Chateau Neuf du PEP
No one is able to claim credit for the ancient wooden sign that hangs on the porch of the old Positron Electron Project buildings at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.
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The sign, proclaiming the area “Chateau Neuf du PEP,” is a play on the wine they used to drink there. Châteauneuf du Pape is a wine appellation in southern France, named for Pope John XXII's 14th century summer “new home.”
“Those were quite different days,” says Perry Wilson, a senior scientist on PEP at the time. During the '70s, when the sign went up, PEP collaborators would gather every Friday for refreshments, music, and dancing. Wilson played the gutbucket, a homemade bass. Châteauneuf du Pape, a thick, powerful red wine, was a favorite libation.
Perhaps all that wine addled their memories. Regarding the sign, Wilson points a finger at Francophile John Rees. But Rees, who was director of PEP, denies responsibility. Phil Morton, who was part of PEP's design team, said, “It sounds like something I might have done. I'd like to take credit for it but, I just don't know.”
The wine no longer flows, but the well-weathered sign remains, an anonymous monument to the tastes and humor of the old PEP gang.
Amber Dance
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