From
my perspective, the Festival of Books has gone corporate
- with The Los Angeles Times, Target, Barnes & Noble,
Borders, Ticketmaster and Starbucks all staking a claim.
But with that type of big name sponsorship, they've sort
of sucked all the charm out of it too.
We arrived
on Sunday, at around 1:00. The festival was once again,
situated on the UCLA campus. Admission is free, although
parking is $7.00.
From
the parking structure, there were no signs to get visitors
to the actual event site, and on a campus the size of UCLA,
it's not just 'right over there.' So we all just followed
one another. And once onto the perimeter of the campus,
things started to look familiar. We
walked through a sculpture garden and then into the main
meat of the event space.
How
to paint the picture here. The UCLA Campus. Sounds open
and airy and wonderful. Not so. The festival planners have
crammed too much into too little space.
Imagine
yourself in a large plaza the size of a football field.
Back to back, side to side, and facing outward, are 25 individual
12' x 12' booths. The type you see at any carnival or company
picnic. Each booth has a large sign [ACME Book Sellers],
and in each booth are books. Books which you want to be
able to browse through and ponder and contemplate their
purchase. Add this same configuration to four different
areas of the campus, plus a food court. Now add an insane
number of people crowding around each booth, and throughout
the walkways, and you sort of get the idea. [see below]
