The easy answer is that the person who planned the convention lives in San Diego but there are actually even better reasons than that.

1. Glenn Curtiss is often spoke of as the inspiration for the character of Tom Swift. While his main home was in Hammondsport, N.Y., he had a training school in San Diego and was often here during important parts of his life. (In 2009 a small Tom Swift meeting was held at the Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, N.Y. in anticipation of this larger 100th anniversary celebration).

2. Charles Lindbergh and other important aviation figures have strong ties to San Diego.

3. Edward Stratemeyer, the creator of Tom Swift and founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate responsible for these books and others (such as Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, etc.), visited San Diego in 1915 for the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park. The tour which we are holding on Friday will follow partly in Edward Stratemeyer's footsteps and let you see the San Diego he experienced.

4. Again, the organizer of the event lives in San Diego and has some items he wishes to display which cannot be easily transported so location was a factor.