Mini Trek Con

Also see Mini Con.

Convention
Name:	Mini Trek Con
Dates:	1975 to at least 1978
Frequency:	once, sometimes twice a year
Location:	Hotel McAlpin, Taft Hotel, Commodore Hotel
Type:	fan-run, celebrity guests
Focus:	Star Trek: TOS
Organization:
Founder:
Founding Date:
URL:
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Mini Trek Con was a series of one-day Star Trek cons held in New York City.

Sometimes there was one con a year, and sometimes two cons.

At the time of the 1975 con, Len Katz (con chair), was thirteen years old.

Previous Incarnations

This con appears to have been inspired by a series of cons at Hotel McAlpin that started in 1972: In 1971, Deck 6 #15 had this announcement about this possible inspiration: "Elyse Pines and Al Schuster have announced a Star Trekcon.... It'll be 21-23 Jan. 1972 at the McAlpin Hotel in New York City."

1975

Mini Trek Con 1 was held November 23, 1975 (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.) at Hotel McAlpin. There were 800 attendees.

• chairman: Len Katz
• co-chairman: Jonathan Gleich
• convention coordinator: Elliot Coral
• special projects director: Peter Yaspan
• projectionists: Ray Moran and Loyd Flyer
• security: Brian Shapiro, Jon Estren, John Vanable, Gary Werman, Richard McEnroe, Howard Kuston, Conn M. Quinn, Mark Ladolcetta, Sheldon Ranz, Jerry Cocchiola
• special thanks to: John Townsley, Germaine Best, Joan Winston, Elise Rosenstein
• "but we'd like to give our greatest thanks to Devra Langsam & Elise Rosenstein for thinking up the Star Trek convention in the first place and the rest of the convention committee for making a idea a reality. They deserve the most credit of all..."
• there was a dealer's room: some clubs and dealers there were the Star Trek Welcommittee, STAR-NY, and Nova Enterprises
• A fan in A Piece of the Action #34 (January 1976) wrote that George Takei was a very popular guest due to his sense of fun, his sense of humor, his patience, and his infectious laugh.

• 

  this one has been signed by George Takei

• 

  inside front cover

1975: Con Report

[There was] a small auction in which co-Pres Joanne Bennett won a poster of Shatner's film DEVIL'S RAIN, the Second season blooper, and four episodes — "Friday's Child", "The Changeling", "By Any Other Name", and "Omega Glory", and special guest, George Takei who spent many hours speaking and signing autographs. Our greatest praise goes to this Mini-Con. It was friendly, orderly, relaxed, small and intimate. It was altogether well-handled, despite the relatively young age and presumable inexperience of Mr. Katz. The con lacked the constant kvetching of "helpers" and included the presence of people selling lunch and sodas (diet yet!) at reasonable prices. The scheduling did not seem to be as conflicting as at the large cons. It was a pleasure to listen to a guest like Mr. Takei from the fourth row, to tape him without noise, to talk to him on a one-to-one basis, to get an autograph (or more than one!), to take flash pictures. We have very few complaints about this con. The few we do have were the fault of the hotel (no checkroom for coats) or the lack of finances by the con people (We would have liked a longer blooper and the presence of the Andromeda Light Show). All in all, we found this Mini-Con a delight and look forward to next years with pleasure!!

A mini ST convention was held at the Hotel McAlpin -- a friendly little con, I am not sure of the exact number of people there, but someone said around 600. George Takei was the Guest of Honor patient and friendly as always, speaking and autographing endlessly for the fen. I am constantly impressed with the good humor of Mr. Takei at a convention—always time for just one more autograph and that wonderful laugh of his ringing out. Any con that has Mr. Takei for a guest, is a fun one! There were a goodly number of STWer present, Allyson Whitfield ran the STW table, ably assisted by her sister Jamie. A well-stocked Dealer's Room did a rushing business, movies and other goodies were in an adjoining room, and Mr. Takei had an auction of ST items in still another. It ran from 10 AM to 6 PM and there was a wonderful feeling of friendly good-humor ail around. Mini-cons, I believe, will be the events of the future--salted in between the big, noisy, crowded ones. I personally prefer the small ones! You can meet friends, see everything you want to, have fun! Everyone seems to go home happy and relaxed and looking forward to next time.

