El Camino Reelers

Location: Palo Alto, CA, USA

Web Site: http://www.reelers.org

Started: 1985

History: Started by Marilyn Martinyak and Pat Dixon as an alternative to the gay square dance clubs located an hour away in San Francisco. Due to its location, the club is well-known as a "geek repository", boasting members employed by Adobe, Sun, Google, and Yahoo.

Classes: A combined Mainstream-Plus class is taught once yearly, generally starting in late August or early September, and finishing up the following April or May. Advanced classes are taught periodically.

Club Caller[s]: Rich Reel

Past Club Caller[s]: Bill Hanzel, Mike Luna, Vicki Woods, Harlan Kerr, Andy Shore

Levels: Plus, Advanced

Dance Location[s]: St. Andrews United Methodist Church / 4111 Alma Street / Palo Alto, CA (map)

Fly-Ins Hosted:

• "Slide Thru Silicon Valley" June 30 - July 3, 1995

Cubberley Community Center, Palo Alto, CA--Callers: Mike Jacobs, Andy Shore, Deborah Parnell, John Sybalsky

• "Shakedown Along The Fault" (West Coast A&C Weekend) October 3-5, 1997

Mount Alverno Confrence Center, Redwood City, CA--Callers: Vic Ceder, Kiyoshi Kikuchi, John Sybalsky, Anne Uebelacker, Rob French, and CJ Smith

• "Slide Thru Silicon Valley: From Stetsons To Jetsons" January 7-9, 2000

St. Andrews Methodist Church and Cubberley Community Center, Palo Alto, CA--Callers: Vic Ceder and Andy Finch

• “Slide Thru Silicon Valley: The Summer of Love” July 5-7, 2001

Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, CA--Callers: Anne Uebelacker and Neil Heather

• “Download the Boat” September 6, 7, 8, 2002

Cupertino High School, Cupertino, CA--Callers: Vic Ceder and Michael Kellogg

• "Slide Thru Silicon Valley: ECR@25” April 2-4, 2010

Holiday Inn, San Jose, CA--Callers: Sandie Bryant, Michael Kellogg, Andy Shore, Rich Reel, Harlan Kerr

Conventions Hosted:

• 1996: "Stars, Thars and Cable Cars", July 3-6, 1996 in San Francisco, CA (Embarcadero Hyatt) (Co-hosted with Foggy City Dancers and Western Star Dancers)
• 2005: "Star Thru The Silicon Galaxy", July 1-4, 2005 in Santa Clara, CA (Santa Clara Marriott)
• Weave Your Heart in San Francisco, July 4-7, 2013 in San Francisco, CA (SF Marriott Marquis) (Co-hosted with other Bay Area clubs)

Notables:

• Marilyn Martinyak, IAGSDC Chair, ??-??
• Mary Rorabaugh, IAGSDC Treasurer 1991-2?
• Randy Clarke, IAGSDC Vice Chair, 1994-5
• Andy Shore, Gay Callers Association President, ??-??
• Mary Gold, Alotta Gelotta, and Patsy Sue Veneer, Honky Tonk Queen, 2001
• Andy Shore, Golden Boot Award Golden Boot 2002
• Gypsum Rock Lee, Honky Tonk Queen, 2003
• Julie Dubbs, ECR club administrator - 19??, named plaintiff in landmark gay rights case [1]

Stories:

• Early ECR by Bob Kanefsky
• An Uninvited Guest by Kim Harris

Videos:

On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 2:31 PM, Ed Wilson <edwilson@cruzio.com> wrote:

A couple of years ago, a group of El Camino Reelers had the opportunity to dance on “Square Dance Live”, a program on that airs on several local community cable channels. The caller was Mike Luna, one of ECR’s earliest callers. Mike produces the show with his buddy Charlie Class, the announcer. They recorded us for two segments, close to an hour altogether. For us it was totally unscripted; we just went in and did it.

We were promised copies of the show and they finally arrived this week. Fooling around with the DVD this morning, I decided to see if I could take one singing call and upload it to YouTube at http://youtu.be/7HM8FUUzN_8.

Spin-Off Clubs:

• Sequoia Ocean Waves co-founded by ECR member Lyn Platten
• Santa Cruz Squares founded by ECR member Neil Heather