VFYW: Say Hy! To An Easy One

For contest #440, we find ourselves in a very fun city.

(For the View From Your Window contest, the results below exceed the content limit for Substack’s email service, so to ensure that you see the full results, click the headline above.)

From the winner of last week’s contest:

Awesome! I will take the two-year subscription. Thank you!

A followup from a previous winner:

Alas, my streak ended last week. I searched the Big Bend area high and low, but to no avail. Wonder how many folks found that view. Respect.

Thirty sleuths got to Terlingua last week, all of them previous winners. Another followup:

Fascinating outcome last week! Does it happen often that all the correct guessers are previous winners? It certainly makes the case for always submitting some kind of guess and praying to the proximity gods, if necessary.

It doesn’t happen often at all! I can’t remember the last time. From the wine geek in San Francisco:

I am kicking myself for not trying a little harder on last week’s contest. I got to Terlingua within about 1000 meters or so of the window and then stopped. What was it Gretzky said? You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Yeah, I think I need to shoot my shot.

This sleuth didn’t shoot either:

First, let me vent. It’s been a busy couple weeks — hosting a big university event that preoccupied me, so I didn’t get time to read the last couple of Dishes until this morning. My girlfriend and I sat down to read through the VFYW post for last week’s contest, and immediately before we started scrolling, I said to her, “Dang, that’s Terlingua.” I’m kicking myself for not being more diligent in my reading, because we probably would have won!

This past summer, we stayed at the Paisano Village RV Park & Inn during a roadtrip across West Texas and southern New Mexico (yeah, it was stupidly hot). We woke up each morning to the same vista as the one from the contest. I highly recommend the Paisano Village for anyone visiting Big Bend. We rented one of the few rooms (plenty of RV hookups though), and it was perfect for getting in and out of the park.

Here’s the mixologist in Austin, who took the photo for last week’s contest — as well as this week’s:

Wow. Two weeks in a row. Not that I’m complaining. The write-up for Terlingua was fantastic and I learned a lot. We wanted to go to Boquillas and the hot springs but didn’t have time. I also loved the AI-generated podcast, and I’ve been playing around with NotebookLM all week. It’s a cool tool and completely free.

I also loved all the info on the chili cook-offs. Speaking of Wick Fowler, I’ve hung out a few times with his son — the renowned Texas artist Gordon Fowler. He’s married to Marcia Ball, a well-known Texas blues singer and piano player, and our good friend Don was her bass player for 50 years and just retired during Covid. We hung out with Gordon and Marcia at some parties at Don’s house, and Gordon even brought chili to a potluck. It was the best chili I’d ever tasted, and I didn’t even know he was related to Wick Fowler until my wife pointed it out after I mentioned how good the chili was. I’m guessing it was the family recipe.

From the super-sleuth in San Mateo:

Missing last week became even more painful when I read that Terlingua — the place I had been scouring — was indeed the home of the VFYW. I looked unsuccessfully for the tabletop mountain that the super-sleuth in Ridgewood found, and I even looked at the Chisos Mining Company Motel — but never came across the Santa Fe Suite. Mmmrff.

Oh well, onto #440.

The first sleuth for #440:

Ok Chris, I know this contest should be an “easier” one, given that distinctive gray building that looks like stacked ice-cube trays, plus the hotel marquee dead center. But if I never see another photo of Hyatt signage in my life, it will be too soon.

So, basta! I’m just gonna guess Jacksonville, FL and leave it at that. See you at the top of the write-up, I suspect. So frustrating!

Here’s a closer look at that Hyatt signage — and some damage from Hurricane Katrina:

From our Burner super-sleuth in Seattle:

At first glance I thought it was the Park 55 hotel in San Francisco. Very quickly eliminated. 

From the super-sleuth in Yakima:

I did not know that yellow houses with black shutters were a thing. Looks like the number of black shutters on this particular house in our view has varied over time, but other than that minor glitch, you were right that this week’s view is easier than the view from Terlingua.

Another writes, “I have unfortunately had to park in this outrageously priced lot several times.” Another names the right region:

At first I was sure this was somewhere in the Southeast because of the look of that old yellow building; it just looks like it’s from the South, can’t really say why. But also, those pink shrubs/trees look like either oleander or crape myrtles. Oleanders are more common in Mediterranean-type climates — so, California — but this picture couldn’t possibly be taken in California because many of the buildings in the photo are made of brick.

Having grown up on the West Coast, I always found brick buildings kind of exotic because you don’t really see them much out there. I never really knew why, until some friends were telling me of the time they were in San Francisco during the 1989 earthquake. After the quake was over, they drove around to see what the damage was. As they drove through the residential neighborhoods of Victorian houses — which were all perfectly fine — they noticed that many of them had a pile of bricks by their side. Those bricks were what remained of the brick chimneys, which just dissolved.

So, this is somewhere in the Southeast. Those are crape myrtles, not oleanders (and the leaves just poking into view midway on the left and right look an awful lot like sweetbay magnolias — another fixture of Southeast landscaping, like crape myrtles). So, where?

He went on to get the right building. So did this sleuth:

I first assumed it was Southern Cal, likely LA, because the Dodgers just won the World Series — which would have been fitting for your current-event theme.

If you had shaded out the “HYATT”, I never would have gotten it. But even with the Hyatt hint, I absolutely would have given up, since I did not want to spend the time looking at all the Hyatts in the South. It was the search “Hyatt with two buildings” that saved me. Then I used Google Earth Pro, which makes it pretty easy to find the window as long as you find the general location.

I forgot how fun it is to use GEP — hopefully I’ll remember it moving forward as an important locating tool.