STW members present: Nora Bock, James Burns, Linda Cappel, Barbara Iwanski, Shirley Maiewski, Jeff Maynard, Gee Moaven, Risa Rosenberg, Virginia Walker, Allyson Whitfield.

1976

There appear to be two this year.

1976: Spring

Mini Trek Con 2 was held in May 9, 1976 at the Commodore Hotel. Tickets were $2.50. The con was from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm. James Doohan was the guest of honor.

a detail from a photo embedded in the article A Trekker's Con-Fessions, an essay by Roberta Rogow, likely taken at the May 1976 con

It appears to have been originally planned for May 23, 1976 at the Hotel McApin from 10:00 am-7:00 pm.

1976: Spring: Con Reports

Hosted by Len Katz, the originator of Mini-Cons, it was very popular with the fans. Jimmy Doohan is the guest of honor, and was very well received, I was busy helping Johnathan Gleich in the film room as a projectionist (don't look for my name on the program sheet: I'm not their [sic].

I was "drafted" as I waited on line to redeem my ticket) and did not get to see much of the convention, but those with whom I had the opportunity to speak enjoyed it immensely We are sad to say that due to the fact that it was Mothers day, the convention lost money. But we are very happy to announce there are plans are currently underway for a third Mini-Trek Con in November of this year. We'll keep you posted!

Mini-Trek II was held in the Commodore Hotel, N.Y.C. on May 9th, (Mother's day) . It was run by a guy called Len Katz.

The con was OK for a mini-trek, but the organization wasn't that great. There was a group hired to do security called, "The Amazons," an all-girl security force, run with the aid of a few minor male persons. They were OK, considering that they didn't know the hotel, and that a lot of their people backed out at the last minute, sick (Remember the flu?) and they had to use substitutes. Patia von Sternberg ran the artshow, which was very small, but what can you expect from a one-day con? Jimmy Doohan was the guest star, and did really great talks, and of course the audience had him sing in Welsh, and do his different accents. It appeared that many of the people there were attending their first con. There was a large dealers room, and some ST shows, and of course the blooper, all in all not bad, but they did have money problems.

Joanne and Jill, editors of Star Trek Prospers

Despite a large crowd and a long wait in line (which could not be helped due to a large hotel mix-up), we all enjoyed our adventures there. They included several visits to a large and plentiful dealers room, (Did you know there are not ST beach towels available???), a film room, where we viewed the notorious blooper film (backwards as well as forward!!), and several panels and speeches by special guest, James Doohan. We taped 90 minutes of Mr. Doohan (for sale from us), took many photos (also available to our members), and got autographs. Mr. Doohan seemed especially eager to meet his fans and offered to pose for photos with which Joanne took advantage of. We hope to photocopy that photos so you all may see it.

The first question asked of him was about the ST movie and he told us there were two scripts and a decision will be made in 3-6 weeks which will be The One. Jim wants to keep his beard for the movie and suggests we all write to Gene Roddenberry to support him. Jim believes the movie may be out by Christmas or February. Filming will probably start in September. Construction of the sets has already begun. STP member Jim Burns interviewed Jim and extracted some interesting, and never before heard, answers and comments from him. Jim Burns and member George Wells also took part in a a Star Trek-science fiction panel. In fact, Jim introduced George as the one who introduced him to SF. There was also an interesting panel which dealt with ST costume calls and the kind of costumes that generally win. Helpful tips on costume and make-up were also given. Two ST episodes were shown - "This Side of Paradise" and "That Which Survives." After the con, George, Jim Burns, Joanne and I had a Chinese dinner and discussed Trekkish matters. A lovely experience!

1976: Fall

Mini Trek Con 2 was held in October or November (probably November) 1976 at the Taft Hotel.

1976: Fall: Con Reports

[In] 1976, there was a small convention up in New York City held at the Taft Hotel, I think it may have been October or November, and it was right after Leslie Fish's story" Shelter" came out, one of the very earliest K/S stories. In the story, Leslie described Spock's genitalia very specifically, likening them to anthuriums. Having no idea what anthuriums looked like, I went to the Flower Shop at the hospital where I was working to ask to see one. When the gal brought one out for me, I had all I could do to stifle my laughter! They are an obscene bloom! I decided then and there to buy one for each of us to wear at the con. The clerk was rather dubious when I ordered something like 6 anthuriums, and nothing else! So we went to the con, innocently wearing an obscene flower pinned to our chest, and garnered a ton of laughs from the other fen there who knew what they represented.

