Dixon Hill's Reception Room

A cramped, dimly lit reception space at the threshold of Dixon Hill’s private office, layered in noir atmosphere and period detail. Venetian-blind light slices across a small desk where a sardonic secretary trades barbed banter and paper receipts; the room smells faintly of cigar smoke and old varnish. It functions as a tactile refuge for Picard’s detective persona—a low-stakes sanctuary for ritualized gestures (paying the tailor, stalling the landlord) that lets him savor control—until domestic intrusion ruptures the fantasy. The space flickers between playful escapism and escalating interpersonal pressure when Deanna and Lwaxana arrive, turning the reception’s intimacy into the stage for social contest and comic escalation within the holonovel.

2 events

2 rich involvements

Detailed Involvements

Events with rich location context

S2E19 · Manhunt

Noir Respite — Pay the Tailor, Stall the Landlord

Dixon Hill's reception room operates as a holodeck sanctuary where Picard slips into a noir persona; its period detail, desk, notepad, and drinks provide the tactile environment for ritualized escape, while its intimacy makes the eventual intrusion by Deanna and Mrs. Troi more jarring.

Atmosphere

Warmly noir, lightly comic, intimate — a deliberate contrast to the ship's formality; cozy refuge tinged with staged artifice.

Functional Role

Sanctuary and stage for Picard's private ritual; also the set-piece that allows immediate dramatic interruption.

Symbolic Significance

Represents psychological refuge and the fragile boundary between duty and personal coping mechanisms.

Access Restrictions

Holodeck program intended for Picard but physically accessible to visitors on the holodeck (no heavy security implied); effectively private until others enter.

Reception desk with a swivel chair and notepad Muted, period-evocative lighting and noir atmosphere Telephone on the desk producing clipped, performative calls A small tableau of tall, colorful drinks being sampled

S2E19 · Manhunt

Lwaxana Declares an 'Alternate Plan'

Dixon Hill's reception room (a Chandlerland holodeck locus) functions as Picard's short-lived sanctuary where ritual and identity are performed. The space's noir tropes (desk, notepad, swivel chair, colorful drinks) frame intimacy and comic role-play until Mrs. Troi's intrusion converts it into a public stage for familial power dynamics.

Atmosphere

Warmly nostalgic and playful at first, shifting abruptly toward awkwardly charged and performative when family confrontation enters.

Functional Role

Private refuge and ritual stage that becomes the site of a public social confrontation.

Symbolic Significance

Represents Picard's need for controlled fantasy and the fragility of private rituals under real-world social pressures.

Access Restrictions

Nominally a private holodeck recreation, but physically accessible to visitors who enter the program (no explicit restrictions in this event).

Dim, period-styled reception lighting and props evoking 1940s noir. Reception desk with notepad and corded phone as tactile anchors. A small array of tall, multi-colored drinks used as social props. Swivel chair motion and the spatial intimacy of the room making intrusions immediate and embarrassing.

Events at This Location

Everything that happens here

S2E19 · Manhunt

Noir Respite — Pay the Tailor, Stall the Landlord

Picard slips fully into the Dixon Hill holonovel, trading barbed banter with the program's sardonic secretary as a deliberate, tactile escape from his diplomatic strain. The secretary's jokey report—"the tailor" …

S2E19 · Manhunt

Lwaxana Declares an 'Alternate Plan'

Picard slips into the Dixon Hill fantasy just as a family complication intrudes: Lwaxana Troi appears, affronted that ‘ship’s business’ makes Picard unavailable. Her hurt flashes through petulant banter — …