Next up, a “first-time guess from a long-time reader” and her partner:

Initially this reminded us of Atlanta. The building on the right looked like The Whitney Hotel in Buckhead, but a short investigation revealed this was incorrect. The yellow brick building, street lights, and flowers demanded a guess in the American South. A deep dive of Hyatt locations got us nowhere, so we turned our attention to the “gy” on the building to the right.

They got to the right place. The other half of that team followed up:

Some background on Marie’s guess: we were driving in the early morning on a business trip and she asked me to read her something to keep her awake. She wasn’t familiar with the VFYW, so I read the Terlingua write-up. She was fascinated by the way super-sleuths were solving these puzzles. We laughed out loud a couple of times and were amazed all of the time. 

This evening, she signed up for a subscription to play this week’s contest — welcome to the Dish! A great way to spend a business dinner so far from home.

The “gy” was also a key clue for this sleuth:

I’m back to not feeling like a total fool! Some good hints this week allowed me to narrow this location down quickly. The American flag was a big clue. And the buildings in the foreground had a bit of a “Southern vibe” to them. But the best clue was the signage partially hidden at the top of the building on the left — “gy”.

The super-sleuth in Bend narrows down the region:

The car models tell us that this is the US or Canada. The warm-climate foliage tells us that this is not Canada. The masonry buildings tell us that this is not earthquake country. So my first guess was the Gulf Coast.

He went on to get the right city. Chini knows it:

Chini wrote recently:

Chris, on a personal note, you and Sully may have noticed I haven’t been my usual Chini-rific self with the contest the last few months. So first, apologies for not offering condolences to both you two on your losses a few months ago. I can’t imagine how rough it’s been, and I hope you and your families are coming through it ok.

Unfortunately, the reason I haven’t been around is somewhat related: my stepdad, who raised me, was diagnosed this summer with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Treatment failed, so he’s in hospice, and we’ll likely be losing him soon.

I’ll try and keep up with the contest (if only as a distraction), but it may be a while until I’m back up to steam. Thanks as ever for all the fun over the years; you guys are awesome.

Such a thoughtful and heartrending note. He followed up yesterday with a link to his stepdad’s obituary, which reads:

Buddy had a warm smile and was loved by all who knew him. He was a stoic, selfless man who would do anything for you and never ask for anything in return. He is fondly remembered and missed tremendously.

Sending VFYW love his way. Another sleuth exclaims, “This is only my second time to enter a view from your window contest!” — and he names the right city:

The first time I entered, it was fairly easy, since I had been in the building where the picture was taken a number of times (it was taken in Manhattan, KS, in the student union at Kansas State University, where I used to work).

This time, the building in the immediate foreground looks like the sort of architecture you would see in a Southern city. Plus, the plant on the left looks like a palm of some sort, and one of the buildings had a US flag at the top, so I was feeling pretty certain about the South. My likely list of cities included Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans.

There’s a Hyatt in the background, so I started by looking at the Hyatt in Charleston and it didn’t look the same. I decided that Savannah probably wouldn’t have the taller buildings around, so I focused on New Orleans — bingo.

The super-sleuth in Sydney also got there:

I always knew you’d follow a toughie with an easy one — in this case, the Big Easy. You went very easy, leaving the view of “Hyatt” in the distance, even though there seems to be at least seven Hyatts in the area.

The super-sleuth in Chicagoland writes:

Here’s a contest headline for you: “Say Hy to the Big Easy.” You’re welcome.

Another cheers:

Finally, a shot from my hometown! Home to Mardi Gras and Southern Decadence!

Mardi Gras on February 21, 2023. (Chandan KhannaAFP via Getty Images)

It’s weird, but people who are born and raised in New Orleans have a sixth sense when it comes to two things: identifying other New Orleanians and recognizing the architecture. In the background are three landmark buildings: the Hyatt Regency New Orleans (with a glass elevator that every kid has ridden on); the corporate headquarters for Entergy (which is the only Fortune 500 company based in New Orleans); and the Energy Centre (no relation).

Another writes, “This is the first time I have entered this contest with an actual address, which I find very exciting”:

I was able to get here through the following process:

1. Friends say to me, have you heard of this contest where you guess a location based on one picture?

2. I introduce them to the Dish and the VFYW, showing them this week’s pic (which is pleasingly solvable, with the Hyatt and American flag and all).

3. One friend thinks it looks like New Orleans.

4. Another friend identifies the hotel.

5. I submit the answer and get all the credit.

I call this a good system and fair all around. If they want credit, they’ll need to get the Dish!

Another sleuth teases all the great stuff below the paywall this week:

Thanks as always for your hard work keeping this contest going. (And thank you for posting one of my windows on the Dish last year; I meant to thank you sooner.) Like so many others, I can’t resist puzzling out these destinations each week. The hunt is always so absorbing, and the reveals are so enjoyable and enlightening. I wish I always had time to submit guesses. There will be a lot of successful submissions this week, adding to your overload, but there will also be a bumper crop of exceptional food, film, music, and drink suggestions — and some terrific stories.

Indeed, all of those came to fruition below. Just before I published the results today, I got an email from the sleuth who submitted the photo for contest #432 — another Hyatt!

Greetings! Hard to believe it’s been a year since I sent that photo you used in September, but here I am at the Oscar Mike ball again — at the same Hyatt Regency, staying in a room just two rooms away from my VFYW pic. I thought you might enjoy a picture from the ball itself.

These are special people. Oscar Mike has been around for over ten years and has not lost a single member to suicide (they count thousands now). It’s a testament to the power of getting outside of your own misery, having fun, and helping your fellow man. Thanks for allowing me to share a small part of it.

The Brookline super-sleuth names the right Hyatt for this week, and its address:

Wow, it feels like everything’s coming up Hyatt!