Bill Ward's Brickpile » moah

Wrapping up the Living LEGO-cy Show

Bill — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:18:35 +0000

The last day of BayLUG‘s annual “Living LEGO-cy” show and teardown took place on Sunday, January 15th. My pictures are available online. This is an event we do every year at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto, CA, as a fundraiser for the club and for the museum. This year we had excellent attendance, with a peak of 841 people coming through on the 30th, which was the most people we’ve had in one day since we started keeping track (and charging $2 admission).

Here’s a group photo of club members taken during teardown. Click the photo to see the rest of the images, or view them as a slideshow.

Our next event is the Train Collectors Association Cal-Stewart Spring convention, open to the public on Sunday March 4th, from 10:00am-2pm. It’s a toy train show and one of our favorite events of the year. Two weeks after that is the Bricks by the Bay 2012 convention – the convention runs Friday through Sunday, March 16-18, and is open to the public on Sunday the 18th.

Nice article about BayLUG museum show

Bill — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:13:10 +0000

A local newspaper has a great story on their Web site about the BayLUG/BayLTC exhibit at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto. The article comes with a gallery of photos and videos, and I’m pleased to report that three of the four videos show my models (City Park, Caltrain, and Scrambler). [Aside: I just noticed that the pages for those last two are out of date, and I never blogged about the Caltrain cars I've built... sorry I will update that soon.]

There are only three days left in the show: Fri-Sun, January 13-15. If you haven’t made it out there yet, best do so soon!

Palo Alto Museum Show now open

Bill — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:27:58 +0000

This weekend we (the Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group) set up our annual “Living LEGO-cy” show at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto, CA.

The show is open to the public Fri, Sat, and Sun until January 15, 2012 (except holidays). Admission is $2. Come on by!

Click the photo to see all my pictures from the final day of setup and the Museum members’ party…

You can also view the pictures as a slideshow.

Wrapping up the Palo Alto museum show

Bill — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 21:21:01 +0000

Yesterday was the last day of the BayLUG/BayLTC show at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto for another year. We had hundreds of people come through to admire the exhibit including a few friends of mine.

The show is called “Living LEGO-cy” and this was the 7th time we’ve had it. For the first 5 years it was free, but then in 2008-9 the crowds were totally beyond our ability to manage, and it taxed the museum’s and our ability to handle, without any benefit to either institution. So we started charging $2 per person last year, enabling BayLUG to provide a loan to support the startup of Bricks by the Bay’s first convention. This year we kept it the same, though BBTB no longer needs the financial support, and raised a tidy sum for both the museum and the club (who split the income 50/50).

Click the photo above to see all my pictures from the event, or you can view a slide show of the images. See also the opening weekend post I made last month.

As in previous years, we filled the room with LEGO. In the center was a 12′ by 25′ train layout, and all along the sides of the room we had various miscellaneous LEGO exhibits on all types of themes. A few of us had some space to sell LEGO and LEGO-related accessories – I got rid of a bunch of sorting containers I no longer use (tackle boxes and stackable containers) and some bags of parts that I didn’t need; others were selling whole sets and minifigs and other small items. We also used this as an opportunity to solicit for new club members, which we had several of, and to distribute flyers for Bricks by the Bay 2011, and lots of people said they would be there. If you missed out on this exhibit, a similar one will form a centerpiece for the Bricks by the Bay exhibit hall. Hope to see you there!

MoAH 2010 Opening Weekend

Bill — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:59:53 +0000

This past weekend was the opening for the annual “Living LEGO-cy” museum display by BayLUG (Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group) over the holiday season at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto, CA. The show runs through January 9, 2010 and is open Fridays through Sundays except holidays.

Click the picture for all the photos or view them as a slide show.

October BayLUG meeting

Bill — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 01:29:34 +0000

On October 30, BayLUG had its October 2010 meeting at the Museum of American Heritage. We had a "Halloween" theme contest at the meeting.

Click the image above to see the pictures or view them as a slideshow.

