Each time I walk into Bookshop Santa Cruz,I get this happy feeling. It’s a wonderland of books (and magazines), tons of books face-out. A great aspect of a great bookstore is the discovery of unanticipated treasures…
Over 100 people showed up for the slide show. Mostly young, maybe 80% in the 20-30 yr.-old category. Preaching to the choir: everyone loved the book, so we were in tune, good vibes. They’ve sold about 100 books in the bookstore. One guy came up and said “I want to thank you for my 38 years of building.” He’d been inspired by Shelter. I just can’t convey how many people’s lives were changed by that book; I hear it all the time these days. Another guy came up and said he’d been a student at MIT in 1972 when I’d attacked domes and plastics at a conference titled “Responsive Housebuilding Technology.” (As a result of the conference I ended up writing an essay, “Smart, But Not Wise.”
Next Wednesday I’m doing an appearance in San Francisco at City Lights. (I’m giving out tons of mini-books at these appearances, encouraging people to give them to friends, and especially to children.)
It’s 7 AM and I’m at The Java Beach Cafe on Noriega and The Great Highway in San Francisco. On the western edge of San Francisco — Ocean Beach. Been a while since I was at this cafe and in the interim they’ve fixed it up; tables shaped like 1940s Wakiki surfboards, and the coffee is really good, as is the fresh crumb donut.
When I come into SF from Marin county, I usually skirt around the northwestern part of the city. A sharp right after the toll gate, thru Army base, along bay, past Palace of the Legion of Honor, then out to the beach on Geary or Lake.
Then this morning, down Highway One to Santa Cruz, where I’m doing a slide show/book signing at Bookshop Santa Cruz tomorrow at 7:30 PM. 1520 Pacific Avenue. It’s one of the country’s best bookstores. I also get to see 13 months old grandson Maceo, now walking and as well, playing his own set of conga drums.
Santa Cruz is my former turf. I spent 3-4 years there on and off in the ’50s, a rare time for surfers in retrospect, before rubber suits. Think four guys out at Steamer Lane on a foggy morning with 8′ surf (don’t get me started). I love going down there, even though it’s over-populated and expensive. It’s still got that slightly SoCal climate and looseness and the beaches are still there, and there’s a good feeling. People play a lot: surfing, skating, biking, paddling, all kinds of activities possible in the warm climate.
Off I go, making this coastal drive for probably the 300th time, through the fields of mustard and artichokes and brussels sprouts, with waves breaking at dozens of beaches.
Forgot to mention: last night at the slide show, a tall young man came up and said “I’m Caleb.” Turns out his photo is in our book Home Work, at about age 6, living with his folks and sister on a beach in NorCal, in a driftwood house. His mom, Karen Knoebber was there also; I’d corresponded with her when we did their story, but had never met her. Caleb’s become a builder.
Right now am in Moody’s excellent coffee bar in Mendocino, good wi-fi, checking mail and getting ready to drive 3 hours north to Arcata for tonight’s event. I treasure 2 ingredients while traveling: barista-level espresso, and good wi-fi. On the road again…
These spectacular towns like Mendocino or Sausalito, which have succumbed and largely capitulated to the Mighty Tourist Trade, still have some of the old soul in their hearts. Like here this morning. Mostly locals. Semi-sunny, colors bright, surf pounding in the cove. The beauty of a place is often reflected in its residents. Like there’s a feeling in the oasis town of San Ignacio in Baja California, a peacefulness, a vibe in the town square, people are smiling. Now, where was I? Oh yes, it’s a good morning, and Lew Lewandowski just sent me this photo (from Byron Bay, Australia), with the title “Old Soul:” https://mitchrevs.tumblr.com/post/7528547437/heaven
Now I’m off northward, shined upon by Morning Sun, cameras at the ready; goin huntin.
Yesterday around 4, Louie and I rode the cable over the river (https://bit.ly/A9mmMd) to his cabin to have dinner. We opened the medium size Hog Island oysters and had them raw with a lime juice sauce. We split a wild duck (Sprig), had it with salad greens and red wine, listened to ’40s big band music, and I rode back before it got dark. Every time I go on this journey I can’t believe I’m doing it — or that Louie is doing it at age 84. Good on ya mate!
Drove up the coast to Mendocino in the rain this morning — glorious– no one on the roads. Mendo pretty deserted, storm blowing in.
(No one knew about this lovely town in the ’60s, when I first came here.)
Used my recently-developed Feng Shui/intuitive/divvy (a la Lovejoy) sense to find great coffee/wi-fi at Moody’s Organic Coffee Bar, then a nice room in an old house for $100 (off season) at the Sweetwater Spa, which has a great hot sauna and a robust wooden hot tub, all free with the room.
Geared up with parka, rain pants, Muck Boots, and walked on the beach with wind howling and rain pelting. Good to be alive.
The slide show, at the Gallery Bookshop, one of those great and brave independent bookstores that is surviving the Amazon onslaught, went well. Everybody was with me, great to see people nodding and smiling. Rapport. My people. Signed a lot of books. One guy brought a tattered 30-year-old copy of Shelter for me to sign.
Nice dinner at The Moose Cafe. Tomorrow heading for Arcata to do a signing at Northtown Books. Maybe some music somewhere in this cool little town afterwards and back home Sunday.
This is the best fitness book I’ve run across in decades. Esther Gokhale has a unique approach in teaching you how to have better posture and how to cure back pain. The routine you go through whenever you think about it is to pull your shoulder blade up, then back, then down — one shoulder at a time. How to sit and walk with healthy posture. A really helpful guide to checking the gradual stooped-over posture of aging. Check it out:
8 Steps to a Pain-free Back
Esther Gokhale/Pendo Press
https://egwellness.com/
This Friday I’m doing a slide show/book signing at Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino, Calif
— Friday March 16, 6:30 p.m. Next night, Saturday, same at North Town Books in Arcata, Calif. at 7 PM.
Then next week I’ll be at Bookshop Santa Cruz on Wednesday March 21st at 7:30 PM.
We have sold out of the first printing of 15,000 copies; the 2nd printing of 12,500 is due to arrive at the PGW warehouse in early April. We are currently backordered some 5000 copies. Yahoo!
This was totally fun. Unexpected treat: Aimee Kibbe, an artist/free spirit from Nevada City, presented me with this handmade Shelter doll. The embroidery on the left trouser leg is the Jaime de Angulo sketch from the first page of our 1973 book Shelter.
Photos by Lisa Foti-StraussSee: https://gravelandgold.com/blog/ for more photos
From 73-year-old lady “I fuckin love it!”
This Friday I’m doing a book signing and slide show for the Tiny Homes book at Gravel & Gold in the Mission district in San Francisco. A totally cool store. Friday Feb. 24, 7PM, 3266 21st Street: https://gravelandgold.com/events/slideshow-lloyd-kahn-tiny-homes/
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post “Reprinting Our Color Books Up the Kazoo Now”:
Why not show us a picture of the tiny, tiny house book in your hand so we cans see how small it is?
Posted by Anonymous to Lloyd’s Blog at February 17, 2012 6:55 PM
Photo by Godfrey Stephens
Each time I walk into Bookshop Santa Cruz,I get this happy feeling. It’s a wonderland of books (and magazines), tons of books face-out. A great aspect of a great bookstore is the discovery of unanticipated treasures…
