Start out in Pasadena, birthplace of Octavia Butler and where Jamieson also spent lots of time as a child. The Gourmet Cobbler Factory, a Black-owned bakery known for incredible cobblers, bread, and even New Orleans-style gumbo, is one of Jamieson’s first recommendations in the area. “The Cobbler Factory is one of my favorites,” says Jamieson. “It's been around for probably almost 50 years. When we were filming for Black-owned companies, we got cobbler from the Cobbler Factory.”

Favorite place to eat in SoCal: I really love the Pasadena Fish Market. While they fry up fresh fish, you can also get authentic cooked Jamaican food and Jamaican patties!I really love the Pasadena Fish Market. While they fry up fresh fish, you can also get authentic cooked Jamaican food and Jamaican patties!

Best kept SoCal secret: I really love Octavia’s Bookshelf. It’s so approachable, and there are so many cool events and goodies in there. I’ll drop my kids off at school and I’ll just run in to buy a few things and go back home. Because I'm like, I need some retail therapy. Let me go buy some more bookmarks. I never let anyone know I'm going because I just want to enjoy my shopping in my yoga pants. I'm not there in any scholarly capacity. It’s purely for my own self soothing.

Jamieson also likes the food from Clifton’s BBQ, a partner restaurant at the Cobbler Factory and in the same building. “They have things like greens, macaroni and cheese, and other African American traditional foods.”

In 2022, the public middle school that Butler attended as a student, took on her name in her honor. Butler’s influence is woven into much about Octavia E. Butler Magnet Middle School and its STEAM-based curriculum to inspire future generations. "They have programs that the community can take part in,” explains Jamieson. "It’s very much grassroots, about access, and a public good, which were all deeply important to Octavia."

Pasadena's main library is currently undergoing earthquake retrofit construction, but visitors can stop by the beautiful La Pintoresca library branch. “It’s a neighborhood library within walking distance of some of the places that Butler lived,” recommends Jamieson. “They have a new librarian, and one of their initiatives is a Science Fiction Book Club for adults, which is very cool."

Leaving Pasadena, head next to LACMA to check out a PST ART exhibition on which Jamieson collaborated. In The Monophobic Response, the interdisciplinary artist American Artist recreated and filmed a rocket test, originally performed by characters in Butler’s Parable series, as part of an exploration of technology, the migration of African-diasporic families from the South to the West, and re-establishing the relevance of Butler’s work to today’s time and needs.

For the next stage of Jamieson’s tour, head to Los Angeles’s Union Station and board a train down to San Diego. “I find historic train stations beautiful and fascinating,” says Jamieson. “I once went to San Luis Obispo on the train business class solo, and it was wonderful. It was not only very inexpensive, but the view on the train was the same that [the characters] were walking in [Butler’s] Parable of the Sower, like up the 101 along the coast."

When you arrive, for a little fresh air—and wonderful ocean views—stroll along the coastal bluffs in San Diego’s beautiful Sunset Cliffs Natural Park. You might even spot a migrating California gray whale. Further afield but equally peaceful are Mission Trails Regional Park and Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.

Next, your final destination, San Diego’s New Children’s Museum is host to a PST ART series of public programming that Jamieson helped to create as advising curator of Octavia E. Butler: Seeding Futures exhibit as part of Science Fiction Creates the Future, inspired by the life and works of Butler. Led by Jamieson’s Octavia E. Butler Network, artists Cannupa Hanska Luger, and Saya Woolfalk, events include panels, family workshops, an educator institute, large-scale art installations, and more.