When he was still in school, Alex Vassar lost his driver’s license while traveling, and says that when asked to produce ID he only had a shopper’s club card.
Sensing that wasn’t going to cut it, he offered that he also had a library card. Or two. Wait, four. Four library cards.
“I’m like, Yeah, I got four library cards, and they were like, You know what?” says Vassar, recalling the bemused response to this impressive array of borrowing power. “They were like, that’s cool.”
These days, library fan Vassar, perhaps unsurprisingly, works as Communications Manager for the California State Library, and he and I spent an enjoyable hour on the phone trading library stories a bit like Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider comparing scars in “Jaws.”
Like Robert Shaw’s Quint, Roy Scheider’s Brody, and Richard Dreyfuss’ Hooper in the 1975 movie ‘Jaws,’ we traded impressive stories about the number of library cards we had. (AP Photo)
I’d called Vassar to find out more about something I’d learned about at my local branch: Along with all the other things libraries offer besides books, California libraries now offer passes to state parks, so if you’re a California library card holder you can check out a park pass that allows you free entry to 200 participating state park units. For free, people.
It’s a three-year pilot program that sent 5000 park passes to California public libraries, and though you might have to wait for your turn – much the way you do when you join a virtual queue to check out a newly released bestseller – you can get access to state parks for free in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties (as well as many others).
“California is an amazingly beautiful state, and for the past two years, many of us have spent a lot of time indoors. This is a great opportunity to become reacquainted with your local library, as well as California’s great outdoors,” said Vassar.
For more information, try this Parks and Rec informational page or reach out to libraries in Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County and San Bernardino County.
This weekend offers a bounty of TV shows based on books you might want to check out (or, to be honest, that I want to check out).
“The Lincoln Lawyer,” a series based on Michael Connelly’s Mickey Haller novels, stars Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Neve Campbell and premieres today on Netflix.
“The Essex Serpent,” a series based on Sarah Perry’s novel, premieres on Apple TV+ today with Tom Hiddleston and Claire Danes.
“Conversations with Friends,” a series based on Sally Rooney’s debut novel that stars Alison Oliver, Sasha Lane, Joe Alwyn and Jemima Kirke, premieres Sunday May 15 on Hulu.
And “Operation Mincemeat,” based on Ben Macintyre’s nonfiction account of a World War II gambit that involved dropping a dead body with fake invasion documents off the coast of Spain, premiered Wednesday on …read more
Source:: Los Angeles Daily News
Stock Market: Suez Canal Update! Floating!
The Suicide Squad | Official IMAX® Red Band Trailer
From the horribly beautiful mind of James Gunn and filmed in IMAX. Experience