Authors maintain friendship with library

OUR LAGUNA

Author Jeff Parker spent some time last week strolling around

town, sitting on the Boardwalk, listening to the sounds of the ocean,

watching people, as he so often used to do when he lived in Laguna

Canyon.

“I moved to North San Diego County a couple of years ago and now I

come to Laguna to vacation,” said Parker said. “I check into the

Laguna Riviera -- you know, the place with the sweaty windows.”

Parker lived here for 20 years, something he never expects to do

again.

He wrote eight of his 10 books here, and some of them were set

here. “Laguna Heat” was his first book. All of his books are crime

novels, with police procedures based on his years as a reporter,

first with the Breeze and later with the Daily Pilot.

Parker, who writes under the name of T. Jefferson Parker, was in

town most recently to attend the Friends of the Laguna Beach Library

annual dinner at the Hotel Laguna. He was the guest speaker, not for

the first time.

“He is our very special ‘Friend,’ an ardent supporter of

libraries, and we miss seeing him in town,” said Martha Lydick,

president of the Laguna Friends.

Parker read excerpts from his second to last book, “Silent Joe.”

“Silent Joe” is a character study about a 24-year-old man whose

father threw acid on his face when he was an infant. He is adopted by

a powerful Orange County supervisor, a former sheriff.

One daily newspaper speculated on whom the characters were based

and even printed pictures.

“I got busted,” Parker said.

His most recently published book is “Black Water.” He just

completed another and is in his usual quandary about what to do next.

Most likely, it will be another in the Police Officer Merci Rayborn

series -- at least that is what his publishers would like.

The annual Friends of the Library meeting included the election by

acclamation of officers and directors for 2002-03.

Lydick was re-elected president. Elected to serve with her: Diane

Lichterman, vice president; Angela Irish, secretary; and author Diane

Connell, treasurer. Directors at large include Sue Cohen, Beverly and

Bob Mosier, Nancy and Howard Pink, Debra Rabben, Judy Jameson

Trulock, book shop liaison Magda Herliscka and author Sherwood

Kiraly, who also writes a humor column for the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot.

Kiraly is working on a movie script for his book “Diminished

Capacity,” to be produced by Steppenwolf. Writing for the screen is

very different, he said, from writing novels or plays.

“You have to have something going on every minute,” Kiraly said.

“Compression is the biggest problem. Compression is the difference in

the room to work in a book and the room to work on a script.

“In a book you can have two people talking for a few pages,”

Kiraly said. “You can’t do that in a script. You have to have

something visual happening, maybe two or three things.”

However, he certainly prefers putting in the effort rather than

have someone else write the script, as happened with another

production company for the same book. It was a terrible experience.

Between nibbles on salmon and sips of Coke, Kiraly dashed upstairs

to the hotel bar to check on the score of the Angels/Giants game. He

was not a happy camper, as the Angels took a whipping that night.

But he did brighten up talking to Parker, with whom he could talk

shop.

Parker’s book “Laguna Heat” also had a movie script written by

someone else.

“They paid me to not write it,” Parker said.

The movie was filmed partially in Laguna Beach and starred Harry

Hamlin, then a resident heartthrob on “L.A. Law.” The premiere of

“Laguna Heat” was held at the Edwards Theater, with a party afterward

at Hotel Laguna.

The Friends meet yearly in the California Room of the hotel, to

hear a guest speaker and the president’s annual report.

“Our library needs you,” Lydick said. “The [county] book/material

budget has been cut in half -- that’s a lot of books. The “powers

that be” in Sacramento need money and they find the library easy

pickings.

The good news is that the Laguna Beach branch has friends.

“Last year we contributed $15,000 for books and have budgeted

$20,000 this year,” Lydick said. “We may have to come up with more if

needed. We learned to have a “rainy day fund” after the last budget

cuts and it looks like it is getting pretty damp. So please ask a

friend to be a Friend. Numbers count, especially in Sacramento.”

Librarian Marianna Hof has some great books for sale that she

thinks would sell well on eBay, which could be a nice little source

of income for the library.

Marianna needs a computer volunteer to get the books listed.

Anyone interested can call her at 497-1733.

The Friends raise money by selling donated books at the bookstore

under the library, between the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce and

the parking lot.

“Our book shop raised $25,000 last year,” Lydick said. “Kar Kare

pays us $600 a month to use our parking lot after hours and Beverly’s

Doll House keeps adding to the coffers ... so we have money in the

bank.”

How does that affect the library?

“The children’s section is really humming,” Lydick said. “Our

summer reading program was extremely well attended, as was the teen

reading program -- we had more than 500 participants. The Pajama

Readings on Tuesday nights are very popular with the children, as

well as their parents.”

Also popular: the Quiet Room for patrons who like to read in

peace.

“And the fourth-annual Poetry Contest was a smash, with 400

writers competing in the seven categories, pre-K-kindergarten to

adult,” Lydick said.

The top three poems in each category were printed in a book, which

is available at the library.

Starting this year, the book store stays open until 6 p.m. on

Wednesdays. could go to 7 p.m. if business is good. Kiraly, Lydick

and her son, Chip Lydick, staff the store in the evening hours.

Some new Friends were made at the meeting, including Chamber of

Commerce Executive Director Anne Morris, City Council candidate

Melissa O’Neal, Barbara and Douglas Bowler, Sue and John Prange,

Jeanne Meyers and Michelle Blair.

Also on the guest list: Planning commissioner Anne Johnson,

Sawdust Festival jeweler Patti Jo Kiraly, Jack and Margie Hefti, and

Diane Kloke, who remembers hearing Parker read from his first book at

Marriner’s Stationery on Forest Avenue.

Also: City Council candidates Toni Iseman and Elizabeth Pearson,

city treasurer Laura Parisi, Laguna Beach children’s librarian Susan

Farrell, new reference librarian Jim McCarty, Librarian Assistant

Joan Moreno, former County Librarian Elizabeth Martinez and City

Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, 92652, hand-deliver to 384 Forest Ave., Suite 22;

call 494-4321; or fax 494-8979.