Library Shrine
A couple years ago, Ashlee Wright, Carmel’s great Librarian and Community Activities Director let us know she wanted to put a library “shrine” at the Park Branch Library. So, we volunteered to build one.
Working with Seaside finishing contractor Scott Coulter and Pacific Grove cabinet maker Don Whittaker, we designed and built a small house of sorts. We then installed it on the corner of Mission and 6th outside the library. It has became a popular way for residents to” Take a Book, Leave a Book”.
We had so much fun with this project we decided to look around town to find more opportunities.
Pump House Cover
Next, we saw the dilapidated cover over a large back-flow preventer outside Sunset Center’s business office on San Carlos near 9th. We got to work and built a small Comstock-like house with access doors to allow maintenance. Cleve Waters, the City’s Maintenance Manager installed it with our contractor and it will hopefully be there, complete with a little bird on the front, for a long time.
Mini-Kiosks
Next, we saw two mini-kiosks for magazines on Ocean Avenue that had become a little run down. Wesley Byrne was visiting for a week and decided to work with Don Whittaker to build replacements. Chris Dinner Sheet Metal volunteered the copper caps and we scraped, pegged, stucco’d and stained them. The Public Works team installed them outside Lloyd’s Shoes and near Carrig’s.
What’s Next?
We are eyeing modifications to the large newspaper/magazine rack outside the Main Library on Lincoln, or the one outside Village Corner restaurant. However, it is likely that we will probably start adding or replacing smaller back flow preventer covers around town first. There are a lot of them and it will be fun to find interesting versions we can build. We might start with the one on the large island on Rio at the southern town entrance which Mission Landscaping will be refreshing very soon.
Keep an eye out for it!
We are always looking for ideas so don’t be afraid to send us your thoughts to CarmelCares1@gmail.com.
