Omaha-Berkshire Hathawy Annual Meeting
 

[Sorry for the double posting! Forgot to catagorize it properly.]

I am planning to go tot he 2007 meeting next May 4-6. Can anyone help with a few questions: the meeting is at the Quest Center. How many of the events are there? Where are Borsheim's, Gorat's and the Furniture Mart relative to Quest? How far is the Sheraton from any of this? Would a car be helpful for all of this or just a headache?

Thanks very much for any info and advice. Haven't been to Omaha in my adult life and have never been to this event.

Wow! There aren't many Omaha questions 'round these parts. :-)

The Qwest Center is downtown. The Sheraton is still downtown but southwest of the Qwest Center a little less then 2 miles. In between is the Old Market.

Borsheim's is a few blocks west of the Sheraton. The Nebraska Furniture Mart is 6 miles west around 70th and Dodge. I've not eaten at Gorat's as I'm not a chop house fan. It's about 5 miles west of downtown.

The Old Market has some great places to eat: V Mertz, Vivaci, Indian Oven, M's Pub and Delice for lunch come to mind. I'm not a fan of Omaha Prime as it's a chop house. Near the Sheraton is a favorite of mine the Flat Iron Café as is Passport. The Liberty Tavern in the Hilton attached to the Qwest Center is excellent too though it's hard to convince people it's OK to eat at hotel restaurant.

Downtown the first Sunday of the month the ConAgra headquarters opens its corridors to show off its extensive collection of Courier & Ives prints. The excellent zoo is a little south of downtown. Think zoo worthy of Marlin Perkins and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.

The Joslyn Art Museum has a solid collection and pretty good special exhibits too. In March I saw the one of the first new Illustrated Bible created in 500 years. The $5 million project on vellum is beautiful.

The Rose where the Omaha Theater for Young People is based is a restored, magnificent playhouse from the 30's. Stop in just to check out the lobby or see a show. They're geared for families but worth seeing for the sets and building.

If you can do without the Furniture Mart and Gorat's you can get by without a car. Cabs are reasonable but hard to come by trying to return from outside downtown. You'd have to call one or have the cabby who dropped you off come back and get you in a couple of hours.

My Omaha friends live around the corner from Warren Buffet. You'd be stunned at the modest home he lives in.

Thanks indy. I have read many times about Buffet's modest house, and having grown up in Akron, I can picture it.

Some of the events for the meeting are at the Furniture Mart and Gorats, so I'll bet there will be buses or some way to get us all around. They probably don't want every person with a car. One other question, is public transportation ? I often find that is the most expedient way to get around, i.e. from Sheraton to Quest or out to the other places.

Thanks for all the helpful info.

I've taken the buses several times. They mostly run a main corridor in and out of downtown going east and west. This could work for getting out west to the 'Braskie Furniture Mart and Gorat's. There is a circulator downtown but it only runs weekdays. You can check them out here.

www.metroareatransit.com

Thanks indy. Will look into all of this and if anyone is interested, will post a report on the annual meeting - logistics and otherwise.

Indy, you are not even close on some of your directions. Sheraton is at 16th and Howard near the Old Market - which is about a half mile south of the Qwest Center.
The only things I know of for the Berkshire that happen AT the Qwest center are the meeting, and while the meeting is going on, most of the companies Berkshire owns have sales exhibits going on at the same time in the exhibition hall connected to the Qwest Center. People mingle back and forth between the two from when the meeting starts (7:30 a.m.) to when it officially ends - usually around 3:30.
The 'meeting' itself lasts 5 minutes, the other 7 hrs and 55 minutes are Q&A sessions with the audience - they set up about 20 podium microphones throughout the place - and anyone with an honest question can ask - and WEB and Charlie answer ALL of them.

Borsheim's is out in west omaha, 'about' 8 miles straight west on Dodge St., just south of the Westroads Mall, in Regency Parkway, about 100th and Dodge, just before you hit I-680. Dodge is the main east-west street in Omaha.
Street system in Omaha starts basically with 4th street which is the Missouri River, and progresses west. 12 block increments equal one mile, so from 16th street to about 100th is really about 7 miles.

