[Recap] 36 Walk Connect Live San Francisco Meetup

[PaulPavlinovich]

On Monday 15th of October a contingent of Local Guides from all around the world turned out on a beautiful sunny day in San Francisco to join in a common set of goals, to explore the city, generate interesting images, visit places and review them on Maps and perhaps most importantly renew existing friendships and start to build new relationships for Connect Live. At the start of the walk I gave the participants the good news that while this was a 36, it was simply unfair for them to be in a city they've mostly never been to before and have such a limit on the number of images. There was a collective sigh of relief and even a few giggles at this news. Personally I was highly pleased to greet both old friends and meet people who would soon be friends. The weather couldn't have been better. We had every type of photographer present and all ready to enjoy themselves and make images with their device(s) of choice.

We started out at Union Square and more or less (initially more, later less) followed the plan. We meandered through Union Square, up through China Town gradually making our way towards Coit Tower where the walk finished. On the way we visited and experienced a number of sites and businesses that many of the participants contributed reviews and photographs to including:

Union Square

Some included a detour to Cafe X Market (robot coffee)

Dragon's Gate

Eastern Bakery

Making fortune cookies at Eastern Bakery

Cable Car Museum

Motors pulling the cables that run under the San Francisco Streets

Language of the Birds

Language of the Birds Sculpture

Bill Weber Mural

Bill Weber Mural

The Baked Bear - at this place I had a long chat with the owner who was excited we had brought in all these new people and had no idea about Local Guides. I advised her to claim her business and I notice that she since has done so. Our group contributed literally hundreds of photos and at least 20 reviews on that day! What an amazing boost for a small business.

Then we walked (some ran) up Telegraph Hill 

Some rested on Telegraph Hill

half way up we did another group photo while people rested

36 Walk Group Photo

The view from up there is astounding

The view downtown towards Market from Telegraph Hill

Just about everyone on the walk gave Penny's daughter Chrystal their phone or camera to take an image for them. Chrystal was a great sport about doing this. After the group photo we finished heading up the hill finishing at Coit Tower within Pioneer Park where we enjoyed the sunset.

Coit TowerSunset over San Francisco

The walk ended up on the hill with some heading off to a dinner arrangement in Japan Town and others jumping into Uber's to head downtown and yet more riding Muni back down the hill to Market. Initially it wasn't planned to end up here but to make our way to Washington Square but given we ran out of light the walk finished up the top of the world.

Thank you to all the participants. If you'd like to see more images from me and the other participants take a look at https://photos.app.goo.gl/LGTd7CM4YjcqHGni6 and you will see plenty more. It is always great to see the images of other people to see how they saw the same scene you did but composed something completely different in their minds.

Note: I would not normally advise putting your group photo onto StreetView but given this was a very special occasion of so many Local Guides getting together in one place I took the chance :).

[LucioV]

Great recap @PaulPavlinovich! Nice photos! I love the mural and the books! Never seen before!

Hope I can join you next year.

[davidhyno]

 Thanks @PaulPavlinovich for sharing! 

Beautiful tour as beautiful photos! Congratulations to everyone!
If I ever had to get it back for sure this time I will not miss !!

Bye,

David

[NareshDarji]

I really missed this opportunity to join with you in SF @PaulPavlinovich but next year will be there. 

[NirmalTeja]

All are together @PaulPavlinovich nice meetup thank you for sharing with us...

[PaulPavlinovich]

Remember for those who could not join this 36 you can run your own next year on the Annual 36 Global Photowalk. People like you make the 36 happen.

Next year's 36 will have some exciting new dimensions to it. No spoilers :).

[MariaNgo]

@PaulPavlinovich  Was reflecting on the time at Connect Live, both the before and after activities, and of course the event itself, and I must say how much I have really appreciated your Photowalk. 

This pre-connect photowalk was really helpful in helping me ease into the whole connect thing and helped me to connect with at least a few people first. Especially as this was my first Connect Live event. And the PhotoWalk was a really fun thing to do as well and such lovely sights, views, things to taste and eat and experience! I think you pretty much covered all the senses in your PhotoWalk. 

I think if I had gone straight into connect on the 16th without your PhotoWalk, my experience of CL wouldn't have been as rich.

In fact if I removed all the extraneous activities outside the official CL activity the whole experience wouldn't have been as impactful or left such a positive buzz and feeling. At the end of the day, it is the people, the connections, the friendships and the shared fun and experience that makes Connect the success that it is.

Or perhaps that's just me? So, I reckon, high on the values list of any successful Connect Live event would have to be Connections and Community - and whatever builds connections and community, shared fun experiences and memories, shared learning, builds upon the friendships made that later extend into greater collaboration and shared learning (as is already happening in our CL Hangouts) will go a long way towards paving the success of Google Maps. Because at the end of the day, people and friendships, community and connections is what binds people together. 

I reckon it's these fun activities and meals etc that were the icing on the cake. Or even more accurately, the CHERRIES in a Black Forest cake. The CATALYST even for the cake! Thanks for your role in that! Much appreciated! 

Maria 

[ValeriaA_]

Thanks for this great recap @PaulPavlinovich! And thanks a lot for organizing this walk.

It was the first one where most of us met, so the memories from this meet-up are unforgettable for me 🙂

[EmekaUlor]

@PaulPavlinovich detailed recap and it's interesting to see some of the places visited.

The Telegraph hill is a great spot, really. I wish I was able to arrive earlier to partake.

Thanks for sharing.

[PaulPavlinovich]

Next year @EmekaUlor! It is interesting that I've not seen photos from the top of Telegraph Hill before as that view downtown is quite spectacular.