Full-content feed for Ultimate Iphone Campout GuideUltimate 3GS iPhone Campout Guide: LA Century City
Following a formidable face-lift a few years back, the Westfield Century City shopping center has become a definitively modern, upscale, outdoor shopping experience. There's really no reason to ever leave the mall, which features a gourmet food court, restaurants such as Houston's and Gulfstream, a plethora of clean, free bathrooms, and a number of bars and lounges. But for campers awaiting the release of the 3GS iPhone tomorrow, here's a list of nearby Century City bathrooms, eateries, pubs, and free wifi.
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The Apple nerds are out in force, lining up to buy iPhones not just in major megalopoli, but even in the far suburbs and hinterlands. Line-sittah Greg Packer at NYC's 5th Avenue Apple Store is over-exposed in more ways than one. Instead, admire the fortitude of another G-man -- 
As part of our veritable pogrom of dead-horse beating known as the 
The Grove is a swanky new-ish outdoor mall at the busy intersection of 3rd and Fairfax that's always as packed as Disneyland and comes complete with a trolley in case you're too lazy to walk the quarter-mile from one end to the other. Its prime location next to the Farmer's Market means there's plenty to do within walking distance. You won't lack for food, drink, places to relieve yourself of both, and the odd sphere of free wifi.
If you can't make it to THE 
When deciding where you should do your iPhone campout, it would be quite the folly to discount the Beverly Center. First, all of the yuppies and the hipsters will be camping out at the Grove, meaning your odds of getting the phone are much better. Second, your main competition is likely to be a bunch of agency assistants who can be dispatched by writing "oxycontin" on a bottle and throwing it in the street. Third, Cedars Sinai Medical Center is next door, so you won't have to feel guilty trampling anybody as you make haste for the Jesus Phone.
Staten Island is famous for big hair, thick accents, and the Wu Tang Clan. The island is the only New York borough that isn't accessible via subway, and natives tend to classify themselves based on their proximity to two area landmarks: the dump and the Staten Island Mall. Due to the relatively suburban nature of Staten Island, the mall is a hub of social activity. It's also home to one of only three Apple Stores in New York City. The Staten Island Mall also offers you a second option to get your hands on the tiny touch screen status symbol at AT&T/Cingular Wireless. If you're wary of the crowds in Midtown and Soho, but don't feel like heading out of town, Staten Island could be an easier way to snag an iPhone with less hassle. To get the lowdown on area accommodations and attractions, I tracked down my friend, Shaolin resident, guitar master, and problem drinker D-Blaze.
The Third Street Promenade tends to attract legions of eccentric wanderers (read: homeless vets and mental patients), street performers, and sunstruck tourists, as much for its bustling beach location as for its constant buzz of shoppers and strollers. iPhone seekers camping here won't have any problem finding bathrooms, restaurants, lodging, booze, or wifi, but this guide will let you focus on the important stuff, like getting your hands on that sought-after gadget.
Pasadena's Apple Store sits in Old Town, a local epicenter of booze and food, nightlife, and women. Since most those things are either inordinately expensive or laughably beyond your geek fanboy abilities, we've sketched out some cheap and easy locations to get your campout on. Do remember that you're in Southern California, not Manhattan. The air is warm, the people are mostly kind, and the streets are relatively clean. After all, just because you're paying a $400 surcharge on a shitty iPod built into a 2004-era cellphone doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself.
Explain to your nerdcore friends that no, you aren't out in Ingleside to buy up the latest batch of Hello Kitty charms, but because, really, you'll be one up on those fools who chose to stake out the more obvious (or humane) Apple locations. Stonestown Galleria mall: Where you can sacrifice passable cuisine and bathrooms that don't involve keys on plastic buckets for the maybe-almost chance of getting your mitts some touchscreen action before the downtown-dependent softies beat you to it. Bring a flask and EVDO, because it's going to be a long night.
Pop quiz, hotshot: You're in downtown San Francisco at the edge of the Tenderloin, heart of crapping-in-the-street homeless guy territory, surrounded by soulless shopping and office buildings, camped out on a typical freezing cold SF summer day, and you need to eat, sleep, check your email, and release the bladder demons. What do you do? If you're a top-notch double-o-geek, you will have downloaded, linked, geocached, and tattooed on your forearm this handy survival guide to iPhone campery near the flagship Apple Store in downtown SF. "Mission Accomplished" banner, aircraft carrier, and nut-hugging flight suit are strictly optional.
If you're angling to get your mitts on the new iPhone, be prepared to slash through the southern epicenter of New York's warlike shopping empire. Yes, folks: This. Is. Soho. And like Sparta, it will maim, torture, and dehumanize the unprepared. The Apple Store on Prince Street is smack in the middle of one of the highest-volume mass-consumption arteries in all of Soho, which also places it high in the running among the biggest time-, money-, and soul-draining locations on the planet. Of course, we should expect the impending iPhone frenzy to further amplify the crush of bag-toting AmEx-wielding humanity in the surrounding streets. Markups are predictably high throughout the neighborhood (even the street vendors charge a Soho premium), so you can rest assured that a reasonable hotel room, meal, or drink is not the norm -- but not impossible either.
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