In an era of Amazon.com and chain bookstores, where a good read is a click or neighborhood mall away, Melody Peck drove more than 100 miles from San Diego to downtown Long Beach to walk Friday among the dusty stacks at Acres of Books, her favorite bookstore, one last time.
After 74 years in business, the independent bookstore giant with an inventory that topped 1 million volumes is closing down to make way for a redevelopment project. The two-story brick building will be transformed into a mix of housing and art galleries as part of the city's plan to connect downtown with its East Village Arts District.
Longtime customers -- many of whom said their parents and grandparents had hunted amid the 6 1/2 miles of shelving for hard-to-find books -- streamed in off Long Beach Boulevard for one last browse through the musty, stiflingly narrow aisles and stacked crates overflowing with titles dating back centuries.
"So sorry to hear you're closing," said Ella Smith, a local who's counted on the bookstore's collection for decades. "Do you have souvenirs? Anything I can remember this place by?"
"Just books," said owner Jackie Smith from behind the counter.
Volumes upon volumes. Acres of Books has no air conditioning or computerized filing system, no Frappuccinos or speakers sounding elevator tunes. Not a place to sit. Need a book? Just ask Jackie and she can point the way. For decades the store has offered an invitingly warm atmosphere and spawned the affection of book lovers throughout Southern California and beyond.
There's Black Sabbath and Miles Davis flowing from an old stereo, hugs at the counter between loyal regulars and Smith. And watching sluggishly from a wooden plank above the shelves is the bookstore's cat, Penelope.
Acres of Books opened on Pacific Street in 1934 and moved into the current building in the 1940s, taking over from a country-western bar and dance hall. Back then, Long Beach Boulevard was a hot spot for the Navy, packed with bars, tattoo parlors and mom-and-pop shops.
Founder Bertrand Smith and his son, E.P. Smith, worked more than a year to move into the site, shuttling hundreds of thousands of books in the back of a pickup. Over time, the downtown strip, starting from the shoreline, has given way to an arts renaissance and a 21st century economy of condos and Starbucks shops.
