shares a dispatch from the Pacific Palisades My California book signing:

The fans of My California contributor and Los Angeles author-extraordinaire Carolyn See were bulging out the front door of Village Books in Pacific Palisades on Thursday, July 29, as she spoke about and signed My California. Keep in mind that all these people came out on the night of John Kerry’s acceptance speech in Boston! That’s the power of See, who incidentally just endowed UCLA with $100,000 for writing projects. But clever Village Books owner Katie O’Laughlin planned a cocktail party-cum television at speech time and scheduled the signing for immediately after the candidacy was official. Then along came the surprise visit of fellow My California contributor and San Francisco Chronicle book critic David Kipen who added to the enthusiasm level. Carolyn and David signed dozens of copies of My California for the crowd. Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, the host of “Writers on Writing” made the trip from Irvine to the Palisades to meet Carolyn and David, and Palisadian Post Editor Libby Motika joined the festivities, praising the book, its twenty-seven authors and the good-read-for-a-good-deed roots of My California!

Angel City Press has posted event pix here. Thanks Paddy and Scott!