Playhouse Village Association

Vroman's Bookstore: Eve Driver discusses What We Can’t Burn
2024-09-03 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
Eve was a fossil fuel divestment activist from Massachusetts who came to believe capitalism was at the root of the climate crisis. Tom was a clean energy entrepreneur from a rural village in Kenya who believed the activist approach was suspended from the real-world experiences of those facing the worst of the crisis’ effects. They met as juniors at Harvard, launching a journey in which their conflicting perspectives almost tore their unlikely friendship apart.
Raw, funny, and lyrical, What We Can’t Burn is a memoir in two voices about coming of age in a world confused and divided about how to save itself. Set in both Kenya and the United States, this timely story is a singular testament to the power of dialogue, humor, and friendship to help us find our place among the many currents of change-making that cut across the world today.

Pasadena Playhouse: Cyrano De Bergerac
2024-09-05 19:00, 2024-09-07 14:00 | Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
One of the greatest plays ever written is radically reborn in this critically acclaimed adaptation. Modern poetry and sizzling rhythm collide in a scorching love triangle when Cyrano discovers the love of his life has eyes for another man. Immerse yourself in the romantic adventure of this timeless and heartrending love story.

Vroman's Bookstore: Mike De Socio, in conversation with Nick Wolny, discuss Morally Straight: How the Fight for LGBTQ Inclusion Changed the Boy Scouts—and America
2024-09-06 19:00 | Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
In Morally Straight we meet James Dale, the poster child of Scouting who took his fight for inclusion to the Supreme Court; Steven Cozza, the 12-year-old scout in California who started a movement for inclusion called Scouting for All; Jennifer Tyrrell, the lesbian den mother whose expulsion from the Scouts reignited the gay membership controversy; Zach Wahls, the son of lesbian moms who led the final push for policy change; and an array of other previously unknown Scouters who played smaller—but no less crucial—roles in the fight for full inclusion.
About Mike De Socio: Mike De Socio is an award-winning independent journalist who writes about social justice and solutions. He grew up in New Jersey, where he became an Eagle Scout, and later earned a degree in journalism from Boston University. His work has been published in theWashington Post, Bloomberg,the Guardian, Fortune, Xtra, YES!Magazine, and more. He now lives with his partner in upstate New York.
About Nick Wolny: Nick Wolny is a professional editor, journalist, and business consultant based in Los Angeles.

Vroman's Bookstore: A Special Musical Storytime featuring the Pasadena Conservatory of Music
2024-09-07 11:00 | Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
The Pasadena Conservatory of Music will be putting on a special musical storytime with featured book: My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. Caregivers and children aged 3-9 will enjoy story, craft activities, creative movement and a mini-concert.

Vroman's Bookstore: Local Poetry Day featuring Brent Ameneyro, Lory Bedikian, Blas Falconer, and Cherene Sherrard, in Conversation With Doug Manuel
2024-09-07 14:00 | Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
Brent Ameneyro is the author of the collection A Face Out of Clay (The Center for Literary Publishing, 2024) and the chapbook Puebla (Ghost City Press, 2023). His E-Lit has been selected for the 2022 Education and Electronic Literature Conference and Art Festival in Italy, as well as for film festivals in Denmark, Barcelona, Canada, and Los Angeles. He was the 2022-2023 Letras Latinas Poetry Coalition Fellow at the University of Notre Dame. He currently serves as the poetry editor at The Los Angeles Review.
Lory Bedikian’s second book Jagadakeer: Apology to the Body won the 2023 Prairie Schooner/Raz-Shumaker Book Prize in Poetry forthcoming September 2024 from the University of Nebraska Press and her first collection The Book of Lamenting won the Philip Levine Prize for Poetry. Several of Bedikian’s poems received the First Prize Award in the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry as part of the 2022 Nimrod Literary Awards. Her work is published in Tin House, Gulf Coast, The Los Angeles Review, BOULEVARD, The Adroit Journal, Orion, wildness, and was featured on Pádraig Ó Tuama’s Poetry Unbound podcast. Her poem “The Mechanic,” is included in the anthology Border Lines: Poems of Migration, KNOPF, 2020. Bedikian’s manuscript-in-progress received a 2021 grant from the Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. New work appears in Massachusetts Review’s “Revisiting WOMAN: An Issue, 50 Years Later.” Bedikian earned an MFA from the University of Oregon. She teaches poetry workshops in Los Angeles and elsewhere.
Blas Falconer is the author of four books, including Rara Avis (Four Way Books 2024), as well as the coeditor of two anthologies, Mentor and Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets and The Other Latin@: Writing Against a Singular Identity. The recipient of a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award from Poets & Writers, he teaches in San Diego State University’s MFA program and is the editor in chief at Poetry International Online.
Cherene Sherrard is a poet, scholar, and essayist. She is the author of two poetry collections, Vixen, and Grimoire, and an award-winning chapbook, Mistress, Reclining. Recent creative nonfiction and poetry have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Hidden Compass, Ecotone, Terrain.org, Blackbird, Water~Stone Review, and elsewhere. She is a professor of English at Pomona College
Douglas Manuel was born in Anderson, Indiana and now resides in Whittier, California. He received a BA in Creative Writing from Arizona State University, an MFA in poetry from Butler University, and a PhD in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. He is the author of two collections of poetry, Testify (2017) and Trouble Funk (2023). His poems and essays can be found in numerous literary journals, magazines, and websites, most recently Zyzzyva, Pleiades, and the New Orleans Review. He has traveled to Egypt and Eritrea with The University of Iowa’s International Writing Program to teach poetry. A recipient of the Dana Gioia Poetry Award and a fellowship from the Borchard Foundation Center on Literary Arts, he is an assistant professor of English at Whittier College and teaches at Spalding University’s low-res MFA program.

