Los Angeles, as many metropolitan areas around the country, has lost a number of independent bookstores over the past few years. They have closed for a variety of reason—many spurred by financial difficulties or other unavoidable events, such as Long Beach’s literary institution Acres of Books which met its end after being forced out by a redevelopment project. more ›

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Some of our favorite independent bookstores in LA (Skylight Books, Vroman's, Diesel, Book Soup) have been targeted by scammers claiming to be some of our favorite writers. more ›

As we lamented in February, Beyond Baroque was in danger of losing its lease and Venice was in danger of losing one of the most unique places for poets to gather and perform their work. Mere hours before their lease was to expire, L.A. City Council voted to extend the lease for 25 more years - at only $1 a year! more ›

Many LAist staffers, contributors and readers were deeply troubled by the news of Dutton's closure. We all have a favorite memory of Dutton's - a particular book we discovered there, an admired author we met at a reading, a certain afternoon spent browsing. We'd like to honor the many unique memories of Dutton's that we all share with a series of posts about what Dutton's meant to us and what it meant to you. Our first post in this series is from LAist reader Laura Hertzfeld: more ›

Sad, sad news in bookish LA: Dutton's Brentwood is closing its doors. After a long battle with developers and uncertainty, which we covered last year, Doug Dutton has made the difficult decision to close. more ›