Starbucks Los Angeles mug: Discovery Series
The Los Angeles Discovery Series mug shows the Santa Monica Pier with its Ferris wheel, Griffith Observatory, a film reel and movie camera, a burger food truck, a cyclist carrying a surfboard, a seal with a volleyball and a lifeguard tower.
- Series
- Discovery Series
- Place
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Type
- Mug
- Released
- Not confirmed
- Capacity
- 14 fl ozstandard mug size
- SKU
- Not confirmed
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The vote to replace Santa Monica's pier with a hotel
In 1972 Santa Monica's city council voted to tear down its pier. The plan was a concrete island and a 29-story hotel, according to Sanford Holst, media spokesman for the citizens' group that fought it [5]. The group, Save Santa Monica Bay, qualified a "save the pier" initiative for the city ballot, and the council reversed itself [5]. The order to raze the pier was revoked in 1973 [3]. In 1996 an amusement park, Pacific Park, opened on what was left, with a Ferris wheel and a coaster [4]. The Ferris wheel on the Los Angeles mug (8) may be the one on that pier.
The mug does not label its drawings, so connecting this one to the story is our reading.
What's on the mug
- 1Lettering
LOS ANGELES is printed in red capitals over a dark green circle.
- 2Film reel
A blue film reel with five grey-blue holes sits at the upper right of the green circle, with a dark blue strip of film trailing off to its left. Pale yellow and pink rays fan out from the movie camera toward the reel. The mug doesn't say what the reel stands for.
- 3Movie camera on a tripod
A blue vintage movie camera with two round yellow-centred film magazines on top stands on a thin tripod at the right of the reel, aimed to the left. It is drawn at the edge of the front view, next to the handle.
- 4Food truck with a burger on the roof
A pink food truck with a yellow cab has a person visible in its serving window and a large burger on the roof. It sits at the lower middle of the front view, below the lettering. The mug doesn't say which truck or which food it stands for.
- 5Bicycle
A bicycle with a yellow frame and red-rimmed wheels shows at the lower left of the front view. It is the same bicycle ridden by the cyclist on the Side view, seen here from the end of that scene.
- 6Surfboard
A long yellow surfboard with a pink outline points toward the lettering at the left of the front view. It is the board the cyclist carries on the Side view, so the two are one object seen in two photos.
- 7Griffith Observatory
A long, low lavender building has a large blue dome over an arched doorway in the middle and a smaller red-and-yellow dome at each end, with pale yellow stars above it. One large central dome with a smaller dome at each end matches Griffith Observatory: Wikipedia describes a planetarium under the large central dome, and the observatory's own telescope page places copper-clad domes on either end of the building. The colours are stylised, and the mug doesn't name it.[1][2]
- 8Santa Monica Pier and its Ferris wheel Side view
A pier on rows of black pilings carries a Ferris wheel with blue, pink and yellow wedges between its spokes and red cars on the rim, with red roller-coaster track in front of the wheel and a tall blue post beside it. A pier with a Ferris wheel and a coaster matches the Santa Monica Pier and its Pacific Park amusement park, which has a solar-panelled Ferris wheel and a steel coaster running around the park. The mug doesn't name it.[3][4]
- 9Seal balancing a volleyball Side view
A large blue seal lies on yellow sand with its head raised and mouth open, a volleyball balanced above its nose. It has pink and yellow marks on its chest and a thick, swollen-looking nose. The drawing doesn't show which kind of seal or sea lion it is, and the mug doesn't say.
- 10Cyclist carrying a surfboard Side view
A person in a yellow helmet, sunglasses, a black top and red shorts rides a yellow bicycle while carrying a long yellow surfboard with a pink outline. The same bicycle and board continue onto the Front view.
- 11Lifeguard tower Back view
A blue-and-pink lifeguard cabin with two dark windows and a flat pink roof stands on red stilts with cross bracing, with a railed deck running to its right and two thin masts rising from the roof. No flag is drawn on them. The mug doesn't say which beach it stands on.
- 12Rolled beach mat and blue container Back view
An orange striped mat is rolled up on the sand beside the tower, with a yellow-and-green end showing. A tall, narrow blue container with a loop at the top stands next to the tower's leg. The drawing doesn't show what the container is.
- 13Palm trees and yellow bus Back view
Tall palm trees with pink trunks stand in front of a yellow bus with a black-and-yellow checked pattern, a row of tall pink columns and a pink hill-shaped patch. This scene continues onto the left edge of the Side photo, where the bus shows its windows and a wheel. The mug doesn't name the street or the bus.
- 14Bowl of noodles
A round bowl outlined in black holds orange noodles, two egg halves with yellow yolks, red pieces and a blue piece, with a pair of blue chopsticks laid across the rim. It floats above the cyclist at the left of the front view and shows again at the upper right of the Side photo. The mug doesn't name the dish.
- 15Yellow map-like shape
A zigzag yellow shape with thin lines across it sits above a strip of small coloured blocks in pink, yellow and blue, at the upper left of the green circle. It reads like a folded paper map and may be a stylised street map, but the drawing is too simple to say, and the mug doesn't name it.
- 16Life ring Back view
A red-and-white life ring hangs on the railing of the lifeguard tower's deck, to the right of a small green round sign.
- 17Pink shape with yellow crescents Back view
A pink oval holds three overlapping yellow crescents dotted with dark specks, floating above the lifeguard tower. It may be a stack of folded tacos, as the burger and noodle bowl are also food drawings, but this is a guess and the mug doesn't name it.
- 18Volleyball and net Side view
A red, yellow and blue volleyball hangs above the seal's nose, with a pink-and-blue net on a black pole standing on the yellow sand just to its right.
- 19STARBUCKS wordmark Back view
STARBUCKS with the registered mark is printed in dark capitals, running vertically beside the handle on the back view.
The photos show the Front, Side and Back, which cover most of the wrap; the stretch directly beside and behind the handle and the inside are not shown. Release year, SKU and any retirement status are not confirmed.
Collector notes
- The inside of this mug is light blue, which shows at the rim and is not used in the artwork.
- The photo was taken on a shelf in front of other Discovery Series boxes, so the lettering on the boxes behind the handle is not part of the mug.
- The stretch of wrap directly beside and behind the handle is in none of the three photos, so this list covers only what the Front, Side and Back photos show.
Before you buy
The inside of this mug is light blue. The photos do not show the stretch of wrap beside and behind the handle. Los Angeles also appears in the Been There, Icon, Relief and You Are Here series, so check the series name on the base.