Vroman's Bookstore: Mary Lea Carroll discusses Across the Street Around the Corner…A Road Home
2024-09-09 19:00 | Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
Across the Street, Around the Corner: A Road Home is an inspiring, wisdom-packed, funny collection of neighborhood life set during the pandemic, when everyone-everywhere-was forced to stay home. As a world traveler and now not able to go anywhere, the author thinks, Well, I can’t travel the world? Why not travel the block-see who and what’s right under my own nose? Having been in her neighborhood 35 years, and alarmed by how isolating the lockdown was, Carroll began a pandemic practice of reaching out to neighbors she’d known for years but may have lost track of: saying hello, checking on them and setting up walks and talks. Her aim was to rediscover the elusive element that turned their not-so-great neighborhood into a cherished, even prized place to live. The conversations that ensued with her current neighbors -funny, touching, nostalgic-brought memories of her own childhood back to life, in a neighborhood a mere mile or two from where she lives today but more than 60 years apart in time: Memories of the neighbors who helped form her, of growing up in the 1960s amid nine brothers and sisters with an eccentric former movie-star grandmother and a street packed with kids.
Across the Street, Around the Corner: A Road Home melds together these neighborhoods, combining stories both hilarious and uplifting with simple observations and inspirations. The book opens our eyes on how to live a little bit better in the neighborhood life happens to place you. In these divisive times, this slim, giftable book is a comfort and a balm and every bit as warm, engaging, inspiring, and funny as the author’s first two enduringly popular books, Saint Everywhere and Somehow Saints.

Vroman's Bookstore: Ava Dellaira, in conversation with Nicola Yoon, discusses Exposure
2024-09-11 19:00 | Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
Best friends Juliette Marker and Annie Ricci shared an enviable childhood bond, both mesmerized by Juliette’s famous mother, Margot, a renowned photographer who documented their idyllic southern California adolescence.
After a series of unexpected events, Juliette leaves Annie and California for Chicago, where, as a white college freshman, she meets Noah King, a Black high school senior. These two lonely souls enter each other’s orbit, forge a connection, and, after a chance meeting, spend one eventful evening together.
Years later, Noah has done the impossible and made it in Hollywood. His first film is about to be released. He and his beloved wife Jesse, a successful writer herself, have just had a baby when Annie makes a startling discovery about Juliette that will threaten to blow up the life Noah has struggled to build. Details of that fateful Chicago night more than a decade earlier come to light, causing all who love Juliette and Noah to confront the discomfort of conflicting truths.
Spanning decades and told from multiple perspectives, this powerful, provocative debut delves into the complex lives and relationships of those affected by one life-changing moment, sharply exploring how race, artistic ambition, friendship, and grief expose different versions of the same story.
About Ava Dellaira: Ava Dellaira was born in Los Angeles. She received her undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago, and then received her MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop after which she moved to Los Angeles assisting Stephen Chbosky, the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, as an associate producer on his film adaptation of the book. Author of Love Letters to the Dead, Ava adapted it into a screenplay for Temple Hill (the company that produced Twilight and The Fault In Our Stars). She has since written In Search of Us and the upcoming adult novel Exposure.

