California Trip Report, Part 4: Charles M. Schulz Museum
Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 8:13AM 
Part 4 of my trip report. Other parts posted so far:
Part 1 - San Francisco: Hotel Kabuki, Japan Town, Mission District
Part 2 - Postcard Row, Shoe Garden, More San Francisco Sightseeing
Part 3 - TWiT Party In Petaluma
Apologies for slacking off in my trip report. I wanted the writing of this report to be something I could linger over and enjoy, not dash off like a hurried shopping list, but life has been getting in the way. Over the years of writing trip reports in my blogs, I've come to realize that these trip reports are as much about helping me remember events and emotions as it is about sharing with others.
Today I am going to talk about our visit to the Charles M. Schulz Museum & Research Center in Santa Clara. Our original plans had not included the visit to this place, and I'm grateful to Jeff for noticing it in a tourist brochure after we had already started the trip.
I have always been a fan of the Peanuts comic by Charles Shultz. It was one of the first comics that I ever read as a child, and I was always a big fan of the animated Charlie Brown cartoons on television as well.
When we first arrived, Jeff and I wondered why the museum signage was so closely associated with the skating rink next door. Why not keep them separate, to be less confusing for tourists? Later in the museum, we discovered Schulz (or "Sparky," as he was nicknamed by friends) loved ice sports.
And DUH, I should have remembered all of the hockey and figure skating references in his comics! Anyway, it turns out that Schulz owned the Redwood Empire Ice Arena; the arena opened in 1969 with a gala event that started in 1968 Olympic gold medalist Peggy Fleming as well as the Vince Guaraldi trio -- I wish I could have been there!!
Anyway, the museum was amazing. I had figured it would just be a small exhibit aimed at children, but there were many displays and a time of information geared toward adults. Or more specifically, grown-ups who are kids at heart as well as long time Peanuts fans.
One of my favorite exhibits was this wall:
Sure, it may not look like much in this photo, but scroll down:
Keep going:
Pretty cool, huh?
This mural was designed by Yoshiteru Otani and is composed of 3588 ceramic tiles, or about 10 years' worth of daily strips.
There were displays of Sparky's early sketches:
As an artist, I was inspired. Charles Schultz clearly sketched from real life a ton, and not in his Peanuts cartoon style.
Another surprising discovery: some of his strips were much larger in real life than I expected, and made it possible for me to peer more closely at Schulz's wonderful line work. MUCH looser and freeform than they appear in the comparatively tiny strips that appeared in newspapers.
Here is a nursery wall that Charles Schultz painted for his daughter Meredith very early on, in oil paints:
After the Schulz family sold their home in 1952, subsequent owners painted over the wall at least different times. Then in 1979, owner Polly Travnicek uncovered the original painting using cotton balls and sanding liquid.The wall was donated to the museum in 2001.
Another of my favorite exhibits was the re-creation of Schultz's studio:
After we left the museum, Jeff and I headed over to The Warm Puppy Café, where Charles Schulz used to eat regularly:
Schulz died in 2000, but the Café keeps his table near the window reserved:
For more information about the Charles M. Schulz Museum, see:
Some related videos...
1984 interview:
Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography
When CNN announced the death of Charles M. Schulz: