2009 Southern California Regional
 

FIRST is probably still calling it the Los Angeles Regional, but since it has been moved to Long Beach, the name in the thread title is probably more appropriate.

The Regional will be Week 3, March 12-14 at the Long Beach Arena. Right next door to the Long Beach Convention Center. Nice hotels, a variety of restaurants, a beach, Aquarium of the Pacific, and the Queen Mary in easy walking distance. Not to mention a Segway dealer/rental place and the Metro Blue Line for those that do not want to pay for parking. It is close to Long Beach Airport which can be cheaper to fly into than LAX and is certainly less hassle.

If your team is looking for a really nice away regional, this is a good place to come

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

Long Beach? That's quite new. I don't know if I will be used to calling that my old home regional with the drive being longer. But the Long Beach Convention Center sounds like a great Southern California-esque setting for anyone planning to come in from out of state (even though we get 1 out of state team per year (excluding Nevada and Arizona)). Waking up a bit early might be a little bit more of a pain for some teams though :P .

The places to visit around it sound fun. I'm sure in addition to it being a great regional the social will be pretty stellar as well with new options.I'm a bit depressed I won't be able to make it for the first time since I've joined FIRST.

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

If memory serves, they changed the LA Regional to "Los Angeles Regional" from "Southern California Regional" when we [San Diego] got our regional and FIRST decided it was fair to just call each by city/county. Since we are both southern California counties.

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

The Long Beach Arena is less than 3 miles from the city of Los Angeles, and it's still within Los Angeles County. So I think it's reasonable to keep calling this the Los Angeles Regional.

The surrounding area is definitely more user-friendly than where we've had the competition in the past. If I were visiting from out of the area, my "wish list" would include staying on the Queen Mary, then riding a Segway to the arena. Of course, I don't really have that kind of money...

An extra day to visit the aquarium and tour the Queen Mary would be more within budget.

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

We were fortunate today to have a MasterCAM expert provide MasterCAM and CNC (post-processor) training this past weekend who was a former instructor/mentor of team 696 Clark Magnet School and Glendale Community College. :D
Heard nothing but great things about that team.

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

973 will be returning to the LA regional this season.

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

We might be there too!

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

we will be there:cool:

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

Team 1323 will coming this year. =)

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

A nice mix of teams this year. Along with "the usual suspects," we have two Brazilian teams and one Chilean team, and four rookie teams so far.

1197 will be joining the fray, as well.

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

will 1323 also be at davis this year?

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

1138 will be there. Can't wait!

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

399 will be there again... Expect it to be loud. ;P

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

I created a Twitter account for the LA regional: @FIRSTLA. If you twitter a reply to this account, then anyone following the twitter account will see your message.

More details are available at http://www.robokong2493.com/twitter_accounts.html

Re: 2009 Southern California Regional
 

4 days! Can't wait!!

Especially after watching San Diego... oh boy.