Vintage Vehicles and Family Festival 2010

Bill — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 08:43:24 +0000

The 2010 Vintage Vehicles & Family Festival was held in Palo Alto on July 25. BayLUG took part with a small booth featuring my downtown buildings, some models by teenage member Jack Marquez, and Paul Sinasohn putting together some LEGO kits. Our club was really overextended this day, as it was also the last day of our San Leandro Brick Show and the Buzz Lightyear event at the Hillsdale Shopping Center. This was the first time our club was involved in three separate events at the same time! (And I made it to all three – if you count the teardown, that is…)

Click the picture for the photos, or browse a slideshow.

BayLUG Museum Show Open through January 17

Bill — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:27:26 +0000

This weekend, the Bay Area LEGO Users Group opened our annual “Living LEGO-cy” exhibit at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto, CA. We’ll be open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (except Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day) through Sunday, January 17. Admission is $2 (free for BayLUG and MoAH members and kids under 2), which is split 50/50 between the club and the museum.

Come on down and check it out soon before the publicity spreads and we start getting huge crowds! Last year we had 1500 people on the last weekend, with people waiting for several hours in the rain in a line around the block to get in!! We have our first TV interviews this Friday morning for a Spanish language station…

WIRED photo gallery now online

Bill — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:51:16 +0000

As I mentioned previously, a reporter and photographer from WIRED met with us on Sunday to document BayLUG‘s plans for Maker Faire. The results are now online, and the photos look great! They have a slide show featuring each of the BayLUG members who were present and at least one of each of our models.

See you this weekend at Maker Faire!

Special BayLUG meeting for WIRED interview & photo shoot

Bill — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:37:06 +0000

Yesterday, we had a special meeting of BayLUG members so that a reporter and photographer from WIRED could come and take pictures of some of our models and talk to us. About a half-dozen members showed up at MoAH in Palo Alto and set up an assortment of models that we’re bringing to Maker Faire next weekend.

I forgot my camera, but luckily others didn’t. Mark Warren took a bunch of great pictures and posted them on a Picasa folder. Click the image to see the rest of them:

This was for the WIRED.com site, not the print magazine. Hopefully the results will be online in a few days, because the point of the exercise was to talk about what will be on display at Maker Faire. I’ll post a blog entry with a link as soon as it becomes available.

MoAH Display Wrapup

Bill — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:19:42 +0000

We took down the BayLUG exhibit at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto, CA, on Sunday, January 11. I finally got around to dumping the camera today and uploaded the pictures to Flickr. Sorry about the delay.

During the teardown phase of any of our train shows, after the crowds are gone, we take down the “sneeze guards” (Plexiglas barriers to keep little hands – and sneezes – off of the LEGO models) and spend about fifteen minutes doing a photo shoot. These pictures are the results of that. I’ve been sick off and on all month so far, and wasn’t feeling too well on that day, so I didn’t get really ambitious with the photography, but hopefully I covered everything.

You can also browse all the pictures from the show or view them as a slideshow.

Our next public event is a meeting at MoAH on Saturday, February 21. Hope to see you there!

BayLUG Exhibit Closes with Record Crowds

Bill — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:36:26 +0000

We had some great publicity for the exhibit by the Bay Area LEGO Users Group at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto, CA for the last few weekends.
There were television coverage by two different local stations, articles in the newspaper, and lots and lots of word-of-mouth advertising. We got several new members in the club and lots of people signing up for our club mailing lists or taking business cards home.

I was sick for most of the last two weekends, but did go on Sunday (the last day) and shot some video footage. However, a couple of other club members took photos of the crowds and sent them to me with permission to post online, so I have done so in a Flickr photoset. Please check that out by clicking the photo above, or view it as a slideshow. You can also view all my photos from this exhibit (or as a slideshow).

Next year, we’re not sure if we’ll be able to have the exhibit at the museum! The room is just not big enough to accommodate that kind of crowd. However we’ve already started talking about alternatives that would scale better, so don’t worry… we’ll still have an exhibit. We’re also talking to another museum about having an exhibit this summer but haven’t announced any details yet.

The next public event by BayLUG is our meeting at MoAH on Saturday, February 21 (note: originally scheduled for Sunday the 22nd, but the date has been changed due to a schedule conflict). Hope to see you there!

BayLUG on TV?

