photos by Scott Beale
Here are some photos I shot at Sand By The Ton, the grand opening and fundraiser for The Big Art Studios at American Steel, a gigantic art warehouse in West Oakland.
It was one of the most amazing parties I’ve been to in a long time. They brought in 200 tons of sand, setup several swimming pools, a carnival midway and even a red light district. The photos and video are only a small glimpse of what it was like at this massive event, which was like a mini Burning Man inside of a warehouse.
Kudos to Dan, Karen and the whole crew for organizing such a great event.
Photo Gallery: Sand By The Ton
DJ Tinker spinning on the Carbon Garden stage by False Profit Labs and Symbiosis Events.
The Golden Mean snail car shooting propane flames from its eye stalks.
Cyclecide bicycle carnival rides
Omgea Recoil firing up their Tesla Coil
More photos by Audrey Penven, Jon Sarriugarte, Danger Ranger and SF Weekly.
Here Are A Few Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
- Sand By The Ton, Grand Opening & Fundraiser For The Big Art Studios at American Steel
- Flora Grubb Gardens Grand Opening Photos
- NIMBY 2.0 Grand Opening Celebration Photos & Video
- Chrome Messenger Bags Grand Opening Party Photos
- Rhythmix Cultural Works Grand Opening
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
An absolute brilliant party. Quantity and quality. Congrats to Karen and Dan, and all of the volunteers. Try and beat that!
GODDAMMIT!!! We got there at around 5:30, stood in a non moving line for about a half hour while no one was admitted due to some alleged “Fire Marshal” fiasco. I had another engagement I had to be at at 9:30, so we left.
Great planning, geniuses.
NOTE – the carbon garden photo is actually of a collaborative stage by False Profit and Symbiosis Events. thanks!
Thanks, I’ve updated the post.
it was off the hook ! the best party outside the playa ever.. thanks for all volunteers, performers, sand and fire art, organizers and people. For a party this good, the ticket price was great: for that price and good time we’ll pay it again -when is the next one ?
It was raining yesterday on my drive from SF to Oakland and when I got to the East Bay at around 8PM there was this amazing double rainbow that was directly over the American Steel building. Very nice.
Upside – Super fun and creative party. I felt like they could have cut out 20 % of the entertainment or art budget and I wouldn’t have felt ripped off. Reminds me of Martin’s old Gatherings at the Homebase. Also reminds me of discussions people were having on the old Laughing Squid Burning Man threads, that when gas hits $7 a gallon trekking all your gear to Nevada and back may not make all that much sense and that we would be better off having a Burning Man experience somewhere here in the Bay Area.
I really hope this is a step in that direction.
Downside – for 250,000 of square feet it wasn’t laid out very well. There was a bottleneck as you tried to walk to the outside patio area that was created from portapotties and booths on either side that was causing the local fire marshal to freak out. That and people smoking cigarettes inside (OMG! Freak out!) In the future, I’d recommend putting the porta potties and booths somewhere else, like back where that empty surfing video art project was and keep that walkway clear.
When I left at 11:30 PM it was a madhouse. I had to fight my way outside and there was a mob of people, some of whom had already bought pre-sale tickets, that could not get inside. I’ve been to tons of oversold punk rock shows, underground parties, warehouse raves, ect. and I can tell you that event was not overpacked, by any means. There was plenty of elbow room to move around and even right in front of the DJ booth. It was just that bottleneck that was freaking the authorities out.
And there were two taco trucks outside with a crowd of people. That made me happy, the idea that you can create something organic like this and that it will in turn support other local organic, hard working economies at 11:30 PM.
very cool event; lots of elbow room inside the massive building complex yet friends tell me they waited over an hour to get in; a breeze coming, going & parking to me so there must’ve been false fire capacity concerns had… I hope we’ll see more of this type multistage event in the future at this huge site, and that it really goes til 4 a.m. next time. {We were being ushered out by 2:30 a.m. somehow}
WOW this party was off the hook. We helped volunteer and the party still blew us out of our minds. Great time, great security, awesome party! Great job Dan and Karen!
We were astounded. It easily gets my vote for best party of the decade.
It was a good party. Without a doubt.
The layout was shortsighted, but the almost complete lack of water was the real rookie move of the night.
Truly awesome party. Congratz to Oakland for throwing something so freakin’ incredible. The acts and the sound were amazing.
