Best Bets for the Break: A quick guide to online entertainment and virtual experiences
The La Jolla Light presents this continuing series of online activities to undertake on your computer or tablet during your quarantine quandary.
Lectures & learning
• The San Diego Model Railroad Museum presents “San Diego’s Streetcars: From Boom to Bust and Back Again” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17. The online lecture features author, engineer and historian Jim Price in a discussion of the history of railroad construction and operation in San Diego County, with an emphasis on the San Diego Electric Railway and San Diego trolley system. Donations are requested. facebook.com/ModelRailroadMuseum/events
• The La Jolla Community Center presents an online forum featuring San Diego City Council District 1 candidates Joe LaCava and Will Moore at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17. Questions for the moderated event may be submitted in advance to info@ljcommunitycenter.org. Register at ljcommunitycenter.org/forum.
• The La Jolla Community Center continues its Wednesday Connect series with “La Cena È Pronta (Dinner is Ready)” at 10 a.m. Sept. 23. The free virtual event, featuring opera singers Alexandra Rodrick and Joshua Arky, explores how food and music enrich our lives, bring people together and sometimes serve as our downfall. Register at ljcommunitycenter.org/wednesday-connect.
• Warwick’s bookstore presents a “Total Meditation” webinar at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24. The online event includes bestselling author Deepak Chopra discussing his new book, “Total Meditation: Practices in Living the Awakened Life,” along with a 15-minute meditation and a copy of “Total Meditation” mailed to those who attend. $35. warwicks.com/event/chopra-2020
• The La Jolla Community Center offers beginning acrylic painting classes via Zoom at 11:30 a.m. every Wednesday. To sign up, email deborah@ljcommunitycenter.org.
Family & children
• The La Jolla/Riford Library will hold its Teen Book Club meeting virtually at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19. Teenagers in grades nine through 12 will gather to discuss all things books. There is no set reading list, and participants may read all genres, formats and old or new books. For more information, email sanchezdm@sandiego.gov.
Travel & outdoors
• Mark’s Delicious Adventures presents “Cozy Julian and the Apple Harvest” at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23. The free virtual tour features the specialty stores, attractions and pie shops of Julian, an hour east of San Diego. Register at bit.ly/cozyjulian.
Art & culture
• North Coast Repertory Theatre presents “Theatre Conversations” via its YouTube channel, with one or two conversations posted weekly and previous posts available for viewing. Friday, Sept. 18: actor, director, producer, stage manager and North Coast Rep Associate Artistic Director Christopher Williams. Free. bit.ly/3anjurp
• The San Diego Master Chorale kicks off its six-performance fall season at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, with “O What a Beautiful City.” The virtual performance features composer Shawn Kirchner’s Ukranian-Orthodox- inspired arrangement of the African-American spiritual “O What a Beautiful City!” along with interviews. Tickets are $20, or $100 for a fall series all-access pass, at sdmasterchorale.org.
• The Athenaeum Jazz program returns at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, live online. The monthly performances will stream from the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library’s Music Room, beginning with Holly Hofmann and Joshua White playing jazz standards and originals for flute and piano. Tickets are $12 for Athenaeum members and $15 for the general public at ljathenaeum.org/jazz-at-the-athenaeum.
• San Diego Repertory Theatre, along with the Old Globe theater and La Jolla Playhouse, present “We Are Listening,” a live online salon about Black artists’ experiences in the theater industry, at 7 p.m. every other Thursday. Free sessions feature a discussion followed by a brief question and answer session. The Sept. 24 episode will feature Nikki Cooper, director of patron experience at the McCarter Theatre Center at Princeton University, and Mark Sharp, director of operations at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in New Jersey. New episodes are at bit.ly/wearelisteningnew; past episodes are at bit.ly/wearelisteningpast.
• The San Diego Watercolor Society is presenting its “Lay It on Thick” online art exhibition through Saturday, Sept. 26. The free exhibit, juried by award-winning artist Richard Glassman, also offers online workshops. sdws.org
• The eclectic San Diego vocal performance ensemble Sacra/Profana has posted “Cars: A Socially Distant Choral Arrangement” online. Free. bit.ly/sacraprofanacars
• The Old Globe’s free playwriting workshop Community Voices presents a Spanish version, Voces de la Comunidad, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. every Monday with hosts and teaching artists Gerardo Flores Tonella and Valeria Vega online. theoldglobe.org
Virtual galas & events
• The nonprofit Promises2Kids, which supports San Diego foster children, will hold its virtual fundraiser Brighter Futures ball drop on Friday, Oct. 2. Golf balls, for sale starting at $25 each through the event date, will be loaded in a helicopter and dropped at 5 p.m. at the Del Mar Golf Center. The ball that lands closest to the pin will win its owner a $2,500 cash prize provided by Carmel Mountain Preschool. give.classy.org/promises2kidsballdrop
• The San Diego Humane Society’s annual Fur Ball gala is online through Saturday, Oct. 3. Contributors can participate in an online auction or make a donation. sdhumane.org/furball
What have you found for entertainment or other activity from a (social) distance? Email your leads to efrausto@lajollalight.com. ◆
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