The Coast News, June 14, 2013

B
JUNE 14,
2013
JEAN
GILLETTE
Small Talk
Oh, the
vanity
Every morning I get up
and, as my father used to
tease, “put my eyes in.”
I became cross-eyed and
far-sighted at the age of 3, so
he was only half-kidding. My
poor parents had to struggle
with getting a 3-year-old to
keep these odd contraptions
on her face. Instead, I regularly
lost them.When my mother
would ask where I’d left them,
my reply would be to point
vaguely off in one direction
and say, “There.”They spent a
lot of time searching.
By the time I turned 10,
that same adoring father
decided that his “beautiful”
daughter wasn’t going to go
through life as a “four-eyes.”
It was 1959, and contacts had
only been generally available
for about 10 years. I admit, it
took me a year to stop whining
and weeping while getting
used to them. Let’s
remember that these were
the very early versions. They
were the size of manhole covers
and thicker than the ones
we have today. But one day, I
looked in the mirror at myself
in glasses and never complained
again.Vanity is a wonderful
motivator.
For years, I was the only
child I knew who wore these
exotic inventions, which gave
me some real swagger.
By the 1970s, soft lenses
debuted. I tried them and felt
like I was wrestling with cling
wrap. My hat is off to those
who can deal with them. I also
sadly discovered they didn’t
correct my weird vision, so I
still wear the hard kind.
There is no sleeping in
them, even today. For all my
experience, it is embarrassing
that even today I manage to
accidentally wash them down
the sink or crack them in half.
I never thought about
how long I had been wearing
them until a laser surgery
nurse told me I would need to
leave my lenses off a month
for each year I had worn
them. I was shocked when I
calculated a year-plus without
lenses.
I do feel like a pioneer in
the field, but was fascinated
to learn that Leonardo da
Vinci actually came up with
the concept of lenses directly
on the eye and a German
glassblower made the first
wearable ones in the late
1800s.
I’ll bet they did it for
their “beautiful,” cross-eyed
daughters.
Jean Gillette is a freelance writer
who is now a “six-eyes,” if you count
her reading glasses. Contact her at
jgillette@coastnewsgroup.com.
SECTION
Bookseller shares love of literature
By Rachel Stine
CARLSBAD — Sitting in his little bungalow
house off of Jefferson Street, Sean Christopher
began to describe one of the many reasons he is passionate
about books.
“(A book) can be old and yellow and crispy, and
that story —”
Christopher couldn’t finish his sentence before
his 4-year-old Jack interjected — “Dad,watch me get
the golden egg,” he said, wanting to show off his aptitude
for playing Angry Birds on his dad’s iPhone.
“I am, Buddy,” Christopher said before resuming
his sentence. “That story is the same story as the
first edition that is worth thousands of dollars.”
“Daddy...”
At that point, Christopher leaned over and
began tickling Jack into submission, the two laughing
as they rolled around on the couch.
Holding two conversations at once is one of several
talents Christopher has developed while raising
Jack as a single father.
For a time, caring for his son was his sole occupation.
His writing and bookstore took a backseat
when Jack was an infant.
But now that Jack is older and attending the
Montessori preschool down the street regularly,
Christopher is able to devote more time to his love of
literature, and has started to share that love with the
community.
Nestled in a parking lot between the Taco Bell
and Garden State Bagels along Carlsbad Village
Drive is a one-room cabin that houses Christopher’s
countless books.
Aside from his freelance fiction writing, he
mainly collects and preserves independently published
and older books. He sells his books online
under the name “L.H.O.O.Q Books;” a reference to
French-American artist Marcel Duchamp’s small
portrait of the Mona Lisa with a mustache and goatee.
“I thought if a cook needs a restaurant, a writer
needs a bookstore,” he said of starting his bookselling
business.
