Tag: san diego library

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!

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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!

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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.)

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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)!

Get a collectible library card during Comic-Con!

There’s a cool free collectible in San Diego during Comic-Con 2023. Library cards featuring the Comic-Con logo beneath “Odi The Coyote: Defender of Books” will be available at all San Diego Public Library locations starting Thursday, July 20!

I asked a gentleman at the front desk of the Central Library if I could trade in my boring old library card from many years ago and get one of these collectible cards. Yes! While supplies last!

The Central Library, an easy walk from the San Diego Convention Center, also has a tiny exhibit near the main entrance during Comic-Con. Here’s one pic:

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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

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!

Beautiful bookplates at the Mission Hills library.

Do you love books?

Do you love the look, feel, and smell of words on paper, bound handsomely together for your own bookshelf?

I love to stumble upon dusty old books at a swap meet or rummage sale. Turn the pages and the author still speaks. The cover and interior artwork can be fantastic. One might find interesting notes or thoughts scribbled by past readers. And, if you’re lucky, there will be a beautiful bookplate inside.

What’s a bookplate? It’s a label readers affix inside their books to indicate ownership. They can also be used for book signings by authors.

The Mission Hills-Hillcrest/Harley & Bessie Knox Library currently has a display case full of handsome bookplates near its front entrance. They come from the San Diego Public Library’s Special Collections.

Here are a few examples:

The Mission Hills-Hillcrest Branch Library opened in 2019. Its grand opening was preceeded by one of the most wonderful events I’ve experienced in San Diego: the epic Book Pass!

Hundreds of neighbors transported hundreds of books from the old branch library to the newly built library. Every book passed from hand to hand about a mile down Washington Street. I took photographs of that incredible event, which you can see here!

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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!

Is this an idealistic, utopian home?

A unique trailer towed by bicycle is now on display near the front counter of the San Diego Central Library. It’s called Migration Home 1 (MH-1).

According to its description, this tiny “mobile home” that doubles as a rowboat was crafted with repurposed materials, and designed with a mixture of realism and idealism.

The artist, Aaron Glasson, seems to envision a bleak future where humans can’t rely on technological progress to solve problems, but must live a more primitive existence.

Can a vehicle such as this carry an idealist toward utopia?

The statement concludes: By believing in the value of solution-based thinking, artmaking, and utopian idealism we can help guide the future in a more positive direction.

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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!

Help expand knowledge in San Diego!

Are you passionate about expanding and spreading human knowledge? Have you ever wondered how information is gathered and presented on Wikipedia?

I met James today in Balboa Park. He was telling passersby about the San Diego Wikimedians User Group. I personally use Wikipedia to help research the things I photograph. As you might expect, I asked him all sorts of questions!

James was encouraging everybody to become a contributor to Wikipedia’s vast and growing base of knowledge. Are you an expert when it comes to any particular subject? Have you noticed omissions or inaccuracies in certain articles? Become an editor on Wikipedia. It’s easy!

The mission of the San Diego Wikimedians User Group is not only to promote the wiki movement, but to engage with organizations in the local community. One example is their partnership with the San Diego Central Library. Edit-a-thon programs help the public learn the basics of Wikipedia editing. If you know any organization that would be interested in such an interesting and educational program, you can contact the group via their Facebook page here! Check out their Meetup page here!

Are you worried about bias on certain Wikipedia pages? A part of the solution, James explained, is having many more editors! You, perhaps?

Help expand human knowledge!

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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!

A game of Telephone with words and visual art!

A brilliant exhibition can now be enjoyed in the 9th Floor Art Gallery at San Diego’s Central Library. The exhibition is called Lost in Translation: A Game of Telephone!

You know the game called Telephone? It’s that verbal game where somebody conveys a message to a second person, who then the conveys the message to a third person, and so forth, on and on, until the message becomes so changed that it bears little resemblance to the original.

Well, imagine Telephone being played with written words and visual art!

The several “messages” in this unusual art exhibition morph strangely and unexpectedly.

Sequential threads can be viewed on the gallery walls. Each thread begins with a poetic passage written by a local writer. Those words are then interpreted by a local artist, whose resultant creation is then interpreted by another writer, whose words are then interpreted by another artist . . .

Cool idea, right?

I found it interesting that some of the threads maintained a certain amount of cohesion when it came to the conveyed message. But other threads mutated wildly, with subjects and themes lurching in completely different directions!

This is one very unique exhibition that you really have to see for yourself!

Check it out before April 15, 2023.

The following is part of one thread…

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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!

Youth Speak Truth in San Diego.

This afternoon youth were speaking truths at the San Diego Central Library. An event presented by DREAMS+DUCATS brought together young people for a discussion panel. The subject was Journey To Impact.

Speakers told inspirational stories, sharing their personal dreams and efforts to influence a world that is largely managed by older people. The frustrations of idealistic youth were evident, as they confronted a world that often seems cold and hopelessly unchangeable.

One speaker shared her practical idea of how to make schools safer from potential shooters, and explained how that very simple idea (locking classroom doors on the inside rather than the outside) was resisted and dismissed by the powers that be. Another spoke of her experience of being homeless, and how it was very difficult to have basic needs met.

The young speakers sought to have a greater voice in government and decision-making, but felt they were ignored and not respected. To this I would say, don’t give up. Keep speaking. Hopeful idealism still lurks in the minds of many who are older.

Greet this complex world with a smile. Don’t frown upon all “grown-ups” as hostile adversaries. Life goes by very quickly. Too quickly. You’ll be one of those grown-up humans in the blink of an eye.

I happened to run across the event today as I walked into San Diego’s downtown Central Library. It made me think. Wasn’t that the purpose, really?

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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!

Books published in San Diego a century ago.

The 57th Annual Local Author Showcase can now be viewed at San Diego’s downtown Central Library.

One of the display cases features books that were published in San Diego a century ago–in the 1920s and 1930s.

When I think of publishing in San Diego, the name Harcourt Brace Jovanovich immediately comes to mind. One of the world’s most important publishers made downtown San Diego their home for many years.

But have you heard of Torrey Pines Press, Hillcrest Publishing Company and the San Diego Printing Company? They and others were producing books in our city a century ago. Even Arrowhead Spring Water Distributors was part of the action!

The San Diego Library maintains a collection of books published or printed in San Diego. It’s called the Wilmer B. Shields Collection. It’s located inside the Marilyn and Gene Marx Special Collections Center on the Central Library’s 9th floor.

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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!