Ice House Comedy: Breaking The Ice Open Mic Night
2024-09-12 08:00 - 17:00 | Ice House Comedy Club, 24 N Mentor Ave, Pasadena, CA, 91106
Ice House Comedy presents Breaking The Ice Open Mic Night. Live in the California Room! The event is FREE for anyone to attend. Ice House Doors Open at 6pm. Comic sign-ups ($5) begin at 6:15pm, 18+

El Portal: Annual Tequila Tasting
2024-09-12 17:30 - 20:30 | El Portal Restaurant, 695 East Green Street , Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
El Portal invites you to their Annual Tequila Tasting, a vibrant community celebration. Guests will explore a curated selection of premium tequilas, paired with authentic dishes that highlight the flavors of Mexico. Set in the heart of Playhouse Village, this event is the perfect opportunity to gather with friends, enjoy live music, and savor the spirit of tequila in a lively, festive atmosphere. Don’t miss out on this much-anticipated tradition at El Portal!

Vroman's Ed - Shamanic Sound Bath Workshop with Shaman Ada Trinh and Erica Medina
2024-09-12 18:00 | Atrium Building, 709 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
Shamanic Sound Bath with Ada Trinh & Erica Medina at Vroman’s Bookstore
$60.00 per person
Join us for an immersive Shamanic Sound Bath at Vroman’s Bookstore, led by Ada Trinh and Erica Medina. This special event offers a unique opportunity to experience the healing power of sound, even if you’re new to spiritual practices. In this session, Ada and Erica will guide you through a transformative journey using the resonant tones of gongs and crystal sound bowls. These sounds serve as a powerful medicine for the soul, helping to clear your mind, release stress from your body, and restore your natural balance. Whether you’re seeking deep relaxation, a moment of peace, or a spiritual connection, this sound bath will provide a calming space to reconnect with yourself. No prior experience is necessary—just bring an open heart and a willingness to relax. Come as you are and leave feeling rejuvenated, centered, and more in tune with your inner self. Don’t miss this chance to unwind and nourish your spirit. Secure your spot today and discover the soothing and transformative effects of sound.
Please bring a yoga mat, water and a journal.

Vroman's Bookstore: Aurélie Thiele, discusses The Paris Understudy
2024-09-12 19:00 | Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
This powerful debut novel brings to life the hard choices Parisians made–or failed to make–under Nazi occupation, in the tradition of Pam Jenoff and Fiona Davis.
1938. Paris Opera legend Madeleine Moreau must keep newcomer Yvonne Chevallier, whose talent she fears, off the stage. As the long-standing star of the opera, she is nowhere near ready to give up her spotlight. The perfect solution: enlist Yvonne as her understudy so she can never be upstaged. When Madeleine is invited to headline at Germany’s pre-eminent opera festival, she is sure this will cement her legacy. But war is looming, and when she learns that Adolf Hitler himself will be in attendance, she knows she’s made a grave error. As Madeleine makes a hurried escape back to France, Yvonne finds herself unexpectedly thrown into the limelight on the German stage.
When a newspaper photograph shows Hitler seemingly enraptured by Yvonne, Yvonne’s life is upended. While she is trying frantically to repair her reputation at home, Yvonne’s son is captured and held as a prisoner of war. Desperate to free her son, she makes an impossible choice: turn to the enemy.
As the Nazis invade Paris, both women must decide what they are willing to do in pursuit of their art. They form an unlikely alliance, using their fame to protect themselves and the people they love from the maelstrom of history.
Painting an enrapturing portrait of resilient wartime women, The Paris Understudy is a love letter to the arts and a stark depiction of the choices we make to survive, for fans of Kate Quinn and Kristen Harmel.

Boston Court Pasadena: A Going Away Party Play
2024-09-13 14:00 | Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena, CA, 91206, United States
Mina is throwing a party for her closest friends and for you, the audience. Over the course of the party, the friends play games, reflect on the current American socio-political landscape, and discover truths about the story of Mina’s parents falling in love and staying in love while fleeing the Iranian Revolution. A Going Away Party Play is a celebration of multicultural identities and an exploration of what it means to leave or lose your home country.

