Crews reconstruct America’s Cup yacht race winner on Howard Street, closed for Oracle OpenWorld 2014
Oracle OpenWorld doesn’t kick off until Sunday, but crews closed Howard Street in front of the Moscone Convention Center Thursday to create an outdoor plaza for the business software giant’s annual mega conference.
Howard between Third and Fourth street will remain shut for traffic until next Thursday night, after the convention wraps up. In its place will be Oracle Plaza, where the Redwood City company will install five giant video screens for attendees who are not able to get into the main keynote speech rooms.
The plaza will also host lunch for the 60,000 people expected to attend the conference. It’s the city’s second biggest convention, behind Salesforce’s Dreamforce, which is next month. Dreamforce also takes over Howard Street.
At Fourth and Howard, Oracle is re-assembling the 72-foot yacht that won last year’s America’s Cup race. Oracle’s Executive Chairman Larry Ellison funded the U.S. entry and missed one of his own OpenWorld keynotes last year to watch its historic come-from-behind win on San Francisco Bay.
The convention has become so big it spans all three Moscone center halls, plus several major hotels in the area, including the Palace, the Intercontinental, the St. Regis, the Hilton Union Square and the Marriott Marquis.
That also means Taylor Street between Ellis and O’Farrell streets will close betwen 2 a.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Oct. 2.
