Pages

Saturday, June 27, 2020

Anyone want a Grand Hotel?

Coronavirus time is not a good time to be in the hotel business for all the obvious reasons. It is particularly not a good time to be in the hotel business on the UCLA campus which is currently shut down. Even the Regents, who - after expressing severe doubts about the project when it was proposed - did their best to use the space there for meetings, are now meeting online.

Of course, there never was any good reason for UCLA to be in the hotel business, even pre-coronavirus. And those who recall the origins of the project will know that it was originally proposed as an even grander edifice right next to Murphy Hall as a replacement for the Faculty Center. After a major fuss by the faculty, the edifice was somewhat downsized and moved near Ackerman where the chancellor is now spared from looking at it.

The other thing about the coronavirus crisis is that there are lots of online streaming webinars and Zoom presentations available for those locked into their homes. So we present our own contribution to this art form: "UCLA's Grand Hotel - From Macro to Micro" as presented to the Emeriti Board by yours truly back in 2012:

or direct to:
https://archive.org/details/PresentationOfDanielJ.b.MitchellOnUclaHotelconferenceCenterProjectTo

No comments: