At the NW corner of Grape and India Streets in San Diego sits a little psychic reading room that looks like it might have been a gas station in a former life. The squat brick shop, dwarfed by its towering sign and surrounded by an ever-empty fenced parking lot, endured year after year while the city grew and changed all around it. Its humble, stubborn, misfit character inspired me. I imagined Molly, the psychic medium of TL4D, living there, her backstory, her friendship with Lola. She spoke to me and she was so fun that I kept on hanging out with her.

This neighborhood is called Little Italy. It’s a great place to find contemporary art, eat great Italian food, or watch sailboats dozing on the bay. I never went in the psychic shop, but I have gone in the harlequinesque 7-11 across the street (also in the book) a few times before or after sailing.

Recently I learned the gas station psychic shop is slated for demolition. Beats me if anyone else is going to miss the place, but I know I will.

♥