Getting to !!Con West 2020

We’re excited to bring !!Con West 2020 to scenic Santa Cruz, California, on the campus of UC Santa Cruz, from February 29 to March 1. Santa Cruz is a joy of coastal California redwoods, about an hour’s drive from the bustle of Silicon Valley. We will hold !!Con West in the Jack Baskin Auditorium, with registration starting at 9am each day, and talks ending around 5pm.

Getting to Santa Cruz

For registered attendees, we have sent you information about a Slack in which you can discuss carpooling with each other. If you haven’t received that invitation, please let us know.

By car from the Bay Area

• The best way to get to Santa Cruz from most of the Peninsula is by way of CA-17, which takes you from CA-85 through the Santa Cruz mountains into the city.
• Please make sure you leave sufficiently early, as CA-17 gets heavy traffic southbound on weekends.
• Another option, if coming from San Francisco, is to drive down by way of Half Moon Bay on CA-1, which would take about an hour and a half without traffic.
• On rainy days, CA-17 can present adverse conditions, including car crashes and mudslides, sometimes even leading to closure of the highway and long delays.
• Please make sure to drive carefully and check the local news for transit conditions.

By air

The best options for getting in and out of the Bay Area by air are either through San Francisco (SFO), or through San Jose (SJC). There are tradeoffs for each; there are more flights in and out of SFO, but SJC is about half an hour to an hour closer to Santa Cruz. Both airports have shuttle options to Santa Cruz, if you don’t wish to rent a car (UCSC has a decent list of options).

By other alternatives including public transit

• Santa Cruz is somewhat remote and the public transit options are limited, but getting there without driving or flying is possible!
• There are Greyhound options from San Francisco and Oakland to Santa Cruz Greyhound Station.
• The nearest Amtrak/Caltrain station is San Jose Diridon Station (SJC).
• If you’re coming from Anaheim, Burbank, or Los Angeles and wish to take a bus, Megabus also offers a few options to San Jose Diridon Station (SJC).

From San Jose Diridon Station to Santa Cruz, you can take:

• the Highway 17 Express bus
• Greyhound
• a taxi (estimated cost about $100)
• a rideshare (estimated cost about $50)

Extremely adventurous attendees could choose to bike to Santa Cruz; from the middle of the Peninsula, one possible route is about 45 miles with about 3,800ft of elevation gain. (If you try this, or have a better route, let us know!)

Getting from Santa Cruz to Jack Baskin Auditorium

By shuttle

We’re providing free shuttle buses to help !!Con attendees get between the conference, the Hampton Inn Santa Cruz, and downtown Santa Cruz! The shuttle schedule will be the same for both conference days. The times shown are the departure times from the pick-up location.

Keep in mind that depending on road conditions, the shuttles might arrive 5-10 minutes late.

Hampton Inn is graciously letting !!Con West use the hotel as a shuttle stop. They have a tiny lobby, and they asked us to wait out front. They have a large overhang, so you will stay dry!

Morning

Hampton Inn → Baskin Auditorium

• 8:45am
• 9:30am

Southwest corner of Pacific Ave. and Cathcart St. (on Cathcart St. next to Old School Shoes) → Baskin Auditorium

• 8:55am
• 9:40am

Evening

Baskin Auditorium → Southwest corner of Pacific Ave. and Cathcart St. and Hampton Inn

• Saturday: 5:10pm (arriving 5:25pm at Cathcart St., and 5:30pm at Hampton Inn)
• Sunday: 4:40pm (arriving 4:55pm at Cathcart St., and 5:10pm at Hampton Inn)

By car

You can park your car (free on weekends!) at the Core West parking structure, which is about a 5-minute walk from the auditorium. There are accessible parking spaces closer to the venue. There’s a mobile-friendly website with live information on open parking spaces at Core West.

By public transit

Santa Cruz Metro offers several bus lines within the city; a few of them will get you to the auditorium from the city center. Please consult the Santa Cruz Metro website or Google Maps for the bus schedule.

By rideshare

There are both rideshare options (Lyft, etc.) and car sharing options (Zipcar) available in Santa Cruz.

More venue details and accessibility information

Venue map (click for a bigger version):

Our venue this year accommodates about 200 people (and we expect to be completely full)!

• !!Con West is an alcohol-free event.
• All ages are welcome.
• The building has an accessible entrance (no steps).
• The venue will have two single-occupancy gender-neutral restrooms in the same building as the auditorium; additionally, there are gender-labeled restrooms in adjacent buildings.
• A secure, private space will be made available for anybody who needs a lactation room. Please ask a conference organizer, and we’ll be happy to get you access.
• !!Con West will have CART (“Communication Access Realtime Transcription”, or “Computer-Assisted Real-Time”, depending on who you ask) live transcription in English.

We want to make !!Con West accessible to as many attendees as possible. If you have questions about our venue, or the accessibility thereof, please contact the !!Con West organizers.