Vroman's Bookstore: Désirée Zamorano, in conversation with Naomi Hirahara, discusses Dispossessed
2024-09-13 19:00 | Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
Manuel Galvan is separated from his parents and sister during the mass expatriation of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the 1930s. He grows from a small, lost and confused boy into a wandering and angry teenager pushed out of high school and into the dockyards. Later as a loyal, passionate husband he is a man searching for a life of value and dignity despite his losses. Set against the backdrop of (Mexican) American history in Los Angeles, forced deportations, the demolition of Chavez Ravine, sterilization of Latinas, student protests and rising political consciousness, this story spans his life, from 6 to 60, and his search for his missing family, the missing pieces of his life.
About Désirée Zamorano: Born and raised in Los Angeles Désirée Zamorano is the author of the highly acclaimed literary novel, The Amado Women. Her novel Human Cargo was Latinidad’s mystery pick of the year. She is a Pushcart prize nominee and award-winning short story writer. Her work is often an exploration of issues of invisibility, injustice, or inequity. A selection of her writing can be found in Catapult, Cultural Weekly, The Kenyon Review Online, and Akashic’ s South Central Noir. She teaches linguistic and cultural diversity at Cal State Long Beach.
About Naomi Hirahara: Naomi Hirahara is the Edgar® Award-winning author of the Officer Ellie Rush Mysteries, including Grave on Grand Avenue and Murder on Bamboo Lane (which received the T. Jefferson Parker Mystery Award). Born and raised in Pasadena, Naomi received her bachelor’s degree in international relations from Stanford University and studied at the Inter-University Center for Advanced Japanese Language Studies in Tokyo. She worked as a reporter and editor of The Rafu Shimpo in downtown Los Angeles. She is also the author of the Mas Arai Mysteries (including Summer of the Big Bachi, Gasa-Gasa Girl, and Snakeskin Shamisen) and the middle-grade novel 1001 Cranes, and has written, edited, and published several nonfiction books, largely about the Japanese American experience.

Ice House Comedy: Barbies! W/ Esther Povitsky & Doug Benson
2024-09-13 20:00 - 21:30 | Ice House Comedy Club, 24 N Mentor Ave, Pasadena, CA, 91106
Ice House Comedy presents Barbies! W/ Esther Povitsky & Doug Benson! Live in the California Room! The show starts at 8:00pm. 21+ with a 2-item minimum per seat.

Ice House Comedy: Jiaoying Summers
2024-09-13 21:30 - 23:00 | Ice House Comedy Club, 24 N Mentor Ave, Pasadena, CA, 91106
Ice house Comedy presents Jiaoying Summers. LIVE IN THE LEGENDARY ROOM! The show Starts at 9:30pm. 21+ with a 2-item minimum per seat.

Vroman’s Special Storytime featuring Linda Liu discussing Sour Apple
2024-09-14 11:00 | Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
From the creator of Hidden Gem comes a funny and delightful new picture book about an apple who learns the importance of self-acceptance and patience after being left behind during picking season.
Ever been picked last? Well, this sour apple knows a thing or two about what it feels like to be forgotten. When apple season passes and he’s left on the cold, hard ground, he questions his place in the world.
As his introspection branches out into different ideas of what could have been if he was chosen, he learns some core truths about what it means to be alive.
About Linda Liu: Linda Liu is an illustrator and a designer based in Southern California with a taste for tactile textures, saucy shapes, and palatable palettes. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and now works freelance and full-time so she can be a girl boss and a girl employee at the same time. She is the author and illustrator of Hidden Gem and Sour Apple.

Vroman's Annual Teachers' Night Out! (Free ticket link)
2024-09-14 18:00 | Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
You are cordially invited to join us for our annual Teacher’s Night Out!
Join us for an evening that celebrates you – the incredible teachers and librarians of our community! We will have snacks and beverages, plus a bunch of goodies (including books!) to give away. Our knowledgeable staff will be on hand to recommend great new books for your classroom discussions and libraries and share some services we offer to teachers. We will have a publisher-sponsored table full of reading and classroom recommendations.
Browse the table of recommendations, speak with our booksellers, mingle with fellow educators, and enjoy some treats. You’ll also receive a 20% off coupon to use for any personal shopping that night.
As a special added bonus this evening, we will be honoring 2023-2024’s Teacher of the Year, Miss Helena Alves and her school, Madison Elementary! We will have the award presentation at 6PM in our Events Space!

The Monarca Collective: Varrio Soul Exhibition Opening
2024-09-14 18:00 - 20:00 | The Monarca Collective, 696 E. Colorado Blvd STE 19, Pasadena, 91101, United States
Celebrate Hispanic heritage at The Monarca Collective with a special event offering an unforgettable blend of art, culture, and community. The Varrio Soul exhibition showcases the talents of Art Meza, capturing the spirit of lowrider cultura through photography, and Amber Tilden, whose “Varrio Love is…” features illustrations reflecting real-life moments and cultural pride. Enjoy food from East Los Musubi and live music by @backn.39. This event is free!

