Bay Area

The California Bay Area (or “BArea,” if you’re inclined to scientificombination) around San Francisco Bay has hosted six Worldcons: SFCon, Pacificon II, Baycon, ConFrancisco, ConJosé and Worldcon 76 in San Jose.

Regional conventions include Baycon, Silicon, the Silicon Valley Comic Con, and Contact.

Besides the old clubs cited in Fancy 2 below, BASFA and PenSFA are still going.

Stores include Borderlands Books, which hosts the SF in SF events.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

The San Francisco Bay area, like Washington, DC, has supported various fan clubs with no mutual connections. Just before the Korean War the Golden Gate Futurian Society was in existence; it consisted, first, of Kepner, Mel Brown, Bill Knapheide, Donald Moore, D. Bruce Berry and others, a motley crew. This was a science fiction club pure and simple; in '51-'52 all but Knapheide disappeared and the ACC group took it over. "We couldn't run a really good stf-centered club", confesses Carr, but they didn't really want to; they wanted a faaanish one. Eventually the club got so very fannish that the meetings were set up as one-shot sessions only, but this brought on the folding of the club; since one-shot sessions could be held any old time anyway, a club organization was unnecessary. In the late 40s and early 50s the Elves, Gnomes, and Little Men's Chowder, Science Fiction, and Marching Society flourished here. (In the comic strip "Barnaby", Mr O'Malley [the fairy godfather] belonged to the EG&LMC&M Society.) It attracted people like the Coles, Tony Boucher, D. B. Moore, Thomas Quinn, Poul and Karen Anderson, and Lloyd Eaton. At various times they produced the fanzine Rhodomagnetic Digest (which was probably more famous than all the GGFS publications put together), an award for pros called the Invisible Little Man [it was a pedestal with nothing on it, but two hollow footprints on top] and an annual convention, the SFCon. Clashes arising from this last caused it to fade from the scene after 1954. In recent times it has been the publishing center of "Carl Brandon", Terry Carr, Dave Rike, Ron Ellik, Pete Graham and others, and the site of the Tower to the Moon Built of Beer Cans.

From Fancyclopedia 2 Supplement, ca. 1960

The Little Men did not fade from the scene; my impression was a consequence of the inevitable mypoia I remarked on in the Introduction to Fancyclopedia II. What actually happened was that Rhodomagnetic Digest caused such dissention publishing was stopped, as an official action, in order to preserve the club. See also under Golden Gate Futurians.

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