I think they picked that route because they like the street name ;)

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Just curious if we will have to pay for parking this year, and if so, how much per day? (Have to know how much I need to make in Vegas this weekend to afford it. 8-D)

indieFan

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Those who live in the South Bay sometimes refer to it as "Ingle-watts," because Inglewood is next to South-Central L.A. and some think it's just as bad. The Sports Arena is not in the best neighborhood, and neither is the Forum. Especially in the opinion of those who live in Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes, and places like that.

I've traveled through Inglewood a few times recently. People try to keep their homes looking nice, and there are a lot of businesses, some of which look ratty, but I didn't notice any boarded-up hulks. I think the people of the city are really trying to improve its image. But you can never guarantee the behavior of all the people in ANY city.

On the whole, I think Inglewood looks more respectable than the area around the Sports Arena--more greenery, for one thing. And the Forum is near such venerable institutions as Hollywood Park race track (which won't be meeting until after the Regional), Daniel Freeman Hospital, and Inglewood cemetery. Certainly the occupants of the latter place won't harm you! ;)

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

From the US Census, for the city of Anaheim, total population 328,014:

Hispanic or Latino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153,374
White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179,627
Black or African American . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,735
American Indian and Alaska Native . . . . . . . . . . . 3,041
Asian Indian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,986
Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,780
Filipino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,303
Japanese. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,346
Korean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,160
Vietnamese. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,025
Other Asian 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,711
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. . . . 1,393
Native Hawaiian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Guamanian or Chamorro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Samoan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
Other Pacific Islander 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Some other race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79,427
Two or more races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,480

The census racial data are confusing because they count "Hispanic and Latino" separately. For example, "White" and "Hispanic or Latino" are not mutually exclusive. This means that if you add up the racial totals above, they do not equal the total population, because, for example, a person can be both White and Hispanic.

In any event, it looks like a pretty darn diverse city to me. And you can walk from your hotel to the arena without armed guards.

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Well its official 498 will not be coming to the socal regional this year. (not that anyone cared) after long debating the team decided not to pursue it any farther. Good luck to all the teams going though! have fun!

Re: SoCal 2005 (Whose Coming?)
 

Well, i wish we could go to L.A. but the Vegas regional is the same weekend. Sorry, priorities to the home regional. SO happy i the first LV Regional is my senior year. I am one of the very very very few Las Vegas residents involved in FIRST since it started in Las Vegas and my HS (4 years ago).



2005 AZ Regional Finalist! YEAH, not too shabby for us.