My vision for Mountain
View is a remodel/retrofit to MCM (Mid-Century Modern styling)
- I am thinking of the red and white diners with Formica topped tables and chunky red vinyl chairs with fountain sodas EXCEPT the diner in question would be contracted out to George in the exact spot occupied by today's theater.
- George, in Direct Competition to Red Robin, offers a selection of gourmet burgers and bottomless fries. Does he offer beer and wine?
- The existing theater comes down, asbestos abatement and all...
- The entirety of the building that houses the site monitor, break, and storage rooms would enjoy a red and white "vinyl makeover" with perhaps the grill of a '57 Chevy heralding George's Refreshment Stand near the presently placed bicycle rack.
- If George does not want the overhead that goes with the stand, it becomes an RCSC Club activity with paid "soda jerks" who sell nothing but fountain soda pop and bagged snacks at a buck or two/bag.
- No cooked or nuked ANYTHING.
- Guests may be provided reusable trays, complete with 6 or 10 wells to carry These are volunteer "cabana girls or boys" (limit 2 between the hours of noon and 4 p.m.) who collect tips when goodies are delivered to poolside. We don't gouge our member-owners, but the one-size 16 oz drink offered is $1 be it soda, water, or plain ole ice.
- I am also thinking frozen snacks at market price and not to be sent out with the cabana kids because of the melting factor. The 16 oz drink is Always 1/2 full of ice. (There is Huge Money to be made from fountain soda.)
- The above idea is meant to be shared by other recreation centers as well.
- There are other missed food and beverage markets out there just WAITING and BEGGING to be Exploited.
- Why George has not jumped all over the Coffee Trade that Thrives just down the street on 107th and Grand is Mystery to me.
- I can see ESSPRESSO YOURSELF coffee stands ALL OVER THE PLACE!
Kristi Svendsen, Panel Member, Sun City Advocates
5 comments:
New ideas are always fun to consider, Time to start thinking outside the box. Nice.
Not to be a downer here but have you run any figures as to costs? At least one new liquior license will be required, maybe two. Are you counting on the car club to supply the car grill? Where is the new theater to be built at MV as the swimmers are resistant to losing any of the wasted space for the common good. Any idea how long this idea will be “a thing” before the novelty wears off and RCSC is stuck with a multi million dollar dog? The cabana boy contingency, will they be looking for tips in addition to the charge for refreshments like in Vegas and will they be able to keep them or turn over to the club? What prevents them from skimming and who would oversee same?
It is nice to think outside the box but questions like these always come back to bite you in the gluteus. Think Festival and white elephant bikes.
Christine -
Kristi has answered you here. I have to submit this as anonymous because I didn't ask her permission to use her email address.
Thank You for all your questions, Christine!
1. A liquor license will only be required if they sell beer and wine at the diner. No liquor would be sold out of the Refreshment Stand. Just soda, water, ice tea and ice.
2. Great Idea about getting the Car Club involved in supplying and setting in the grill, though. I was thinking more in the neighborhood of JUST THE GRILL, since I have seen them at "retro diners" in a few places and I figure one can buy such a thing on the internet and you can! Not at the expense of the Real Thing, but a "reproduction." Or, not! Maybe just hire someone(s) to paint a grill onto the front wall of the Refreshment Stand. Dismantling a perfectly good '57 Chevy would be a shameful abuse of an Artifact of the '50s.
3. The cabana boy or girl would pay for the drinks before they ferry them down to the pool. They would collect when delivered and would pocket the entire tip. "The house" would not Run a Tab; money in:product out. No exceptions.
4. The entire point of this post is that the theater (or the gym) Would Not Be There. I am on record as saying a gym and a theater are not conducive to one another's health.
5. I base this "wish" on a diner at Fifth Street Public Market in Eugene, Oregon. Woops, I see they are gone! Fifth Street Market is still there, but Jamie's Diner is gone. :-(
6. I happen to agree that locking into a whole new use may not work here for the reason that IF IT WERE A FAILURE, it would end up a (potential) money pit. God knows, establishing a new destination restaurant nowadays would be a crap shoot.
On that same subject, placing a 400 seat theater Directly next door to a gymnasium is madness abbreviated by FOLLY to me.
This was merely a vision of what "could be" within the footprint well-established by Mountainview Rec. Center. This blog is INTENDED for input like yours, Christine, and I appreciate you pointing out the "fallacy" of so dating it, but Please Recall Sun City is product of '50s and '60s sensibilities. Our Very History is rooted there and I would like to honor it.
That's all I have to say. If you do so now, Please continue coming to the meetings. If you don't, please give us a few hours every month to watch, listen and form your own conclusions. Our group did not form, is not continuing to grow, because we are trouble-makers. We just want some TRANSPARENCY and a little (or a lot of) fiscal responsibility and ACCOUNTABILITY for a lake that has been leaking for years, for a worn out Techology Dept. that is nearly obsolete--all the time, RCSC is amassing Millions in PIF and "carry-forward" funds. For a private nonprofit that has, as primary part of its Mission TO SERVE ITS MEMBERS, RCSC is falling Far Short. Thank you again for your response to my MCM wish for Mountainview. Great reparté, such as yours, is What We Seek.
Kristi Svendsen
This blog is MY OPINION and not a very popular one, I know. I just do not want to see the neighborhood run over by "development." If the players AND gym enthusiasts Both get their way and are fabulously successful, Mountain View will be BEYOND overrun with traffic. Parking will be a zoo AND pickleball will Go Away Forever. As it is, the (nonexistent) Phase 3 is not scheduled until 2030. THIS center (that they are working on now) was scheduled for 2017. Five Years Behind schedule to even break ground?
Not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, this Analog Girl is Still Lost in a digital world
The above opinion is mine. Please read my letter to the editor in the latest Independent. Thanks for your attention and feedback.
Kristi Svendsen
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