A Librarian and An Author Walk Into a Bar……..

Erwin Magbanua is a twenty-first century librarian. He’s the Programming and Special Events Coordinator for San Diego Public Library. The man is in charge of events for almost forty branches. He organizes everything from author events to movie nights to corporate trainings to weddings.

Yes, people actually want to get married at San Diego’s new Central Library. And they want to hold receptions on the ninth floor rooftop, with booze and bands and a diving board designed by the building’s architect.

But that’s not why my readers will care about Erwin. I understand what makes you people swoon.

He knows the best t-shirt vendors at ComicCon by name, because he’s San Diego Public Library’s ComicCon coordinator. When the Star Wars crew visited ComicCon, he was there to greet them. Erwin shared energy with Harrison Ford.

And I shared a Monday morning with Erwin, so maybe that means Harrison Ford’s atomic matter rubbed off on me?? (A girl can dream, right??)

But seriously, it was an honor to Make a Memory with Erwin. Monday, September 21, Erwin and I spent several hours wandering around San Diego. We met at a suspension bridge near Balboa Park, and we trekked through several canyons to the San Diego Museum of Man.

Built for the Panama-California Exposition, the Museum of Man is one of the only remaining structures from the grand party that celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal in 1915. Spanish (or MTM would say self-conscious) in style, the domed building and its tower lord over the San Diego skyline. If a visitor is hearty, he or she can even climb the California Tower to a perch near the top.

Erwin and I were lucky enough to make the noon tour. We were on the lookout when the clock chimed, and we enjoyed “It’s a Small World” by bell chime. (I requested “Road to Nowhere” by Talking Heads for a future session. We’ll see………..)

If the California Tower looks familiar, don’t question your sanity. It was featured in the movie Citizen Kane. The building flanks San Diego’s replica of the Old Globe Theater and is steps from the San Diego Zoo. Definitely worth a visit when in San Diego.

I’m grateful to Erwin for spending part of a day showing me places I wouldn’t have found without him. I’ll never think of San Diego without reliving our time tottering on a suspension bridge and huffing up stairs and leaving my memoir in a free library box and chatting up everyone we met.

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