Just Browsing - Places to find actual books in LA
LA Central Library
5th and Flower
LA Central library was built in 1926.
“Architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue designed the original Los Angeles Central Library with influences of ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean Revival architecture.
- It has sculptural elements by the preeminent American architectural sculptor Lee Lawrie.”
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This guy did a lot of work with iconography and ancient legends at buildings all over the place if you check out his work further.
The many sphinxes, statues, and the pyramid that tops the building have a vague "secret society" vibe. Not to mention the whole place is built like an ancient temple.
The murals depicting California history in the stunning rotunda seem a little colonial today, but are amazing anyhow. The library has seemed to acknowledge this by putting up sort of a "rebuttal mural" by Chicano artists right below it.
To me, the mural and weird statutes were 20th Century ideals that knowledge should get the same reverence as religion. Also, the City of LA had a rowdy reputation in the 1920's and the city wanted to say "No, we're not some wild west town. Look how much we love knowledge."
The library was beloved for many years. However downtown suffered hard times in the 1970's, and the crack problem swept through the area in the 1980's. The library became rundown and seedy with people loitering all around.
The library was almost demolished after a 1986 fire.
Efforts were made to not only save the library but fully restore it and build a whole new wing. It was reopened in 1994.
Over the years the services have expanded to reflect the times. Although they've had problems with transients and insensitive murals, you can tell the library is truly cared about from those who run it.
It's interesting to me that in a digital world you will still find people reading and studying and using the library as usual.
Even the Central Library deep in downtown Los Angeles that seems more like a tourist attraction with its rotunda and weird statues.
It's still very much an active library as a well as a beautiful tourist attraction.
THE LAST BOOKSTORE
5th and Spring
We've seen a lot of posts on social media about this place and decided to check it out ourselves.
“The store was founded by Josh Spencer in 2005; the first incarnation was a downtown Los Angeles loft, they sold books and other things online only. Then they decided to focus on books, opened a small bookstore on 4th Street and Main Street in December 2009. They moved to the current incarnation in the Spring Arts Tower at 5th Street and Spring Street on June 3, 2011. It contains 22,000 square feet.”
This place is amazing! A wonderland of books, records, and artist pop-up shops. All of this in the bones of an old bank.
This was the old Crocker-Citizen's National bank branch that opened in 1914.
“The building, which will, with its appointments, cost more than $1,000,000, was planned by Architects Parkinson and Bergstrom and is being built by the Commercial Fireproof Building Company, as owner… The big block will extend to the full height allowed by law and will have a frontage of 155 feet on Fifth Street by 115 feet on Spring. On the eleven upper floors will be 450 offices. The exterior will be handsomely faced with terra cotta and the interior is to be finished in marble and tile.
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The bank closed in the 1980's and eventually the building was sold to an art collective. The building itself has been part of an art collective for some time, but the bookstore opened in 2011
In addition to the bookstore, the building has offices, lofts and even a nightclub in the former bank's basement vault.
The crowd is an eclectic mix of hipsters and tourists. There are also a few serious reader types who seem to lament all the hub-bub.
In the former upstairs bank offices are a super rad part of the bookstore that has tons bookshelves that make up a labyrinth, complete a tunnel formed from books.
This tunnel has become famous on social media, so now there are many folks clamoring for their pics. (Including Ourselves)
Upstairs there are also some artist pop-up shops with everything from cat paintings, to a yarn store, to an antique typewriter seller. Crystal said it was like Etsy come to life.
I feel like they are looking to bring in the serious readers. They do, but also a lot of tourists. Perhaps it's the name or the historic building, but a lot of people were marveling at the books as if they were in a museum. Others, like they were in the last refuge of a familiar world. I think the name of the place was supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek reference to the demise of bookstores rather than books or reading itself. A hipster sense of humor and irony is taken surprisingly literal on many folks. People pose for pictures with books like they are some ancient artifact.
That's funny because a few blocks away at the Central Library college students are studying away with many open books and of course a laptop. People of all ages and socio-economic statuses are quietly reading books. People are reading books to their kids and there's a story-time theater happening. Books seem like a normal part of life here, and the library seems like more of a community center.
The Last Bookstore? Maybe. But the library seems alive and well and I don't think the last page has been turned on books. So while The Last Bookstore is a must see, don't take its name too seriously. The historic building, book tunnel and rad selection are amazing, but the book hasn't closed on print yet.
Sources and Historic Photos Courtesy:
http://waterandpower.org
http://wikipedia.org
https://www.lapl.org/branches/central-library