1977

Mini Trek Con 3 was held May 15, 1977 at the Taft Hotel. George Takei and Howard Weinstein were the Guest of Honors.

This is one of the places the Trekkie Opinion Poll was distributed.

Con staff members were:

• Len Katz (chairman)
• Conn Quinn (publicity)
• Jerry Beck, Jonathan Gleich, David Sternberg (projectionists)
• Sheldon Ranz, Fernando Valdez, River Doldjan, Brian Shapiro, George Papadopulos, Joseph LaGraca (security)

• 

  front and back cover of the program book for the May 1977 con, from the program book "Mini Trek Con Program Book is published semi-annually by Len Katz"

• 

  scheduling for May 1977

1977: Con Reports

[We] trekked into NYC for Mini Trek Con III at the Taft Hotel. The hours were 10 am to 10:30 pm officially according to releases, but actually the con closed at 8 pm. The guests (both excellent) were George Takei and Howard Weinstein, author of the animated episode "Pirates of Orion." I personally found the con disappointing compared to the other two earlier Mini Cons. The hotel facilities were not large enough for the crowd, and the crowd itself too large for a mini con, and the technical problems abounded. But the con did have its enjoyable parts...

Mini Trek Con III was held at the Taft Hotel in New York City,on May 15th. The guest of honor was George Takei, and also present was Howard Weinstien, author of the animated episode "Pirates of Orion". While answering questions Geogre Takei announced that he would be writing a book about his experiences with Star Trek. He also gave the latest news of the movie, which since has been cancelled. The con also feature films, a blooper reel, and autograph sessions.

This con, unlike it's predecessor. Minicon II, was not run very well. A projector broke down, closing down one film room. George Takei was more than an hour late,and things then fell only further behind schedule. The hotel itself was run down, and was on two different levels, making it all the more confused. I would not be surprised if Minicon kept a trend going— every hotel it has been St has thereafter closed down. The Taft, judging by the condition of the dealer's room (in the basement), should follow suit.

Despite the disorganization, it was possible, like at most cons to have fun. George Takei is always a brilliant speakers, and you can never take away from uncut Star Trek episodes. Still, I was disappointed. Minicon II was far better.

We then trekked off to the Mini-Con III, on May 15, 1977 in New York City. It was truly a great feeling to see so many people from so many states and countries take such an interest in the outcome of Star Trek (and so much that they decided to fill out two or three polls... but don't worry, due to a few lessons from Sherlock Bones we were able to keep track of them). It was also amazing how many people would look us straight in the eye, as if were the producers (hmm, not a bad idea there...) and tell us how we'd better do it.

This Mini-Con is where we ran into, or rather where Howard Weinstein ran into us. As he was passing through the dealer's room, he eventually got to our table, and quite aware of his identity, we handed him a poll. He stopped and filled it out , and then asked me, "May I sign it?", and of course, we said "of course."

On Sunday Hay 15th, Len Katz hosted a Mini Con at the New York Taft Hotel. The convention's special guest...you've guessed it...GEORGE TAKEI.

Like most mini conventions, activities were on a smaller scale. However, this convention was able to provide a well stocked dealers room, a good selection of films, two guest appearances and autograph sessions by George.

In addition to Star Trek, conventioneers were able to gorge themselves at New York's annual festival. The Big Apple s Ninth avenue was transformed into a pedestrians mall and lined with concession stands, which provided a wide range of ethnic delicacies. Kathy, Karen and I decided to give the festival a try. let me tell you, the crepes and connella were terrific!

The highlight of our day was spending some time with George. We were really lucky to catch up with him. If you've never had the opportunity to chat with George, you've certainly missed an exciting experience. He is such an interesting conversationalist. Topics ranged from the Emmy Awards and astrology to Ozzie and Harriet.

All in all, the convention and festival were very enjoyable and spending some time with George made our day delightful!

1977 or 1978

Mini Trek Con 4

1978

Mini Trek Con 5 was held November 18, 1978 at the Taft Hotel.

badge from this con in 1978