LAist: Summer Guide to Bookish LA

Mark Miller

Sat, 19 May 2007 22:41:47 -0800

I have always liked Arcana in Santa Monica. Good selection of art and architecture books.

Short Attention Sp

Fri, 18 May 2007 19:15:25 -0800

Seconded on that Either / Or RIP - best bookstore in the South Bay through the '80s. Got turned on to so many good books there! Their dog was tuff! Also RIP: Alternative Groove Records, right next door.

Candide De Luge

Fri, 18 May 2007 17:58:56 -0800

Bookstar is... unassuming. It's store that has books in it. You get the impression that in about 8 hours you could convert it into a Crate and Barrel or Z-Gallery. Duttons in North Hollywood. It's dirtier and more scruffy than its Brentwood sister but they certainly have some buried treasures amongst the dust. LAX used to have a great little store in the back of Terminal 6 when I used to fly United. I think it was a British chain. They had some wild stuff. I went back a while ago... it's crap. I was told they used to have booksellers who actually did the ordering for the shop but I guess that was ages ago. RIP Either Or Books and Midnight Special.

Brett Battles

Fri, 18 May 2007 15:29:48 -0800

Don't forget The Mystery Bookstore in Westwood! Great spot for mysteries, thrillers and all things suspense. They have a lot of author appearances, too. It's one of those places where the staff really knows what they're talking about.

callie

Fri, 18 May 2007 15:09:07 -0800

hc - totally with you on the bookstar being "big box" & not remotely indie...but because of its old-theater location, it doesn't feel quite as sterile as, say, your average Barnes & Noble...

Michelle

Fri, 18 May 2007 14:45:22 -0800

Book Soup often infuriates me, though, because they never seem to have any of the books I'm looking for. And they do unfriendly things like leave an employee's recommendation card on the shelf for months after they've sold out of the book, making you want something and telling you that you can't have it all at the same time. As for bookstores I feel positive about, there's The Cook's Library, next to Traveler's on 3rd, which includes every possible cookbook for every imaginable cuisine, plus fun and helpful staff. Book Castle's Movie World in Burbank is much fun as well, if digging through unlabeled stacks of old scripts, film magazines, and general-interest reads sounds like fun to you. Just remember to dose up on Benadryl before you go--it's moldy and dusty in there.

julio

Fri, 18 May 2007 14:12:56 -0800

what about the illiad?....used to be the best location in town...right next to oddyssey video....even though they moved, they're still an awesome used bookstore....

hc

Fri, 18 May 2007 13:53:09 -0800

I'd call Bookstar a big box. It's a B. Dalton, owned by Barnes & Noble. Not remotely indie.