moin moin,
Like last year, I overheard many many comments about how great the location is. Most comments were about food options and having walkable areas, but many were also about the PCC venue itself.
I personally think the location is awesome. I made a personal trip to LA after SCaLE last year and intentionally stayed in Pasadena. My family loved it as well.
I can't compare options in other cities as I don't know the area.
I can say having a more open walkable area is great. It's definitely more family friendly.
Having lots of restaurant options was a refreshing change last year :).
I also like the PCC venue. We have better sizing options with the ballrooms. Having two buildings isn't much of a problem and is a significant improvement over two floors, narrow hallways and a single staircase.
The one big negative is that attendees are spread out to more hotels. It was great having most of us in one place with evening hallway track near the presentation rooms and in the hotel lobby and bar before Pasadena.
Last year I stayed at the Westin. The walk back and forth wasn't bad, but I enjoyed being onsite at the Sheraton this year. We had mini-hallway track at the Sheraton every night.
Having other local options does make it easy to interact with local friends who weren't at the conference. I met with a friend I haven't seen in many years and we had a great evening catching up. There's a pretty good chance he'll attend next year as he was impressed by the schedule :).
Thanks to everyone who worked to make SCaLE happen and especially those who had significant extra work due to the change of venue!
ciao,
der.hans