Bill — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:18:07 +0000

Yesterday, a crew from KTVU channel 2 television came to see the Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group exhibit. Watch this Video on KTVU.com about our exhibit at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto. Russell (the club president) and I weren’t there, but Loren did a great job explaining the exhibit for the camera. I’m sure that must have been nerve-wracking but I think he’s got a great voice for that kind of thing so I’m glad he was willing and available to do it.

I heard that it was going to be on the TV today, but I haven’t heard any details about exactly when. Probably on the news or something. But the way that video clip was put together doesn’t really feel like a news segment to me, so maybe not.

I’m not there right now because I’m home sick with a cold, but hopefully I can be there next weekend – which is our final weekend, by the way! So come on out and see it while there’s still time!

BayLUG MoAH show updated

Bill — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:39:06 +0000

I spent today at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto helping staff the exhibit there by my local LEGO club, the Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group. I took a few pictures of things that had been added since my last update.

This is the fifth annual LEGO show that we’ve done at the museum. We have a train layout in the center of their “Frank Livermore Learning Center” building, plus various non-train-related displays on the tables around the perimeter. We also have some members (mainly Bruce) selling parts and sets at the show.

The show is open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, now through January 11, 2009. Hours are 11am-4pm. There’s no charge but a donation to the museum is suggested. If you want to come by and say hi, send me an email first to see what days/times I’ll be there.

I’ve taken photos on a few days during the exhibit. I created a photoset for each day’s photos, plus one that contains all of them:

December 6 (VIP holiday party for the museum)
December 13
December 21 (today)
Everything – or sit back and enjoy the slideshow

BayLUG show at MoAH opens

Bill — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 08:46:22 +0000

This past weekend, I joined with other members of Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group to set up a train layout and other exhibits at the Museum of American Heritage, which will be on display through January 11, 2009.

The opening day of the exhibit, December 6, was also the day of the museum’s annual holiday party for VIP donors. We were invited to stay that evening to show the exhibit to the party attendees and enjoy the refreshments.

Every year BayLUG puts on a “Living LEGO-cy” exhibit at the museum during the Holidays. We put it up in early December and take it down in early January.

If you’re in the area please come by and see our exhibit. It will be open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday now through January 11 from 11am to 4pm. I will be there some Saturdays and Sundays, so if you want to say hi to me please send me email or something and let me know when you’ll be there.

BayLUG Tenth Anniversary Meeting

Bill — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:44:14 +0000

We celebrated 10 years of the Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group on Sunday, October 12. The club was founded on October 10, 1998 after LEGO came to San Francisco on a Truck Tour.

At the meeting we had a lot of schmoozing, showing-off of models, snacking, speech-giving, and prize-winning. If you enjoy any of those, you should come to our 20th Anniversary Meeting in 2018. Or one of our regular meetings, where we usually have at least the schmoozing if not the other stuff.

Enjoy the photos on Flickr (slideshow). I also shot a bunch of video footage, which hopefully I can edit into something appropriate for LAMLtv or maybe I’ll just put it on YouTube myself. Either way, I’ll blog about it here when it’s up.

MoAH Exhibit 2008-01-05

Bill — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:41:05 +0000

Exhibit of the Bay Area LEGO Users Group at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto, CA.

Every year BayLUG puts on a “Living LEGO-cy” exhibit at the museum during the Holidays. We put it up in early December and take it down in early January. Families crowd the room to stare at our creations every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday during this period. It’s a lot of fun, but it can be a lot of work. I took these pictures on the last day of the latest exhibit, on January 5, 2008, just before we tore it all down and took it all home.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or you can view a slideshow of the photos.

BayLUG Display at MoAH now through January 6

Bill — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:21:04 +0000

The Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group has a display currently on view at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto, CA. The display was installed on December 8, and these photos were taken on December 15.

You have two weekends left to enjoy the display! The exhibit is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 11am to 4pm. Hope to see you there! If you plan to stop by, let me know in advance and I’ll see if I can meet you there. I’m scheduled to help staff the layout on Saturday January 5, but may make other random appearances as my schedule and whim suit me.

My models on this layout include all the buildings in the city block containing the “Blackburn Hotel” and the coast guard base on the “water” table.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or view a slideshow of the photos.