Bookstore

Before launching a business, some people invest in market research and feasibility studies. Josh Spencer is not one of those people — otherwise he might never have opened his downtown L.A. used bookstore in December 2009, let alone moved it a few blocks away this month to a 10,000-square-foot space. "I haven't really interacted with other business owners or bookstore owners," says Spencer, owner of what he says is the ironically named the Last Bookstore. "I've always just done what I do, and it seems to work.

Like a bad love affair, they kept it a secret from their families as long as they could. Because in 2012, who can admit the thing they want more than anything in the world is to open a bookstore? Now they know. Pop-Hop Books & Print is holding its grand opening on Sunday with readings, music, printing and refreshments. Located in Highland Park on a stretch of York Boulevard that sparkles with new shops and restaurants, the store is a celebration of books as print artifact, with used literary and art books for sale and, tucked behind movable shelves, a screen-printing salon.

They used to catch glimpses of him shuffling among the stacks in his English-language bookshop facing Notre Dame Cathedral, the white-haired Shakespearean king revered and feared by his subjects, who depended on him to avoid a train ride home, or worse, a job. They would get to know George Whitman's spitfire wit, unpredictable temper and unending generosity after sleeping in his shop, where he has put up thousands of struggling writers and wandering...

Cineastes who enjoy ebooks will want to check out "Inside the Script," a new series of illustrated ebooks from Warner Bros. that focuses on four famous films. They feature shooting scripts, production notes, storyboards, candid photographs and interactive gallery of costumes, stills, movie posters, set designs and behind-the-photographs. Four titles have just been released by Warner Bros. Digital Distribution on iBookstore, Kindle and Nook: "Casablanca," "Ben-Hur," "An American in Paris" and "North by Northwest," with more titles in the series to come.

Once upon a time, there was a big outcry in the literary community over the demise of independent bookstores. Today, it's a different story ? at least in Encino. Residents are battling to save the community's only large-scale bookstore, a Barnes & Noble ? which, along with Borders, was once considered the bane of small booksellers. Activists say they simply want to preserve a place that not only sells books but doubles as a community gathering spot. They worry that e-books and Amazon.

Before Jasmine Johnson could walk, her crib was tucked behind the counter of her grandparents' San Francisco bookstore. By age 6, she was reciting Langston Hughes poems to customers and picking out books for other children. At 12, she marched nervously up to civil rights icon Rosa Parks at a store event to chat. "At a very young age, we were expected to have opinions, to have veneration for elders and to be well read," said Johnson, 27, a UC Berkeley doctoral student who is among the third generation to help run Marcus Books, the nation's oldest African American bookstore.

As a devout book reader and used bookstore lover, I was delighted to see the big space you gave recently to used bookstores. I am disappointed, however that you included Acres of Books in Long Beach, thereby preventing you from listing Valley Book City on Lankershim Boulevard. You also could have included Book Castle in Burbank. Ever since I came to Los Angeles, people have told me I ought to visit Acres of Books in Long Beach. Last year I finally did. They ought to give you a miner's lamp when you enter the store.

Sieg Lindstrom, the last proprietor of Fowler Brothers, a storied bookstore and stationery shop co-founded by his grandfather in 1888 in downtown Los Angeles, has died. He was 82. Lindstrom died Feb. 11 at Foothill Presbyterian Hospital in Glendora of complications related to surgery, his family said. When changing times -- and disruptive subway construction -- forced Fowler Brothers to close in 1994, it was the oldest family-owned bookstore in the city and, at 106 years old, a downtown institution.

In the past, giant chains have targeted local independent bookstores as a matter of policy. It is therefore difficult to believe K-mart-owned Borders' western regional manager's claim ("Chain Reaction," Sept. 29) that she was "dismayed . . . that we were going to be such a close neighbor of such a respected bookshop" (as Sisterhood, an independent bookstore across the street from Borders' new Westwood location). Equally unbelievable is her statement that she hopes Sisterhood will "do a better business because of spillover from us. Our employees will be instructed to refer people to Sisterhood."

Like a bad love affair, they kept it a secret from their families as long as they could. Because in 2012, who can admit the thing they want more than anything in the world is to open a bookstore? Now they know. Pop-Hop Books & Print is holding its grand opening on Sunday with readings, music, printing and refreshments. Located in Highland Park on a stretch of York Boulevard that sparkles with new shops and restaurants, the store is a celebration of books as print artifact, with used literary and art books for sale and, tucked behind movable shelves, a screen-printing salon.

The nation's independent bookstores got another bit of bad news Thursday: Google Inc.is closing the books on them. The Mountain View, Calif., search company said it is ending a program that enabled hundreds of independent booksellers to sell many of Google's millions of electronic books through their websites -- and to make a profit doing it. The program was in part an attempt by Google to build a network of e-book retailers that...

