Spring break treks, cool bookstores, great libraries, LA stories

SealBeachDaily.com is giving away a copy of Great Escapes: Southern California this week, just in time for your spring staycation.

Just picked up Great Destinations: Palm Springs and Desert Resorts by Christopher P. Baker. Nicely written. Baker clearly knows his turf.

Chronicle Books twitters about this lovely photo gallery: The most interesting bookstores of the world. From San Francisco to Paris to Calcutta, these bookstores are ideal destinations for book lovers.

Library Journal showcases the nation’s “star” libraries, including sixteen here in California.

The Los Angeles Music Center invites Angelenos to share their life stories and oral histories this month. The theme: “Journeys Toward Justice.”

The beauty of fresh and local: Gotta love Kate Cohen’s delightful slide show from one of SoCal’s newest farmers markets.

Tunes that take you there and other travel stories

I just added a link over in the navigation bar (right) to my Google Travel Reader page. It’s a daily collection of hand-picked travel stories about California and other newsy items for travelers.

Today’s offerings, for example, include a link to National Geographic’s Intelligent Traveler blog,
which features a monthly playlist of tunes to take along on the road. The current destinations is East Africa. You also find suggested soundtracks for trips to Hawaii, Paris, Italy, New Orleans, Miami, and, of course, Southern California. Browse the playlists here. And check out the other travel stories in today’s Reader here.

Elsewhere: WorldHum compiles a list of 13 Great Travel Horror Movies.

Eco adventures: Virginia Hayes, curator of the Living Collection at Santa Barbara’s wondrous Lotusland botanical gardens, has just released a new book, The Gourmet Garden.

LA Noir weekends: Take in a slice of LA’s seamy history on the “Real Black Dahlia” tour this Saturday or the “The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain’s Southern California Nightmare” on Nov. 8. Esotouric.

Another downtown day trip: J. Michael Walker’s All the Saints of the City of the Angels exhibit opens this weekend at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in LA. “After exhibiting “All the Saints” at the Autry Museum for seven months, I am delighted and honored to be able to present this project in the intriguing (and challenging) environment of Downtown Los Angeles’ austere new cathedral,” the author and painter says.