Tag: books

Comic-Con at San Diego public libraries!

Do you live in San Diego, but can’t make it downtown for Comic-Con this week? Why not celebrate Comic-Con 2024 at your local library!

Walking through San Diego’s Central Library yesterday, I saw a display of graphic novels. When I checked out the library’s website, I discovered that all sorts of creative activities can be enjoyed at many San Diego branch libraries that correspond with the phenomenon that is Comic-Con!

Many of these events are coming up in a day or two, so make sure to check out the website right away by clicking here.

At the Point Loma/Hervey Library, there’s Your Life as a Graphic Novel Memoir: Take-Home Art Journaling Kits.

At the College-Rolando Library, there’s Mini Comic-Con (adapted for adults with ASD).

At Oak Park Library, there’s Anime Club for Young Adults.

Sketch Night: Comic Con Edition is a virtual event on Zoom, by the San Diego County Parks and Recreation Department in conjunction with staff from SDPL.

At the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Library, there’s Super Hero Workshop with ClicBitz San Diego.

At the Rancho Bernardo Library, there’s Kids Craft: Paper Superheroes.

At the Clairemont Library, there’s Superhero Preschool Storytime at the Library.

And, finally, at Pacific Beach Library, there’s Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever.

Click here to learn all the details!

And by the way, the Central Library will have their 4th floor IDEA Lab open during Comic-Con, where cosplayers can make repairs to their costumes. There will also be comic-theme makes and photo ops according to this sign that I spotted nearby!

There’s more! If you’d like to score a cool collectible, come down to the Central Library to get your 2024 Commemorative Comic-Con Library Card! It was designed by John Jennings, author, graphic novelist, New York Times Bestseller and 2018 Eisner Winner!

During Comic-Con, you can also obtain this year’s commemorative library card at the San Diego Public Library’s booth in the San Diego Convention Center. They’ll be at Booth 5523!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

You can help restore beautiful HMS Surprise!

Weather and the elements are damaging to any ship. That’s especially true when the ship is made of wood.

If you’ve been by the Maritime Museum of San Diego lately, you’ve probably seen how one side of their tall ship HMS Surprise is being repaired. The starboard side, which for many years faced south toward the harsh sun, had seriously deteriorated.

Fortunately, the world-famous Maritime Museum of San Diego has the expertise required to undertake complicated projects such as this, as shown by the beautiful deck restoration of HMS Surprise. But funds are also required, which can be a challenge for any nonprofit organization.

Would you like to help?

Perhaps you love the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, which starred Russell Crowe and beautiful HMS Surprise. As I did a little research this morning, I noticed that author Michael Eging, who also loves the critically acclaimed movie and the Patrick O’Brian novels it’s based on, has created a GoFundMe fundraiser for the restoration of HMS Surprise. A fair amount of money has already been raised, but there’s more to go.

To learn about this effort, and perhaps make a contribution, click here!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Beautiful new mural at Lemon Grove Library!

This very beautiful new mural was painted in April near the main entrance to the Lemon Grove Library. It’s titled Today for Tomorrow.

Positive messages conveyed by the mural include a love for family, the natural environment and reading. The extraordinary mural is the product of a partnership between the ArtReach Mural Program and the Lemon Grove Public Library. The lead mural artist was Mexican-American artist and designer Josué Baltézar.

A handout available inside the library explains: The ArtReach Mural Program Team led over 50 community members in design ideation and painting through out design-input workshops and Community Paint Day…This piece highlights the library as an uplifting and beautiful community space, welcoming and accepting of all people. Books are featured predominantly to mark the importance of learning, reading, curiosity, and imagination. The focal point of the lemon tree represents the community of Lemon Grove while also signifying growth and new beginnings. The figures placed in the books show that we all have our own stories to tell and create while also touching on family resilience, hope, kindness, caregiving and neighborhood unity…

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Giant books rise above Escondido sidewalk!

Seven positively enormous books stand along a sidewalk in Escondido as if they were filed on a library shelf. All concern the history of Escondido and nearby places.

It you’d like to have a look at these giant books, head to the corner of Kalmia Street and Grand Avenue!

These books, as you can see, are realistically painted in a big mural. The fun artwork was created earlier this year by local artist Zane Kingcade, whose murals can be found all over Escondido.

The titles of these books (which actually exist–and will fit in your hand) are: Yesterday in Escondido, Grape Day Festival 1908-1950, The History of the Hotel Charlotta, San Pasqual A Crack in the Hills, The Royal Highway, Palomar From Teepee to Telescope, and Early Escondido.

If you’re interested in reading any of these books, simply google the title.

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Blue Door Bookstore exhibit at Central Library.

Readers who fondly remember the old Blue Door Bookstore in Hillcrest will enjoy viewing a new exhibit at the San Diego Central Library.

Several glass display cases contain photographs, store flyers, art, a newspaper clipping . . . even one of the bookstore’s bags with its image of an ugly, scrunched-up face!

The Blue Door Bookstore once stood in the heart of Hillcrest at 3823 Fifth Avenue. Founded in 1961 and first owned an operated by Bill and Mary Peccolo, the store was purchased in 1988 by retired high school English teach Tom Stoup. Working hard, he grew the business, doubling its clientele and inventory in just four years.

The Blue Door Bookstore would become a favorite destination in San Diego for lovers of literature, culture and progressive politics. It would host up to 80 authors a year at a series of Wednesday and Friday poetry and literature readings and book signings. New authors were included with those who had achieved international fame. In one of my photographs, you can see Tom Stoup standing next to Gore Vidal.

