Sixteen years after its first visit there, the NSA returned to Riverside, CA, July 11-15, 2002, thanks to efforts by energetic volunteers from the NSA and the Stereo Club of Southern California. Both the city and the NSA had changed in the meantime, with the current anxious state of the country and the rest of the world contributing to a certain change in atmosphere regardless of location. Added to a general apprehension about nearly everything, arriving to find the host hotel in the middle of a massively disruptive remodeling project was hardly encouraging. But once 3-D images filled the screen of the Stereo Theater and enthusiasts filled the aisles of the Trade Show, it became easy to indulge in the feeling that things really could go encouragingly well in at least one very special field of human endeavor.

Keynote In a room on the second floor of the convention center near the competitive stereoview exhibits, an autostereoscopic video demonstration ran continuously for all who wanted to step in and see it. The TriDef 3-D TV System is a product of Dynamic Digital Depth, Inc. (DDD) and provides easy viewing of sharp images that range in depth from subtle to pronounced. In his Awards Banquet keynote speech, Bringing 3-D to the Mainstream, DDD president and CEO Chris Yewdall explained how that display system is combined with advances in 3-D content creation and marketing to move 3-D into mainstream entertainment. His presentation included 3-D digital projection (using glasses) of 3-D conversions done by DDD from 2-D videos, films and digital files. Using a minimum of technical jargon, Yewdall went through the process DDD uses in creating Depth maps from either 2-D or 3-D images to create digital files for use in either flat or 3-D display systems. Transferred to a DVD, the files can be run in autostereoscopic systems using lenticular screens or barrier strips, or for interlaced sequential viewing or anaglyphic images. For more on the variety of services offered by DDD,
visit: www.ddd.com.

3-D Dive In Pool Party
The only official event of the convention actually scheduled at the Holiday Inn was a 'dive-in' 3-D movie party, inspired by the success of the playful pool projections at NSA Y2K in Mesa. But even in an area unaffected by construction, the hotel's jinx seemed to manifest itself in the form of missing equipment that meant only the well worn 1941 anaglyphic short Third Dimension Murder could be shown - several times. A bar set up at the pool's edge and free drink coupons handed out by the hotel (perhaps to diminish any likelihood of the world's first stereo siege) helped many of us keep
things in perspective, if not in perfect focus or fusion.

Hotel Adventures
The Holiday Inn's remodeling project came as an unpleasant surprise to both convention organizers and attendees. Entering through the parking lot or a side emergency exit, guests discovered that the lobby consisted of an intersection of two hallways where a registration desk had been set up on two folding tables. Among other problems encountered, the air conditioning failed in some guest rooms although it worked well in others. The lack of any real lobby made it hard to meet other members except in the adjacent bar or restaurant, so to some extent the lobby of the nearby convention center served that purpose. (The holiday Inn restaurant did provide reasonably priced dinners at hours when the eateries along the Main Street Mall had closed.)

There would have been a certain heroic aura to the hotel's efforts to persevere through all of it, had the disruption been due to some natural or man-made disaster. But the mess was all Holiday Inn's own unannounced doing, and the staff had clearly lost patience with the continuing turmoil and inevitable guest complaints. By Saturday, the management had offered all NSA members a 10% discount on their room charges and had given out so many free drink coupons that the hotel's tiny bar actually ran out of the house wine.

Just two blocks down the Main Street Mall, the official overflow hotel (with rooms at $14.00 more a night) was literally a world apart. The historic Mission Inn proved to be an oasis for many members whether they were staying there or not. Not ever a mission, and far grander than the name 'inn' would suggest, the hotel offers organized tours of its sprawling maze of courtyards, balconies, halls, towers and stairways. It has its own museum full of artifacts illustrating its complex history from 1876 through its 1980s-90s restoration. Whole wings, sections, floors galleries and other features have been added over the years representing a variety of imitative styles and/or romantic whims. The impression, wandering through arches, stairways and balconies with increasingly unlikely (and sometimes non-existent) connections as you work your way to the upper levels, is that the place must have been designed by the architectural firm of Disney, Escher and Seuss.

Thanks to:
Lawrence Kaufman, NSA 2002 Riverside Chairman.
Mike Aversa, NSA 2002 Riverside Co-Chairman.
Quentin & Ellen Burke NSA 2002 Riverside Registrars/Treasurers.
Charley Van Pelt, NSA 2002 Riverside Trade Fair Manager.
Mitchell Walker, NSA 2002 Riverside Stereo Theater Director.
Steve Berezin, NSA 2002 Riverside Webmaster.
Philip Steinman, NSA 2002 Riverside Workshop Director.
Ron Labbe, NSA 2002 Riverside Electronic Stereo Theater Director and generous supporter/supplier.
Mary Ann Sell, NSA President for constant communication, helpful advise and continued support.
Linda & David Thompson for hosting planning meetings and NSA View Competition Directors.
Dave Wheeler NSA 2002 Riverside/NSA Spotlight Auction Director.
Tony Alderson, NSA 2002 Riverside (and 1986) Logo Creation.
Jon Golden, RBT mounts for Welcome to Riverside show and Stereo Theater assistance and advice.
Gary Schacker, Welcome To Riverside photography.
The UCR/California Museum of Photography and Steve Thomas, UCR/CMP's Curator of Collections.
John Jerit and American Paper Optics for continued generous support to NSA.
Dynamic Digital Depth Inc, Australia - DM1020 S-Video Demultiplexer loan for Electronic Stereo Theater. Kleiser-Walczak Construction Company for supplying copies of Corkscrew Hill and Santa at Radio City.