  In the context of the luminosity calibration of the nearer stars I discuss
the Hipparcos results on distances to nearby OB associations and open clusters.
The shortcomings and assumptions in the analyses used to derive these results
are pointed out and for the open clusters a comparison is made with results
obtained from main sequence fitting. I conclude that given the considerable
uncertainties in the latter technique there is no convincing evidence that the
Hipparcos based distances to open clusters beyond the Hyades should not be
trusted.