WELSHPOOL, WalesBill Bryson leans his walking stick outside a tiny, rough-stone church, where a hand-lettered sign invites "Dykers" - that would be us - to step inside for orange juice, barley water, tea and coffee. Cracking open my guidebook, I note that this Welsh hamlet's tradition of providing free refreshment to walkers and other travelers dates to a visit by King Charles II in the late 17th century. "In that case," said Bryson, pouring us each a cup of tea, "you might want to check the sell-by date on that milk.

Before Jasmine Johnson could walk, her crib was tucked behind the counter of her grandparents' San Francisco bookstore. By age 6, she was reciting Langston Hughes poems to customers and picking out books for other children. At 12, she marched nervously up to civil rights icon Rosa Parks at a store event to chat. "At a very young age, we were expected to have opinions, to have veneration for elders and to be well read," said Johnson, 27, a UC Berkeley doctoral student who is among the third generation to help run Marcus Books, the nation's oldest African American bookstore.

For nearly a decade, Sandra Acosta and Noe Ramirez made a monthly pilgrimage to the Bodhi Tree Bookstore on Melrose Avenue in search of life wisdom. Enveloped in the aroma of incense and the gentle strains of meditative music, the Long Beach couple would explore books on martial arts, women's spirituality, Native American philosophy, Zen Buddhism and whatever else piqued their curiosity. But their visit Friday would be their last. The bookstore will close its doors at 5:30 p.m. Saturday after four decades of serving as a world-renowned spiritual mecca for seekers of all persuasions — including Gov. Jerry Brown, Beatle Ringo Starr and actress Shirley MacLaine, whose memoir chronicled how her metaphysical journey began at the Bodhi Tree in 1983.

About a month ago, I had a couple of conversations about publishing and bookselling that seemed to fly in the face of convention - if, by convention, you mean the idea that publishing and bookselling are doomed. The first was with Steve Crist, publisher of the Santa Barbara-based press Ammo Books, which recently released "Edward Weston: One Hundred Twenty-Five Photographs," a retrospective with text from Weston's notebooks. The second was with Maryelizabeth Hart, co-owner of San Diego's Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore, which opened a satellite branch in Redondo Beach this fall.

It isn't the cozy Shop Around the Corner — the indie bookstore of "You've Got Mail" movie fame — but it is the multilevel behemoth on the corner of Westwood and Pico boulevards that shoppers have browsed since 1995. And, now that Barnes & Noble has confirmed the unprofitable store's closing at year-end, lovers of things literary are bemoaning the demise of yet another Westside book merchant. "We're terribly distressed. We're devastated," said Teri Geske of Cheviot Hills, who one recent evening was checking out J.R.R.

Their train had just whirred into the Little Tokyo station and stopped about 100 feet out ahead. Sisters Mary and Betty Sugiyama had a day of shopping planned. Both in their 80s, they weren't equipped to run like they did as youngsters, but they started to walk quickly. "I didn't think we could make it," Mary said. "But we decided to try. " They were almost there when Mary spotted a heavyset woman, dressed entirely in black, sitting alone on a bench near the tracks. As the sisters passed, the stranger suddenly leaped to her feet and shouted, then extended both arms and shoved Betty onto the tracks, police said.

Carla Cohen Co-owner of iconic D.C. bookstore Carla Cohen, 74, a community activist who co-owned a Washington, D.C., bookstore that became a city institution and a key stop for writers ranging from Bill Clinton to J.K. Rowling, died Monday of cancer, the Politics and Prose bookstore announced on its website. A former city planner, congressional aide and federal housing official, Cohen founded the store in 1984 and ran it with co-owner Barbara Meade. During an era when thousands of independent stores closed, Politics and Prose expanded from a crowded storefront to a two-story location with more than 10,000 square feet.

As budget woes have forced other Los Angeles-area public libraries to cut staff and operating hours, West Hollywood has been preparing for the opening of a new $64-million library complex. The roughly 32,000-square-foot library — six times larger than the old one — will celebrate its official opening Saturday. The library is the result of a partnership between the Los Angeles County library system, which will operate the facility, and the city, which paid for its construction.

If every picture tells a story, then the "look back" photos on the Facebook page of the Every Picture Tells a Story gallery and bookstore speak volumes. There's Laura Numeroff, author of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and dozens of other children's books, grinning next to Eric Carle, the eminent creator of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar. " There's Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man and the X-Men, and Ray Harryhausen, stop-motion animation wizard. Every Picture Tells a Story closed earlier this month, after 23 years of selling original art from children's books, fantasy literature and Marvel Comics to the likes of Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg, Judd Apatow, Jon Favreau and plenty of just plain folks.