Visit Mysterious Galaxy

I posted a blog to Palos Verdes Patch about Williams Book Store in San Pedro and mentioned that there would be a new independent bookstore opening soon in Redondo Beach.  I had read about it in the Daily Breeze.  I finally paid them a visit. 

It's called Mysterious Galaxy and is located on Artesia Blvd, just west of Hawthorne, not too far from the Galleria.  Their specialties are mysteries and science fiction, but there were other genres, as well.   There were several interesting titles, many of which I had never heard.  I did see some well known authors on display, though, in the non mystery/science fiction sections.  There were some shelves devoted to the craft of writing, and it was there that I picked up a book for my daughter.  It was a journal for left handed writers.  The pages go backwards. 

There wasn't much for children.  They had a section for young adults, the name of which I cannot recall now.  It was something like y-zone.  Anyway, I did find a cute book of limericks that I purchased for my son.  The running theme was monsters and ghouls. 

At the checkout stand, I found a humorous take on Pat the Bunny.   In this version, the bunny is cut up and bloody, as are the rest of the family.  Not sure who I would buy that for, though.

The store itself is very shiny and new.  They were setting up for a meet and greet later that evening, so some of the staff were arranging chairs and what not.  A couple of them offered to assist me, but I wanted to just browse the store.  Not being a big mystery or science fiction reader, I was more interested in the other titles, but looked at everything anyway.  I did hear someone walk in and ask if they had dictionaries.  The answer was no, so that potential customer left.  I also noticed that there were no magazines. 

Overall, I liked the store's environment.  The staff all seemed very friendly and thanked me for shopping.  One noticed I was looking at the writer's references, so invited me to come to their writer's workshop.  I would suggest that they carry some magazines, though.  That might get them more foot traffic.  Parking was great, by the way, but the store is not part of a mall, so people really have to seek them out, as I did.  I don't frequent the area, so I'm not sure how many shoppers walk along there. 

I will return, though, perhaps bring someone with me next time.  As I mentioned in the Williams blog, I like to see these kind of businesses succeed, so I will do my part to see that that happens.

Concours d'Elegance, once again

When I learned we would be child free on Sunday, September 18th, I thought I'd seize the opportunity to head down to the Trump Golf Course for an afternoon of car sight seeing at the annual Palos Verdes Concours d'Elegance. My husband was agreeable, so I said let's get going. We arrived a little after 1, so parking wasn't too bad. I think the early birds had already left. We just had a short distance from our car to the entrance. Once we were in, with programs in hand, we weren't sure where to start first. There were so many sections. So, we just took off in a counter clockwise direction and looked at them all. Those that caught our interest were photographed just for fun. Here are some of my favorites:

A Buick Skylark from the year I was born. It looked beautiful.

A spacey looking thing. I would have liked to take a spin in it.

The Woodies. I expected to see one with a surfboard, but didn't. Still, they were cool.

This is from the Darrin section, designed by a guy named Darrin for the Kaiser company. Of all the Darrins, I liked this one the best. The extra flourish added by the owners gave it a nice touch.

I took pictures of this next car for my husband. He is enamored with Cadillacs.

This was a surprise. In light of the recent accident in Reno, I was nervous looking at these two planes do a little show for us.

After admiring all the cars we could, we were hungry, so instead of getting food outside, for which there was a very limited menu, we opted to go into the restaurant for a better selection and more comfortable environs. I was happy to be seated with a good view of the large screen TV showing a Manchester United game.

All in all, we had a fun afternoon. I was just a little disappointed that Jay Leno didn't make it, as he had in years past. Or was he there and I missed him? Oh, well.