The Last Bookstore

In light of Ross turning in his priorities for clinical placement, and crossing our fingers for getting CALIFORNIA, I thought I would pick a random California summer adventure and blog about it.

Last summer Ross and I spent time in both Utah and California, trying as best as we could to visit all of our family and friends. Sadly I didn't get to visit everyone I wanted, but it was still a great summer!

Whenever I am in California there is always ALWAYS something new to do. That is one of the reasons I love it. No matter how many hundreds of times I have explored the beautiful city of Los Angeles, there is always something new to discover.

At the same time, there will always be that handful of things I want to do over and over. Most of them involve food (Tito's, I'm looking at you). This one involves books.

In the past three or so years my family discovered a little gem of a place called The Last Bookstore. It's in the heart of beautiful downtown LA. My heart aches just thinking about it.

The Last Bookstore is the largest independent bookstore in California. They buy and sell new and used books and records (ah, Amoeba Music, I miss you too). Don't let the title "independent" scare you. This is not your typical mom-&-pop-hole-in-the-wall place. This isn't your hostel-bookshelf-filled-with-random-German-books-and-Danielle-Steele-novels place.This isn't your uppity-everything-costs-5-times-more-than-normal place.

The outside is very unassuming. In fact, the first time that we went (I think they had just recently moved to that location) we almost missed it. But from your first step in the door you begin to understand.

You start to see the tip of the book-berg (iceberg, but with books).

Kind of like this:



Books Books Books. On shelving carts, in boxes, on the wall, on the floor. 



Once you are all in (but seriously there is no turning back now) you get a nice view of the ground floor.

But this is a view from the second floor...

The ground floor is a great place to find strategically grouped and categorized books both used and new. But in my humble opinion, the real magic starts when you go upstairs. Head to the left corner, back by the little coffee bar. Go up the stairs (because you shouldn't trust that elevator). You'll feel pretty sneaky, like you are breaking some rules or something. At least, I did the first time.

The mezzanine is the "Labryinth" which is just so magically fitting for a place as unique as this. Take all the imagery from Pan's Labyrinth and The Labyrinth, smash it together, add a massive amount of books, and BOOM, You are there.

One of the most magical things about this Labyrinth is that every book is only $1. Yep. I said that right. ONE DOLLAR. It is like a treasure hunt. Hasn't it always been your dream to just sit in a room full of BOOKS?! Maybe... maybe not.

You could wander upstairs for hours and not get bored. Some of the shelves are roughly categorized (sometimes with little sticky notes) and some color categorized. It really is like a scavenger hunt. I don't recommend looking for a specific book, but just wander, take a gander, and fall in love. You'll easily have piles of books in your hands.

Since everything is a dollar, now might be a good time to learn all about Swedish Jazz Disco-Graphy like you've always wanted.



You can gaze at the random pieces of art, wander through book tunnels and stroll into the old bank vault. You'll find light switches in books, and maybe even a secret room!



There is a very wide variety of books, some are more recent and very decent looking. Some are ancient but amazing. They have over-sized books that are great for your coffee table, best selling novels, kitschy books, seriously, ALL KINDS. Some of my favorite finds include a Laura Ingalls Wilder craft book and a 1950s Best of the Pillsbury Bake-off.

Even if you hate books (which I am pretty sure makes you The Devil -but I don't judge), it is such an artistic (can't help you if you don't like art) and unique place that it is worth a visit. If you ever find yourself leaving the store at a decent hour, you can ride "the shortest railway in the world" or get some amazing food at the Nickel Diner, to name a couple more amazing things in downtown L.A.