But with L.H.O.O.Q.’s book cabin stacked,boxed
and shelved with books to the brim, Christopher
The city is moving forward to lease the lot on the corner of Jimmy
Durante Boulevard and San Dieguito Drive from NCTD and use it
for parking. Photo by Bianca Kaplanek
City will lease lot from NCTD
By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR — In an
effort to improve what many
call the “northern gateway to
the city,” council members
agreed at the June 3 meeting
to negotiate a lease with
North County Transit District
for a 29,280-square-foot parcel
at the northeast corner of
Jimmy Durante Boulevard
and San Dieguito Drive.
Leasing the lot would
also allow the city to improve
access to the San Dieguito
Lagoon and Coast-to Crest
Trail and establish a walkway
along San Dieguito Drive.
“There is also an opportunity
to provide education
with interpretive signage,”
assistant City Manager Mark
Delin said.
The site was previously
the Waste Management recycling
buyback center but it
has been vacant and unused
since 2010. NCTD lined the
entry with boulders to prevent
unauthorized parking.
Based on a recent
appraisal, NCTD is requesting
$2,550 annually in rent
plus half of any net parking
revenue. The agency is also
requiring reimbursement
from the city for the $4,000
appraisal and $7,000 site survey.
“I did attempt to talk
them out of it but they say
that’s their policy,” Delin
said.
The appraised value
includes the entire parcel
even though about 4,000
square feet is underwater in
the San Dieguito River, and
an additional 14,500 square
feet is in a designated wetland
area so it cannot be
developed.
According to staff estimates
the city will likely have
TURN TO LOT ON B15
Sean Christopher holds his 4-year-old son, Jack, outside of the free bookstand he set up outside of his bookstore,
L.H.O.O.Q. Books, in Carlsbad Village. Photo by Rachel Stine
built shelves outside of his cabin for books that he
shares for free.
He said that with more than enough books to
feed his business, “I wanted to bring an offering (to
the community).”
The shelves line one entire side of the
L.H.O.O.Q. cabin and are filled 24-hours a day with
books, written by a range of authors from Nora
Roberts to Fyodor Dostoyevsky to George W. Bush.
Christopher described having a “Noah’s Ark”
Oceanside Pier’s braces and
planks set to be replaced
By Promise Yee
OCEANSIDE — In its
ongoing effort to maintain
its landmark pier, the city
will replace 31 of the pier’s
steel braces and some of its
worn boardwalk planks.
Frank Quan, manager of
Oceanside harbor and
beaches, describes the maintenance
process as being
similar to maintaining the
Golden Gate Bridge, as soon
as maintenance work is completed
end to end it’s time to
start the process again.
The 1,600-foot-long
wood pier was built in 1980.
It is constructed of wood
piles, steel braces and wood
decking.
City Council approved a
contract June 5 with the
John S. Meek Company to
replace 31 of the pier braces
for $124,930. The contract
was awarded based on the
company placing the lowest
bid for its services.
Maintenance of the 33year-old
pier started in 2006.
To date 600 of the pier’s
2,000 braces have been
replaced.
The pier is reported to
be in good condition.
“We had the pier surveyed
and the structural
engineer said it’s in good
Oceanside will replace 31 of the pier’s steel braces and some of its
worn boardwalk planks. The project should be done by spring 2014
and then the process to request bids and get work done will begin
again. Photo by Promise Yee
shape for its age,” Quan said.
Work on the pier should
begin sometime after
August. Braces must be
ordered, cut to size and coated
to withstand pounding by
saltwater waves.This process
can take approximately six
weeks.
Once the braces are prepared
the installation
process takes two weeks.
During installation the
immediate area of the pier
under construction will be
closed. This entails a section
about 100 feet long.
A truck will lower the
new braces down from the
pier boardwalk. Workers will
TURN TO BOOKSELLER ON B15
secure the braces from a
temporary deck below the
pier.
The new braces should
be in place by spring 2014.
Then the process will begin
again.
“We continue plugging
away on it,” Quan said. “It’s
an old pier, it’s heavily used
and it’s a landmark in
Oceanside. We try to do the
best we can to maintain it.”
The city replaces a set
of braces almost every year,
working from the west end
of the pier to the shore. The
braces, to be replaced this
year, sit about 3/4 of the way
out to the end of the pier.