Ice House Comedy: Mark Smalls
2024-09-14 19:00 - 20:30 | Ice House Comedy Club, 24 N Mentor Ave, Pasadena, CA, 91106
Ice House Comedy presents Mark Smalls. Live in the California Room! The show Starts at 7:00pm. 21+ with a 2-item minimum per seat.

Ice House Comedy: Gumbo & Friends: Battle of The Jams
2024-09-14 21:30 - 23:00 | CA
Ice House Comedy presents Gumbo & Friends: Battle of The Jams. LIVE IN THE LEGENDARY ROOM! The show starts at 9:30pm. 21+ with a 2-item minimum per seat.

Ice House Comedy: Sean Porter and friends
2024-09-14 21:30 - 23:00 | Ice House Comedy Club, 24 N Mentor Ave, Pasadena, CA, 91106
Ice House Comedy presents Sean Porter and friends. Live in the California Room! The show starts at 9:30pm. 21+ only with a 2-item minimum per seat.

El Portal: Mexican Independence Day
2024-09-15 11:00 - 20:30 | El Portal Restaurant, 695 East Green Street , Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
El Portal invites everyone to celebrate Mexican Independence Day in style. Guests are encouraged to make reservations and join the festivities for El Grito, featuring the vibrant sounds of Mariachi Real de Oro. It promises to be a night filled with tradition, music, and unforgettable moments.

Vroman's Bookstore: Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration with Lil' Libros
2024-09-15 14:00 | Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
We welcome our friends from Lil’ Libros, the Go-To Destination for Bilingual Children’s Books, Games, & Toys, as we celebrate the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month! We will be joined by an amazing panel: Cindy Montenegro (author My Mind is a My Mind is a Mountain / Mi mente es una montaña), Mariana Galvez (author/illustrator My Pet Flamingo), CHOGRIN (author Kid del Toro), and Cynthia Gonzalez (author The Life of / La vida de Llort). The panel will discuss their books before we have a Special Storytime that will be followed by activities for kids and a book signing.

Cindy Montenegro is a Salvadoran American mental health therapist and storyteller from Paramount, California. She received her graduate degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Chapman University and a bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Barbara. In the therapy room, Cindy works with people of all ages to explore their emotions and strengths to create a roadmap to self-love, growth, and healing. Her imagination is influenced by her childhood, love of the outdoors, and passion for mental health. Cindy hopes that her writing will inspire readers to celebrate all of their emotions, no matter how big or small they may be! This is her first children’s book.
Mariana Galvez was born in Mexico and grew up in South Los Angeles. In her childhood, it was during weekend trips to the library that her love for illustrating and writing was forged. After a number of years in the corporate world, she was called back to illustrating when creating art for her three children. She currently resides in Whittier, CA with her husband where she loves to garden, cook vegan food, and chase after her beloved dog and cat.
CHOGRIN is an artist & storyteller from Guayaquil, Ecuador. His work is inspired by his neverending childhood and pop-culture. For the last decade, he has worked in the animation industry for companies like Cartoon Network and currently works at Disney. His artwork has been featured in multiple galleries and publications around the world. He’s currently designing vinyl toys like “Guru del Toro,” as well as writing, drawing, and directing other art projects from his secret art lair in Burbank (CA).
Cynthia Gonzalez was born in El Salvador and raised in South Los Angeles. She’s multi-faceted with talents as an author, poet, Cultural Advisor, and Entertainment Director for the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Cynthia has served as an executive board member for non-profits in Los Angeles and Long Beach, has written articles for the local Long Beach press, and was featured in the L.A. Times. Her passion for seeing a positive representation of the Salvadoran community led her to establish Salvies Who Lunch, a platform dedicated to connecting and empowering Salvadorans of all backgrounds through events. Cynthia’s recent contributions include translating eight books for Lil’ Libros’ VÁMONOS series and serving as Associate Producer and Cultural Advisor on award-winning filmmaker Kase Peña’s upcoming new film. On her free days, she enjoys watching sci-fi movies and Rocky Road ice cream.

Ice House Comedy: Jiaoying Summers
2024-09-15 17:00 - 18:30 | Ice House Comedy Club, 24 N Mentor Ave, Pasadena, CA, 91106
Ice House Comedy presents Jiaoying Summers. LIVE IN THE LEGENDARY ROOM! The show Starts at 5pm. 21+ with a 2-item minimum per seat.

