Bookshelves - San Diego, CA
Posted by: LeoGeo
N 32° 54.936 W 117° 08.653
11S E 486515 N 3641939
A trompe-l'oeil wooden bookshelf across the street from the library.
Waymark Code: WMBK42
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 05/28/2011
Views: 2
Just across the street from the Mira Mesa branch of the San Diego Public Library is what appears to be a set of wooden bookshelves stocked with great reads (and a miniature reader sitting on one shelf).
The books range from the instructional ("Dynamic Figure Drawing") to the swashbuckling ("Captain Blood"). The shelves themselves are painted in trompe-l'oiel style to look like real, grained wood.
On the back side is inscribed a verse from a poem ("Auguries of Innocence) by William Blake: "To see a world in a grain of sand / And a heaven in a wildflower, / Hold infinity in the palm of your hand / And eternity in an hour." I believe there is another painted utility box, maybe in the Hillcrest neighborhood, where I have also seen this verse.
The painting of utility boxes in the Mira Mesa neighborhood of San Diego is sponsored by the Mira Mesa Town Council (a volunteer/business organization) and has been spearheaded by the Mira Mesa High School art department. See (
visit link) for more information.
There are photos of about 30 of the other Mira Mesa utility boxes, some with info about the artists, at (
visit link) .