Vic C.
Yelp
The Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden opened in 2002 and is free to visit. There is free street parking available, just be sure to read the signs.
The sculpture of Dr. Theodor Seuss Geisel himself was created by his stepdaughter. This bronze sculpture is of Dr. Seuss at his drawing board with the Cat in the Hat at his side. There are also some items on his desk that includes a pair of scissors, a ruler, some pencils, a note pad and also a drawing of a balloon in the sky with the cloud behind it.
Behind this sculpture is a 14 foot Horton the Elephant stepping out of an open book, in addition to Thing One, Thing Two, Sam I Am (holding a plate of his famous green ham), Sally and her brother and Thidwick the big hearted moose.
Right in front of the Dr. Seuss sculpture is a large book, Oh The Places You'll Go! On top of the book is Gertrude McFuzz and the Grinch with his dog Max peeking from the side of the book at the bottom.
Much further away, by the museum is The Lorax, on top of a tree stump. Then down the pathway by the Lorax is the Yertle Garden where you will see a tower of 10 turtles stacked on top of each other.
Dr. Seuss was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and grew up not too far from this museum and sculpture garden. But his studio was in La Jolla, California. His stepdaughter had seen first hand of him creating and drawing so many characters for future books that she knew she had to create the sculpture of him that you can see in this sculpture garden today.
Because Dr. Seuss did have his studio in La Jolla, there is an identical sculpture of him with the Cat in the Hat on UCSD's campus (in front of the Geisel Library, the very interesting building that you can't miss on campus).
This garden is truly a hidden gem and so beautiful to visit. If you read any of the famous childhood books by Dr. Seuss (which includes How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who!, Oh, the Places You'll Go! (the non-bronze, non-10-foot-tall version), I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, The Sneetches and Other Stories, The Butter Battle Book, Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book, and The Cat in the Hat), then it may just be worth a trip down memory lane to come visit this garden and bring out your inner child.