For the Dutton clan, well-respected fixtures of the Los Angeles bookselling world, the last year has been a series of unfortunate events.
Dutton's Books and Art on Laurel Canyon Boulevard closed last spring after almost half a century when Davis Dutton left for Washington state.
Then, at the end of 2006, Dutton's Beverly Hills shut its doors because of a disagreement over finances with the city, which had lured owner Doug Dutton, Davis Dutton's brother, to the site after a long courtship. The closing has been met with outrage by some locals, who have peppered the mayor and City Council with e-mails and letters.
If these changes in the literary landscape are evoking intense emotion in the city's bookish set -- from declarations of devotion to accusations of betrayal -- it's nothing like what could be unleashed if a long-developing plot twist comes to pass: The three-section, nearly 5,000-square-foot Dutton's Brentwood Books may soon succumb to its landlord's plans to redevelop the site, part of a compound on San Vicente Boulevard.
Arguably Los Angeles' signature independent bookshop, the store is a beacon for both prominent authors and passionate readers. A move would indelibly alter the store's identity, many feel. Dutton's, with its irregular layout, ripped carpet and books overflowing their shelves onto old flagstone floors, is considered by many to be not just a city institution but one of the nation's great idiosyncratic bookstores.
What's more, in a neighborhood where median housing prices approach $2 million, neighbors fear the loss of a quirky, laid-back community gathering spot.
But a reckoning between the burgeoning Westside real estate marketplace and this rambling, anachronistic store seems inevitable.
Independent bookstores increasingly owe their existence to landlords who value their presence and are willing to cut sweetheart deals. But as book lovers and other dreamers are finding, sentiment goes only so far.
Even a sweetheart deal wasn't enough to save the Beverly Hills Dutton's store, which met the fate of many other indies when Doug Dutton found he couldn't make even the below-market rent the city had offered and officials would not renegotiate the store's lease.
Tough competition
For other independent booksellers nationwide and in the Southland, it has been a trying time as well. Beyond the high price of real estate in the kinds of neighborhoods able to support bookstores, they have faced tough competition from giant chain bookstores and online bookselling.