Ice House Comedy Club: Paul Rodriguez & His So Called Friends
2024-09-15 19:00 | Ice House Comedy Club, 24 N Mentor Ave, Pasadena, CA, 91106
Catch comedy legend Paul Rodriguez live at the iconic Ice House Comedy Club! Get ready for a night of non-stop laughter as Rodriguez brings his signature humor and wit to the stage. Don’t miss the chance to see one of the greatest Latino voices in comedy!

Vroman’s Ed - Boookbinding Workshop with Madeline Helland
2024-09-16 18:00 - 20:00 | Atrium Building, 709 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
Curious about bookbinding but not sure where to start? This is the class for you! During this hands-on workshop, participants will create a series of 3 different soft-cover book structures that can be easily recreated at home. This class will show how to properly cut, fold, and sew a book as well as what tools and materials to use. All supplies will be provided, and beginners are welcome.
Madeline Helland is a Los Angeles based bookbinder and letterpress printer. She received her BA in art conservation and studio art, with a concentration in book arts and digital design, from Scripps College in Claremont, CA. Since 2018, she has been self-publishing artist books and zines featuring found ephemera and her illustrations. She has previously led bookbinding workshops at the International Printing Museum, Hiromi Paper Inc., and Otis College of Art & Design, among others. When she’s not making books, she works as a studio technician at Laboratory Press.

Vroman's Bookstore: Attica Locke discusses Guide Me Home
2024-09-17 19:00 | Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
In the final novel in the “timely and evocative” (NPR) Highway 59 trilogy, from Edgar Award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author Attica Locke, Darren Matthews is pulled out of an early retirement to investigate the disappearance of a Black college student from an all-white sorority and soon finds nothing is as it seems.
Texas Ranger Darren Mathews isn’t sure he’s been a good cop, but believes he’s got a shot at being a good man—if he manages to dodge the potential indictment hanging over his head and if he, from here on out, pledges allegiance to the truth. It’s a virtue the country appears to have wholly lost its grip on, but one Darren sees as his salvation. He is in the midst of remaking his life with the woman he loves, hoping for the peace of country living at his beloved farmhouse, when he is visited by someone who couldn’t hold the truth on her tongue if it was dipped in sugar, a woman who’s always been bent of tearing his life apart. His mother. Armed with a tall tale about a missing Black college student, Sera (whose white sorority sisters insist she isn’t missing at all). Darren must decide if his can trust his mother is telling the truth—and what her ulterior motive may be, and what if that motive has to do with a grand jury deciding his fate.
Darren gets his hooks into the investigation, along the way discovering things about Sera’s family and her hometown that are odd at best, vaguely sinister at worst. Hamstrung by local law enforcement and the Texas Rangers who likewise doubt the account of a missing girl, if Darren wants answers, he’ll need help from the person whom he swore to never trust again—his mother.
In this emotionally stirring conclusion to the singular Highway 59 series, set three years after the events of Heaven, My Home, Darren reckons with his life’s purpose as he’s forced to choose between his own peace and the higher call to do good.

About Attica Locke: Attica Locke is a NY Times best-selling author of five novels, including Bluebird, Bluebird, which won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. She is also a winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and she has been short listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and nominated for an LA Times Book Prize and an NAACP Image award for her work as a novelist. Locke is also a screenwriter and TV producer, with credits that include Empire, When They See Us and the Emmy-nominated Little Fires Everywhere, for which she won an NAACP Image award for television writing. She co-created and executive produced an adaptation of her sister Tembi Locke’s memoir From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home for Netflix. A native of Houston, Texas, Attica lives in Los Angeles, California.

Retro Replay: 1999 The Year That Changed Cinema: The Iron Giant (PG)
2024-09-17 19:00 | Landmark Theatre, 673 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, Pasadena, CA, 91101, United States
Landmark Theatre Pasadena presents Retro Replay, a weekly series of modern and vintage film favorites screened every Tuesday night. This September enjoy: 1999 The Year That Changed Cinema—or see for the first time!

Ice House Comedy: Giggle Gaggle Comedy
2024-09-17 19:30 - 21:00 | Ice House Comedy Club, 24 N Mentor Ave, Pasadena, CA, 91106
Ice House Comedy presents Giggle Gaggle Comedy. Live in the California Room. The show Starts at 7:30pm. 21+ with a 2-item minimum per seat.
