SAN DIEGO, CA — I have begun research on what I expect will be my next book, dealing with the lives and times of Joseph S. Mannasse and Marcus Schiller, pioneer merchants and city-builders of 19th Century San Diego.  It's the kind of routine one can enjoy.  I hop into my quiet car (afterall, the license plate says B'Shalom, meaning "in peace") and I navigate my way to Balboa Park via University Avenue where bridge lovers like myself can see a classic just beyond the intersection of Florida Street.  Thence it is to Balboa Park, where the scenery is always changing and ever-interesting.

 
Commuting to Balboa Park— In the peace-mobile, I head down University Avenue, turning before the cool 
bridge, and, if possible, park somewhere close to the landmark fountain, which today pranksters apparently
had filled with laundry soap, it was so sudsy.  A short walk takes one to the east entrance of the Casa de
Balboa, where a sign tells of the museums inside. At the main entrance around the corner, a banner for the 
exhibition of works by Belle Beranceanu was too colorful not to catch the eye.  The archives of the Museum
of San Diego History are located on the basement floor, which it shares with the Model Railroad Museum.

Today, for example, some prankster must have dumped laundry detergent into the park's signature fountain located off Park Boulevard between the Natural History Museum and the Reuben Fleet Science Center.  The short walk to the Casa de Balboa was rewarded with a banner for the current exhibit at the Museum of San Diego history featuring the art works of Belle Beranceanu.  Then, it was down to the archives, where I had done a considerable amount of research for the book I wrote about Louis Rose. Using the key word Mannasse, I found that there were 72 collections of documents in which his name appears.  Most of these are the records and papers of J.S. Mannasse's contemporaries, but one proved to be a box of Mannasse's own correspondence.  That box alone will keep me busy for many hours.  As always, Jane Kenneally, the head archivist, was helpful, as was Carol Myers, who, though assigned to the photo archives, is ready to assist in the document archives as well.

While in the archives, I chatted with Professor Iris Engstrand of the University of San Diego, who, with her students, was researching a project for the San Diego Bar Association .  Also, I saw Linda Canada, who was researching something that we didn't discuss because it might come before me in my capacity as a member of the City of San Diego's Historical Resources Board. Instead, we chatted about another project in which she is involved: creating a photographic timeline of Jewish San Diego for Jewish Family Service. 

Before I knew it, the half hour of 4:30 p.m. had arrived, when the archives close.  I returned home via State Highway 163, passing under another favorite bridge—the Cabrillo Bridge, which leads from 6th and Laurel into Balboa Park—and endured rush traffic on the eastbound Interstate 8, especially near the interchange with Interstate 805.

  

  
Afternoon commute—It's a pleasure on the northbound State 163, especially under the Cabrillo Bridge, but
the eastbound Interstate 8 is a freeway of a different tenor.  Although standing in traffic does permit one to
safely photograph the I-8/I-805 Interchange at the Jack Schrade Bridge, the ride has  plenty of brake lights.