Well, it was huge. Most of all those people eventually made it into our fabulous new California Academy of Sciences museum-type thing over the weekend.

This is what it looked like.

The mise-en-scene, as seen from the de Young Museum. Click to expand:

Saturday’s opening was a crowning achievement for Executive Director Dr. Greg Farrington.

Released monarch butterflies briefly filled the skies above Golden Gate Park:

And then they went to the roof of the CAS to warm up and make more butterflies:

Mayor Gavin Newsom was there to promote the CAS. He didn’t get “roundly booed”, unlike the time he showed up to promote the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio a few months back:

Speaking of politicians, there were lots there, including Eric Mar, Melanie Nutter and Aaron Peskin:

San Francisco Chief of Protocol Charlotte Schultz under the rainforest:

And of course, you could let your kid play with snakes while waiting to get in:

That’s all for now. Congratulations, CAS!

Oh my. Today’s gala opening of our fabulous new California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park attracted an enormous number of people.

On and on the line stretched. From Concourse Drive to JFK to Middle Drive East to South Drive to Ninth Avenue to Lincoln Way - that’s almost 1.5 miles (the long way) to the start of one of the Penguin Trails at Ninth Avenue and Irving in the Inner Sunset.

Click to expand:

Happily, they’re not making you wait in line all day. It’s all alphabetized based upon how early you showed up. Some got there at 5:30 AM. What’s your Entry Group name?

Dinosaur? Gorilla? Iguana? Yawn. What’s wrong with Darwin, Gaia, or Intelligent Design?

But what does the New York Times have to say about all of this?

The academy building is the last in a series of ambitious projects to be conceived in and around the park’s Music Concourse since the devastating 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Herzog & de Meuron’s mesmerizing de Young Museum, enclosed in perforated copper, opened three years ago. Scaffolding is to come down at the concourse’s neo-Classical band shell this week after a loving restoration.

You see? It’s all coming together.

This special day will go on until 9:00 PM tonight. See you there!

Here’s the thing. Our fabulous new California Academy of Sciences is finally ready - the Opening Weekend Celebration starts tomorrow, Saturday, the 27th of September, 2008. Admission is going to be free for the whole day from 9:30 AM to 9:00 PM, after an 8:30 AM Opening Ceremony that will feature:

Executive Director Greg Farrington, Board Chair Bill Patterson, Architect Renzo Piano, Mayor Gavin Newsom,  a Native American blessing, a butterfly release, and more.

So fine, get up early, follow the Penguin Trail from the N-Judah or the 5-Fulton bus and check out the spectacle tomorrow morning.

The already-famous living roof, a science experiment in itself. What flora and fauna will appear over the months and years?  The similarity to Teletubbyland could attract Tinky Winky and his friends. An artist’s conception, click to expand:

But you’re not going to be able to see the CAS the way it’s meant to be seen. What you’re going to see is a whole bunch of other people, just like yourself. And that’s fine, there’ll be a lot of stuff to see outside of the CAS. (Plus there’s the nearby de young Museum to check out, but it will be busy too.)

Plan on coming back another day if you want a chance to see and explore the CAS itself in a more relaxed environment. Is admission (they’re going to start charging people starting this Sunday) worth the $25? Heck yeah. Take my word on that.

What’s that? You got a family and all these tickets add up to big bucks? Well then get a membership for a year. Try it out. Even the $99 Individual Membership seems like a good deal since you can always bring a friend along for free.  

If that’s too much money anyway, then there’s always the Free Days. The third Wednesday of the month will generally be reserved for free Wachovia Wednesdays. And there will be Free Days customised just for your zip code.

The people at the California Academy of Sciences have bent over backwards to provide you with opportunities to check things out for free. That’s all they can do.

See you there!

You people love you some penguins. And the California Academy of Sciences knows that, so what better way to guide you to this fabulous new mega museum than to put down footprints from the Richmond and Sunset districts.

“If you’re arriving by public transit, follow the webbed footprints of the Penguin Path from 9th and Irving, or 8th and Fulton, right to the front of the Academy. It’s only a ten minute walk.”

Ay! Trayectoria del Pingüino! (or sendero pingüino? No se.) Once you see this, you’ll soon see all the footprints on the sidewalks leading to where you want to go.

Most people will probably arrive from the 5 Fulton or the N Judah. If you can see the tower of the de Young Museum, you can also use that as a guide to get to the general area.

Conveniently, the CAS also has instructions for those arriving by bike, car, tour buses and, of course, spacecraft:

“The Academy is located on planet Earth, approximately 93.1 million miles (or one Astronomical Unit) from the G2 star known as the Sun…”

Once you arrive you can meet the penguins: 

These little critters should be a major draw for the CAS.

See you there on Opening Day, September 27th, 2008.

As of today, the countdown timer at the California Academy of Sciences website shows that there are just 32 days left until the Grand Opening in Golden Gate Park on September 27th.

As the cutaway view here shows, the Morrison Planetarium is on the left. Click to expand:

Check it. It’s all digital. They’re still working out all the bugs as they’re installing the new equipment. But, like the rest of the CAS, it’s going to be mega.

A family portrait of El Sol and Gaia, Mother Earth on the high-def screens of the new Morrison:

See you there on September 27th! (Listen to a few MP3s if you want, in the meantime.)