Pacificon
The fourth Worldcon and first in Los Angeles, Pacificon was held July 4–7, 1946, at the Park View Manor in Los Angeles, CA. GoHs: A. E. van Vogt and E. Mayne Hull. Though sharing the honor with her husband and collaborator, Hull was the first woman to be a Worldcon guest.
Chaired by Walter J. Daugherty. The attendance is given as about 130.
Pacificon was the first Worldcon in five years. It had been planned for 1942, but World War II forced its postponement. L.A. defeated three other bids in the 1942 Worldcon Site Selection at Denvention in 1941. The 1947 Worldcon Site Selection was held there, awarding the 1947 Worldcon to Philadelphia.
Pacificon Combozine was prepared for the con.
The Hugo Awards had not yet been conceived of — the first Retro Hugos, the brainchild of Bruce Pelz, were awarded at L.A.con III, 50 years later.
Pacificon is sometimes retroactively issued with (usually Roman) number I due to Pacificon II (1964), which was however in Oakland
- Forrest J Ackerman's Pacificon I Reminiscence
- Pacificon I publications and photos on fanac.org
- “What Can We Learn From the 1946 Pacificon Program Book?” by First Fandom Experience, August 26, 2022.
| From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959 |
| from Convention: 1946 Pacificon (no pun intended) happened under LASFS auspices; attendance was disappointing on account of bungled publicity. The announcement of the formation of the Fantasy Foundation was made, Rothman Liebscher and Perdue improved the occasion with pianistics, and Ackerman had a nervous breakdown from overwork. A wire to Dunkelberger informed him that the N3F had been dissolved when a quorum of the members met at the con (probably the only time a quorum of N3F members has ever met face to face since the first year of the group's existence; Dunk hollered foul, hired a lawyer, and got ready to fight the battle of the century before EEEvans exposed the hoax. |
| From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944 |
| (Ackerman) - The proposed 4th World Convention in LA in 1942. Tho it was postponed, the name Pacificon Jr. was given to an extra-large meeting of the LASFS late in 1942, when Rothman and many other immigrants and transients were there. |
| Denvention | Worldcon - Bidding - Hugos | Philcon |
| first | LA Worldcons | Solacon |
| first | Pacificon | Pacificon II |
| 1946 |
| This is a convention page. Please extend it by adding information about the convention, including dates, GoHs, convention chairman, locale, sponsoring organization, external links to convention pages, awards given, the program, notable events, anecdotes, pictures, scans of publications, pictures of T-shirts, con reports, etc. |