Next time they gotta widen the midway and spread out the porta potties. We got there about 8:00 right as that double rainbow was forming outside. An hour later the midway was getting bottlenecked and I look at the schedule to see Extra Action Marching Band playing on the midway stage at 11:00. Bad move.
By 11:00 there was no way Fire Marshals would let Extra Action play on that stage. They had to do their show on the move and I only got to see a couple songs before they disappeared.
Whatever, can’t complain. Best time I’ve had in years and years.
More party pictures over here –
http://mvgals.net/gallery/sandbytheton-071109
i was one of the many people with presale tix that got stuck outside. i arrived at 11pm ready to rage the night, and they were still SELLING tickets for cash. meanwhile, people were frantically waving their tickets or will call receipts in the air trying to get to the front. by 1am, standing IN THE FRONT OF THE LINE the whole 2 hours, we were told they weren’t letting anyone else in. the whole thing was complete bullshit. the reason the fire marshal shut it down was because there was no exit route. HELLO?! how about next time you rent some fences and make a line for will call, a line for entry, and an exit. that might be a good idea. or get the security guys to make multiple fences instead of one giant barricade who kept pushing us into the street. douches.
I heard you can get refunds over here –
Refunds are available by calling BROWN PAPER TICKETS at 1-800-838-3006 or emailing Support@BrownPaperTickets.com. Tell them the name of the event (sand by the ton) and provide your order info. You will receive a refund within a few days.
We are EXTREMELY sorry that you were not allowed in to the event. Based on our pre-sale numbers, it was determined that the door numbers would be reasonable. Unfortunately, by 10 pm, the fire marshal felt that the building was at capacity. We never expected such a turnout. We diligently worked for many weeks with the fire marshal and the city to prepare for our big Grand Opening. It was our first event and we learned SO MUCH. We promise to do better next time and hope that you can forgive us.
meanie. i’m guessing the real reason they kept you out was because of your language.
i’m sorry to offend you julie. the thousand or so people outside must have all been yelling awful language like douche & bullshit…hey, at least we didn’t crash the “gates” and get the whole party shut down. =P maybe you should be thankful we were all so patient…
i did get in touch with brown paper tickets, and received their apology letter. they even offered me 2 passes to their next event. i admit, i was a bit upset about not getting in, rightfully so imo, it looked like a damn good time. hopefully they’ve truly learned from their mistakes.
Glad you got in touch with them and I like the damage control letter. Even if people are still upset they can get their 2 free future tickets, scalp them later, and then possibly double their money.
Life is a learning experience and I think a true test of someone’s character is how they deal with their mistakes.
Do they make excuses and blame other people?
Do they shy away from their obligations?
Do they own up to the fact, fix what went wrong, and do better next time?
Ravers get such a bum rap in the Burning Man community but anyone who was going to warehouse parties in the 90s used to deal with this kind of disappointment on a regular basis. I’ve dropped over a hundred dollars on parties that were canceled the day of or an hour into the party where there was no offer of refund and you could tell the promoter didn’t care. Came with the turf back then, so I tend to be a bit more forgiving if it feels like the promoter was a rookie with his heart in the right place.
Also, don’t underestimate the power of the make-up / apology party. That’s one of the more underrated parties, where someone has made a social party foul and wants really badly to make up for it. That party is the one that always stands out.
i do look forward to the make-up party ;) and i really appreciated their efforts in trying to make this right. look forward to seeing you all at the next one~
Thought it was great! Didn’t like the fact there was no water for free that I could find anywhere except in random half full bottles laying around.. got some good pictures, visit Sand by the Ton Album at http://www.myspace.com/photographyr
…the double rainbow made it all the more “special” of an event.. that was only the 2nd double rainbow I’ve ever seen, the first one was at BurningMan 2 years ago..
the line outside ordeal was a big issue, saw the cops and got a few pictures.. glad we got in we did (7pm) no problem, didn’t like the party ending before 3 or the ass of cabbies who stood out there and tryed to rip people off for a ride back to the city..(one guy wanted to charge $60!) ( I know that has nothin to do with event, just thought I’d mention it)..
I have never had so much fun at a party. Let’s do it over and over and over again. My eternal gratitude and admiration to Dan and Karin! Did anyone see the cyclecide ferris wheel appearing to ride straight up the rainbow? Whoooo! All of the people/participants provided such a good vibe and energy, it was magic.