The gold age: history and holiday!

[Unknown,Unknown]

Hello,
this post is not exactly related to games or technical questions and is also going to be rather long, but I would like you, Ken and Roberta, to read it. I think both of you could find in it some good memories…

I have just returned from my on the road holiday in USA (I’m from Italy), in which I have been visiting a lot a beautiful places. Among those, Yosemite, and of course I have been sleeping in Oakhurst.
Although our visit at Yosemite was not exactly planned in advance, I knew there could have been the possibility to have a look at Oakhurst. Instead, we slept in Oakhurst 4 full nights, in order to get some roundtrips starting from there.
Well, being in Oakhurst necessarily required me to finally view “live” what of Sierra history is still visible. And so the quest began…

During my stay, I have been asking about Sierra On-Line all around the town to those people who seemed to me to have a proper age to remind about 20 years ago.
Some of those did remind few things about Sierra, others had just been told about it cause they where not in Oakhurst yet during the “gold age” we all know about.

Fortunately, others long time dwellers, answered “yes, of course!” to the question “have you ever heard of Sierra On-Line?”.
Among those, I can report about Tracy, who know works at Best Value Hotel (Yosemite Inn), which should be a long time hotel in Oakhurst. She gave me good hints to start my search.

Then I met a rather ancient man in the Trading Post located right along the 41 (the Oakhurst’s main road, you’ll sure remember I guess). He gave more information.

Then I met those people who know work at the Old Barn building, which was one of the suggested place to visit. They are very polite and we had a nice talk. They do not currently own the building and were not in the area years back, so they couldn’t give much more information. Anyway they confirmed that Sierra On-Line was in Old Barn, even if they couldn’t remember if this happened before or after Sierra Telephone. They also allowed me to take as many pictures as I wanted to.

But the most detailed information have been given to me by a woman and her husband who both now work at the gift shop located on the 426. They explained to me which were all the buildings in which Sierra On-Line used to work, as far as they could remember. They even told me that many years ago they owned a restaurant in which you and Roberta used to eat and, moreover, they also talked about the garage in which you and Roberta started it all in the very first days! (Mistery House?). Unfortunately I do not remember their names.
The husband also addressed me to the only building I have been able to recognize as one of the old Sierra’s buildings: it is the building where now a medical center is, it’s red and it’s located just at the entrance of Oakhurst’s town, not very visible by the car, you have to get down the hill on the left (is it Victoria Lane?).
This building seemed known to me, cause I recognized in it the one shown in the Space Quest III closing sequence, when those two guys from Andromeda land on heart right close Sierra’s offices. You could tell me if I am wrong.

In all I have been “visiting” the 4 building you can see here:

http://community.webshots.com/album/411405541AXgNBY 

The first (1.jpg) is located near the 426.
The second (2a.jpg, 2b.jpg) is located along the 41, just across a Best Western hotel.
The third (3a.jpg to 3d.jpg) is the Old Barn building, which is located near the 41. It is made of wood and seem rather ancient.
The fourth (4a.jpg to 4c.jpg) is the one I recognized as the SQ3’s one.

And so my search ended and you, Ken and Roberta, could tell me more about those buildings and their (and your) history, if you please to of course. Are them really your old work places? If so, it would be fine to know which age have been running in which building.

Ok it’s all. I only have still to say that it was a funny and nostalgic tour, and that I am very happy to have done it.

All the best to both of you.
Francesco

[Unknown,Unknown]

Yeah.. good pics!

It seems to me that the Sierra Telephone building was the old main office. I seem to recall having seen that building when I visited there around 1992-3. 🙂

and in case I haven’t mentioned it elsewhere.. The tour I got of Sierra all those years ago is still cherished in memory.. Aces over Europe, GK1 in development, etc. 😉

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