The store with its blue door would finally close in 2001, largely due to the advent of e-commerce.

The Blue Door Bookstore exhibit can be viewed on the San Diego Central Library’s First Floor, in the wide area in front of the building elevators.

Are you both a San Diego resident and lover of books? To one side of these display cases you’ll find shelves of books by local authors!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Fine stamp collection displayed at Central Library.

Postage stamps from the award-winning Helen Cushman Philatelic Collection are now being exhibited at the San Diego Central Library. Several large display cases inside the Special Collections Center contain dozens of colorful stamps that should interest art lovers and philatelists alike.

As one sign explains, Helen Cushman, a prominent civic activist in San Diego, participated in many regional and national competitions that showcased her Topical stamp collections. Her 1974 book entitled “San Diego Vacation” won the top prize at the national SOJEX Stamp Exposition. The book illustrated the best of San Diego using postage stamps to illustrate why San Diego is a great place to visit.

Peering into the display cases, I noticed postage stamps of different shapes and sizes from many nations. Her collection, in fact, spans 234 countries and over 160 years of production. Many of the stamps she collected commemorate events and/or people of historical significance, capturing a glimpse in time.

I fondly remember collecting stamps when I was very young. I would carefully tear away the corners of received mail, soak the stamps in a sink to separate them from the envelope, dry the stamps on a towel, then use a licked hinge to attach my new finds to the correct pages of a big stamp album. That was long ago. I’m not sure what became of my album. Sold at a swap meet, perhaps. It’s fun to imagine that those stamps I gathered might now be in the collection of another young person!

If you’ve never visited the San Diego Central Library’s rooftop Ninth Floor, you really should. There are beautiful views of the city, an art gallery, and the Marilyn & Gene Marx Special Collections Center, where you’ll find not only these stamps, but a museum-like collection of research materials, fine art and rare books!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Fantastic 3D art inside San Ysidro Library!

Are those holograms? No! The archway just inside the San Ysidro Library’s front door features a cool 3D effect produced by its two lenticular print columns.

This amazing public art, titled Pasaje, debuted in 2019 when the new branch library opened. The artists are brothers Jamex de la Torre and Einar de la Torre.

The San Diego Civic Art Collection website explains: The interior artwork, Pasaje, consists of an archway which serves as both a literal and symbolic entrance to the library. The columns of the archway are wrapped with colorful, illuminated lenticular prints drawing on themes related to San Ysidro, architecture, and the library as a source of knowledge. These densely layered and highly dynamic lenticular images produce the illusion of depth and change when viewed from different angles. Sitting atop the columns is a cantera stone lintel inspired by both Spanish colonial and Mesoamerican architectural motifs.

The San Ysidro Library website further explains: The arch columns feature back-lit lenticular transparencies that exhibit two images in flip format, one showing historical pictures of San Ysidro and the other showing a plethora of images that symbolize curious illustrations in the exploration of books.

Your own eyes have to experience this fantastic optical art!

I found it hard to take good, focused photographs, because the seemingly layered images fade in and out with every slight movement the camera makes. (If you’ve ridden the main elevator at the San Diego Central Library, you’ve probably marveled at similar lenticular artwork by the same artists!)

Hopefully these photos entice you to visit the library in person!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Story Strolls outside San Diego public libraries!

How does one combine short outdoor walks with story time at a San Diego public library? Story Strolls!

During my visit to the San Ysidro Library last month, I observed one of these Story Strolls along walkways near the building entrance. Words and illustrations from children’s books are printed on signs, to be viewed by walkers in sequence, as if pages are being turned. It’s such a cool concept that I took these photos.

According to the City of San Diego website, eight branch libraries have featured such strolls. Most are in English. This one in San Ysidro is in Spanish. By scanning QR codes with your phone, you can also hear the story read aloud.

All of the library Story Strolls have a nature theme and debuted in June.

(If these signs appear a little dirty, we’d recently had some rain.)

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Author faces behind La Jolla Warwick’s bookstore.

Do you recognize some of these faces? They belong to authors who’ve participated in events hosted by La Jolla’s legendary Warwick’s bookstore. Some of the authors are very famous!

During my latest La Jolla walk, I noticed this collection of many faces printed on canvas in the alley directly behind Warwick’s. Upon doing some Googling, I noticed there was an article in 2021 concerning the mural. The twenty author illustrations were created by local artist Lori Mitchell.

Read the article here.

I increased the contrast of these photos because the artwork appears to be a bit sun-faded.

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

The awesome TwainFest coming this weekend!

A very cool family-friendly event is coming to San Diego this weekend!

TwainFest is returning to Heritage County Park on Saturday, August 19th. The fun, educational event will take place between 11:00 am to 5:00 pm among beautifully restored Victorian houses at the edge of Old Town. Learn more about TwainFest and register for the free event by clicking here!

I’ve blogged about past TwainFests many times. There’s so much to enjoy! You’ll watch actors portraying 19th century authors and the classic characters they created.

You’ll likely meet Tom Sawyer, characters from Alice in Wonderland, Captain Hook and Peter Pan, Don Quixote and others playing their roles in beloved books. If past events are any indication, you’ll see big Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson puppets, listen to readings, play literary games, contribute your own words to an infinite story, and get a free book, too!

Anyone out there with kids or a personal love of books should consider enjoying this awesome event! Learn more here!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!