Spotted in Boston: Bigfoot Research Institute

In my ongoing quest to visit all of the 826 Stores I managed to stop by the Greater Boston Research Institute on the one day I had to explore Boston on a recent trip up there. Sadly it was a Sunday and the Institute was closed, but even from the outside it was very entertaining. For those of you that aren't familiar with the 826 project it was created, in part by author Dave Eggars, to facilitate creative writing programs for kids. The first location was 826Valencia and its adjoining Pirate Store in San Francisco.
Like the other stores the space is not in the center of town and none of my friends in the area had even heard of it! Needless to say my friends that brought me there, plan to go back when it's open to get some official GBRI tin cups and specimen jars!

Seriously, if anyone wants to start an 826 program in Richmond, VA or nearby I'm officially volunteering to do the design work!

Spotted in LA: Time Travel Mart

I've made a point of checking out the 826 stores whenever I travel to a city that has one. Happily I had some time on my recent LA visit to check out the Echo Park Time Travel Mart. For those of you that aren't familiar with the 826 project it was created, in part by author Dave Eggars, to facilitate creative writing programs for kids. The first location was 826Valencia and its adjoining Pirate Store in San Francisco. Like the others, the Time Travel Mart is filled with delightful objects that play off the theme and create a wonderful sense of walking into an alternate universe, most are for sale and of course purchases go to support the program. In this case it turns out the graphic design was done by none other than my fellow daily art maker Stefan Bucher. What really makes the place are the little details including some familiar signage turned on its head, including a note on the drink machine that said "Out of Order, Please come back yesterday." What's particularly amusing is that it blends so well into the neighborhood, despite the caveman meeting a robot window display, that several people came in when I was there not even realizing it's not a normal convenience store. It's a must see on your next LA visit. Find out more about 826LA HERE.