Immersion at and into Children's Book World. Photo by Deborah Stokol.
“I noticed I had developed a fantasy about myself as a writer as opposed to actually doing it, [so] I finally summoned up the bad taste to move to Los Angeles.”
—Leslie Dixon
Perhaps there really is something inherently tacky about Los Angeles.
Whether it’s the mismatched houses, the nouveau riche displays of wealth, or the combination of flip flops with ball gowns, this not-uniform sprawl is undeniably unconventional.
But despite that gaucherie, LA has a pretty long tradition (well, long for a relatively new city) of city-based writers (especially screen writers).
Besides Hollywood’s (questionable) allure, one of the things that draws out-of-towners to this coastal metropolis, or keeps locals from leaving, (besides the weather) is that very bizarre collection of brash traits and “bad taste.”
Despite its “airhead” reputation, LA boasts a diverse population of people who love to read.
It’s no surprise Los Angeles has a slew of Borders and Barnes & Nobles. And I’d be lying if I were to say I wasn’t a fan of these mammoth, warehouse-like book sources, replete with carpets and coffee and couches to lounge on.
But the city’s large, commercial bookstores have a complement in the many independent book shops you’ll find here. LA’s big enough to accommodate those hoping for the practical chain store, with its supply and consistency, as well as the cozy, one-of-a-kind shop.
The Great Gatsby’s Jordan Baker once said she liked “large parties [because] they’re so intimate. At small parties there’s never any privacy.” The same rule goes for wide cities: their size can account for many mounds, crannies, crevasses, variety, and secrets.
Here are five bookshops—small, perhaps even unknown, that grace the city’s many borders.
Children’s Book World
10580 ½ W. Pico Blvd.
LA, CA 90064
310.559.2665
Mon-Fri: 10 a.m.-5:30 a.m.
Sat: 10 a.m.- 5p.m.
It’s hard for me to be objective about this gem. Its enthusiastic employees introduced me to too many of my favorite books growing up. I spent many riveting afternoons there, curled up with an otherwise-impossible-to-find piece of fiction. But even were I not to have the fondest memories of the place, and even were I not to be aware of the fact that those working there know the ins and outs of all pages making their way through the ½ sign door, I would still say anybody with a soft spot for children, or children’s literature, or finger puppets, or story time should make his or her way to this three-room fantastical HQ.
Hennessey + Ingalls
214 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310.458.9074
Mon-Sun: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Hennessey + Ingalls is beautiful, a real treat to explore. Just around the corner from the 3rd Street Promenade and another from the Santa Monica bluffs, this shop, like Rizzoli and Taschen, is a monument to art and architecture, and books concerning the two. It takes the specialized bookstore to an elegant and almost old-world level—you can almost see a scribe, a quill, and handwritten sets of parchment maps out of the corner of your eye—while offering intricate cards and handmade journals to purchase on your way out as you leave, inspired to create something lovely of your own.
The Mystery Bookstore
1036-C Broxton Ave.
LA, CA 90024
310.209.0415
Mon-Thurs: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
Fri-Sat: 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Sun: 12 p.m.-7 p.m.
An almost subterranean bookstore implausibly hidden between Westwood Village’s Eurochow and a parking lot, the Mystery Bookstores sells books only dealing with mysteries, offering the random and weird in addition to the commercial and easy-to-find. Harried passerbys and sweatershirt-clad students will be surprised at the scope of the Mystery Bookstore’s offerings. They are as likely to find new copies of Agatha Christie and Christopher Pike as they are to see dog-eared copies of Conan Doyle’s works.
Metropolis Books
440 S. Main St.
LA, CA 90013
213.612.0174
Tues-Sat: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sun: 12 p.m.-5 p.m.
Second Thurs of each month (Art Walk): open until 10 p.m.
Straight out of Fritz Lang’s brain and onto the city’s streets, the title of this bookstore fittingly complements its placement in the bleak, post-apocalyptic setting of LA’s Downtown. True, this little section of Downtown is eclectic and funky, attracting a twenty-something crowd to its SoHo-like blocks, but the rest of the general area is stark and almost forbidding. Nevertheless, there’s something truly poetic—almost reminiscent of a comic book aesthetic—about that desolate countenance. It makes escaping into a warm, spacious, brightly-lit, well-stocked, book-filled zone all the more appealing. And once you’ve stepped inside and inched towards the shelves, you can pull a book down, one that’s either new, or was once lovingly paged through by unknown hands, sit on a stool, and begin to read with your coffee beside you and your knees drawn to your chin.
Village Books
1049 Swarthmore Ave.
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
310.454.4063
Mon-Fri: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Sat-Sun: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
LA hipsters have long and disparagingly called the Pacific Palisades a cultural wasteland, full of people more concerned with tennis and tanning than with literary pursuits. But that characterization is unfair. Not-so-hidden at the end of one of the city-within-a-city’s main street blocks, Swarthmore, lies a small, warmly lit, and very welcoming bookshop by the name of Village Books. Veteran employees bake biscuits once a week and pass them around, the back-end children’s section looks like a full nook or one half of an internal brown gazebo, and the multitude of books makes a visitor wonder how so many volumes can fit into so petite a space. What the store doesn’t carry, its workers can order, and this haven has another marked advantage in its very near proximity to the sea.
Honorable Mentions:
Book Soup
8818 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
310.659.3110
Mon-Sun: 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
Vroman’s Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91101
626.449.5320
Mon-Thurs: 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
Fri-Sat: 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
Sun: 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Skylight Books
1818 N. Vermont Ave.
LA, CA 90027
323.660.1175
Mon-Sun: 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
Portrait of a Bookstore
4360 Tujunga Ave.
Studio City, CA 91604
818.769.3853
Mon-Sat: 9:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
Sun: 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
Hi De Ho Comics & Books with Pictures
525 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310.394.2820
Wed-Sat: 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
Sun-Tues: 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