Neb. Furn. Mart is on 72nd street about 3/4 of a mile south of Dodge. You can't miss it - it's the biggest furn. store in the USA now, I think.

Gorat's is on about 49th and Center, and Center is another E-W main street about 2 miles south of Dodge. Connect to Center via 72nd street, or 42nd street, most other streets don't connect south from Dodge to Center until you get past 72nd.

I know all this because I live here, and I have been going to these meetings for 12 years, although I have been skipping the 'meeting' part because it's always the SOS every time, where different people ask the SAME questions every year, and WEB and Charlie give the SAME answers every time.
Don't get me wrong - it's really neat - the first few times, then it becomes old hat.

You will want to rent a car, and book your room - well in advance.

P.S.

Berkshire also runs shuttles between the meeting, NFM, Borsheim's, and 4 or 5 of the larger hotels here, it is all written in a booklet you will receive when you get your passes to the meeting.
If you can reserve a car with an option to cancel, consider that. You may not be able to get a car if you want one but don't have one reserved.

Thanks a lot microdol. This will be my first meeting so I will probably go to most of it but can see where it would get old. Appreciate the directions.

Anyone coming for 2007 ?

I would really recommend having a car in Omaha. Our taxi cabs are very inadequate and our public transit is limited.

NFM is impressive. It is like the "Disney World" of furniture. The zoo is amazing and well worth seeing.

Gorat's is terrible. We took some out of town guests there because if it was Warren's favorite," it had to be good". Wrong! The steak tasted like it was fried in a pan. In a city known for steaks, I still cannot figure this one out. I have noticed there are a few places around here with that fried steak taste (like the old Pink Poodle in Iowa). Some folks just love that taste. I like a grilled steak. The Drover is my favorite, now there's an Omaha steak! It is off of 72nd and Mercy, north of 72nd and Dodge.

Bella, you are nuts. Gorat's has some of the best aged beef in the midwest. My father-in-law is a cattleman, and he swears by the place. It's the only place he'll take us to eat when we are in town. I've eaten there a few dozen times, and not once was the meal not perfect.

Maybe they hit Gorat's when the tarot cards were not reading right...

Anyone coming to Omaha expecting to hit Angie's or Mr. C's need to make other plans, both are closed. Something else opened in Angie's location, but I have not been there yet.

Mr. C's is closed...why? I grew up in Omaha and remember Mr. C's as an institution.

It was, when did you leave Omaha ?

Everything has moved out west.
Omaha annexed Elkhorn.

If you remember streets, think this:
Harrison street to the south, State street to the north, now think of almost solid houses between the two. all the way out to 204th (Elkhorn).

What you remember as 72nd street from Dodge to Pacific as being 'hopping', now think of Center street from 168th to 185th or so - that's the new big area.

And we have a new Mall on 168th and Dodge (Village Pointe Mall).
And Dodge street has a viaduct built over it that goes from I-80 west to about Burke High School.

It's changed.

Here's a citycam:

http://gray.ftp.clickability.com/wowtwebftp/index.html

Anyway, Mr. C's - people just don't go to that part of the town anymore, we have lost a lot of steakhouses, Ross's has been gone for years.
It seems people would rather go to the 'Outback' or several places like that which have opened up out west.

Maybe I did hit Gorats at a bad time. It was so bad that I cannot justify trying it again. No one at our party would give it more that a C- and this included folks from different states. The cut was good, the preparation was not, it had that "fried" taste, again, just like the "pink Poodle" there are people who loved that place too.

I thought Mr. Cs is open until June. This is an experience not to be missed. It is the campiest place to eat on earth (well, it is behind Casa Bonita in Denver, so 2nd campiest). The reason why it is closing? These folks are old! They are in their 80s! It is time they took a breather!

It is such a shame to me that people go to chains when there is such great local cuisine.

No, Mr. C's closed because they were not doing the business they used to do.

IMO this leaves Piccollo Pete's as about the best in this town, as far as I am concerned.

What's strange is soo many people say Austin's is the best steak in this town, and they are/were a chain. I guess it doesn't matter if you are a chain or not, as long as the food is good.
By the same token, Fleming's is supposed to be great, but I have yet to find a person that RREEAALLYY liked it/thought it was worth the price.