It was cool seeing this side of L.A., full of historic buildings with lots of character...
I'm one of those people that don't own an iPad or a kindle and actually prefer real books to "swiping" at an electronic page on a table...thus is was truly a pleasure to visit a place I'd read about...
The Last Bookstore was on our "must see" list during this mini road trip.
We usually make it a point to visit either a bookstore and/or a comic book store (along with quirky museum and of course, the de rigeur food stops) whenever we travel.
After the wide doors swung open, we stepped into the coolness of the spacious interior...
enjoying the sights of books arranged neatly on dozens of shelves and tables...
As you look up to the mezzanine level, you will be sure to see interesting art work like this enormous handmade crocheted pieces...
New and used books were mixed together...I was tempted to get "A Light That Never Goes Out" but will bide my time to get it used later...The other book however, "Autobiography" by Morrissey was a book I did buy through Amazon UK before it was available in the U.S. Talk about a ponderous tome! It's been difficult getting through the pages of Morrissey's unintentionally hilarious and pretentious exhortations...
I'll finish it eventually, once I'm done with my Beatles' obsession (currently am reading "Tune In" by Mark Lewisohn, the definitive Beatles biography up to 1963, "John" by Lennon's first wife, Cynthia, and "In My Life: The Brian Epstein Story" by Debbie Geller and Anthony Wall.
In addition to books, there was quite a large portion of downstairs devoted to vinyl records...
...complete with antiquated audio equipment like this reel to reel player and a record player...
On a shelf was a vintage boombox next to a child's record player, which was a hinged box that you opened up. N had one of these! I remember we would listen to records on that rinky drink record player when we were young teens, then her parents bought her a way better stereo system and THAT was the beginning of us making our own mixed tapes...Fond memories.
Another ancient record player...
Records, records, and more records...
Books were also part of the "furniture" here...
Eclectic artwork was found all over the store...
Here is the veiw from the mezzanine level, most of which is hidden. It runs around the perimeter of the store and contains art gallery and studio spaces, along with rooms and rooms of even more books...
This was the flying typewriter that TC was so keen to see. This was such a cool sight!
I loved how they set up this vignette, with the books flying out of the shelves!
They call the area above the store the "Labyrinth"!
One of the cases had books arranged to form an "O"...
TC wants to live here...
Bert thought it was pretty cool...
There was one room where the books were arranged by color...
Good luck finding stuff though!
Ummm, is that the Fonz?
That was pretty random...
A quick peek out the window reveals the farmer's market below...
Unfortunately the studios and galleries (all by different artists) were closed since it was still early. Those rooms opened up at 2 in the afternoon and we were planning to be somewhere else already.
Bert and I really wanted to see these rooms but alas...closed.
More of the flying typewriter...
Artwork mixed with comic book covers/pages upstairs...
A really cool bookshelf...
A rather creepy pair of legs coming out of who knows what...
"Our Lady the Queen of the Last Bookstore of Los Angeles..."
It's easy to spend at least one hour (or more) in here, but we had places to go and food to try out...
I almost forgot to mention that upstairs also has several rooms where the books are only $1 but they are not organized in any way. I happened to find this for my collection though...
Down with Marcos!
As the dude in "Robocop" (the original, not the reboot with Colin Farrell) would say:
Gahdammit sheeyit!
Only one dollaroo!
Before I sign off, here is Wandering Choptstick'sThe Last Bookstore post from last May which inspired me to do our visit.
The Last Book Store
453 S. Spring St.
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 488-0599
lastbookstorela.com
A walk down the street would lead us to a sweet snack and an interestingly named pet store...
2 comments:
What a rad bookstore! I'd love to browse around through there. I love all the decor in here and I love the smell of books. I am one of those people who loves my Kindle but it took me a long time to convert. I just don't have space anymore for keeping books so the Kindle helps with that. Plus... I can sit and read in the dark, haha.
hi mary - man, you would love it here!!!!
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