Los Angeles
Nine independent bookstores worth finding in person.
Places to Wander · Issue 001Bookshops, drawings and reading.
From The Corporate Artist.Bring the book. Open here ↓
If you're looking for the best independent bookstores in Los Angeles, Places to Wander's edited guide includes Skylight Books in Los Feliz, Arcana: Books on the Arts in Culver City and Reparations Club in West Adams area. Explore the selected shops below, with neighborhood context, drawings and links to each shop's own website. The guide is edited, not numerically ranked.
Roads: US Census TIGERweb · Coast: Natural Earth · Address locations: Esri. Orientation map, not a walking route. Branch and entrance checks remain in progress.
Skylight Books
New books only, in Los Feliz, with a book club named for the Coyotes and a standing shelf of signed first editions.
You can’t miss the tree. It rises between Skylight’s shelves, with a circular bench around its trunk.
Fiction, arts publishing and literary magazines fill out the room. A good place to let one book lead to another.
1818 N Vermont Avenue
Take a closer look Visit the shop ↗Have the book with you?
Try Every Role Has a Medium (Your Craft) for a different way to look at what you do.
Or turn to Nothing Is Wasted and Rightsizing Importance. Begin with the title that catches you.
Arcana
Books on the Arts
Books on the arts since 1984, more than a hundred thousand items of which about two per cent are listed online, so the rest has to be found on the shelf. Sections carry names like Basquiat, Duchamp, Ruscha and Warhol, and no food comes inside.
Art · Photography · Architecture · Cinema · Fashion
New, rare and out-of-print books, with plenty of room for subjects to overlap. Arcana says only part of its stock appears online. Some browsing still requires showing up.
8675 Washington Boulevard
Take a closer look Visit the shop ↗
A shelf beyond your usual subject.
Reparations Club
A bookshop and concept space that describes its shelves as curated by Blackness, trademark symbol included.
Fiction, history, art and music share the shelves at Reparations Club, with Black literature at the center.
Author conversations and gatherings give the books a life beyond the page.
3054 S Victoria Avenue
Take a closer look Visit the shop ↗Now Serving
Cookbooks only, in Far East Plaza in Chinatown, shelved by region and by technique rather than by author.
For a different sense of taste. Now Serving brings together cookbooks, food writing and culinary magazines in Chinatown’s Far East Plaza.
Come with a dish in mind, or leave with an entirely different appetite.
727 N Broadway · Unit 133
Take a closer look Visit the shop ↗
A view toward the plaza. A closer look at the table.
Stories Books & Café
New books, used books and a café on Sunset Boulevard. Literary fiction and the arts anchor the selection at Stories.
The coffee gives you a reason to stay a little longer.
Worth a special trip forNew books, used books and a café on Sunset Boulevard, with literary fiction and the arts at the core.
1716 W Sunset Boulevard
Take a closer look Visit the shop ↗
Field Note · reserved in this draft
A firsthand observation belongs here.
No visitor account has been supplied. This space will carry a real, attributed note before publication.Iliad Bookshop
The giant books outside are a fairly good clue. Iliad’s shelves are filled with used books, with literature and the arts among its specialties.
Start with a familiar author. See who’s keeping them company.
Worth a special trip forThe giant books outside, and used literature and arts books inside, in North Hollywood.
5400 Cahuenga Boulevard
Take a closer look Visit the shop ↗
Malik Books
Two shops inside shopping malls, at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw and in Culver City, plus a bookmobile that takes the stock to where readers already are, and a podcast of its own.
Author events bring readers together at Malik Books. African American literature and culturally diverse children’s books are central to its shelves.
A bookshop where meeting the person behind the book is part of the draw.
Branch selection in progress
Take a closer look Visit the shop ↗Under editorial review: final inclusion, branch and portrait remain undecided.
The Last Bookstore
Opened by Josh Spencer in 2005 and now filling twenty-two thousand square feet of a former bank in the Spring Arts Tower, with something like half a million books and a tunnel built out of them upstairs. It appears in the film Gone Girl.
The former bank still has its columns and vaults. The Last Bookstore fills it with new, used and rare books, alongside vinyl and art.
The building gets your attention before you’ve opened anything.
453 S Spring Street · Ground floor
Take a closer look Visit the shop ↗The Pop-Hop
A bookshop in Highland Park that calls itself a community arts space first.
Local authors and artists contribute publications and objects to The Pop-Hop’s mix of new and used books.
A Highland Park shop with room for work you might not already know to look for.
5002 York Boulevard
Take a closer look Visit the shop ↗
Questions about Los Angeles’s bookstores
What are some of the best independent bookstores in Los Angeles?
Places to Wander's edited selection includes Skylight Books, Arcana: Books on the Arts, Reparations Club, Now Serving, Stories Books & Café, Iliad Bookshop, Malik Books, The Last Bookstore and The Pop-Hop. The guide is not numerically ranked. Each entry explains why the shop is included and links to the shop's own website.
What is The Detour in the Los Angeles issue?
Arcana: Books on the Arts in Culver City. Books on the arts since 1984, more than a hundred thousand items of which about two per cent are listed online, so the rest has to be found on the shelf. Sections carry names like Basquiat, Duchamp, Ruscha and Warhol, and no food comes inside. The Detour is an editorial designation, not a ranking.
Does the guide include used or rare bookstores?
Yes. Arcana: Books on the Arts (rare and out-of-print), Stories Books & Café (new and used), Iliad Bookshop (used) and The Last Bookstore (new, used and rare). Used, antiquarian and rare books are not interchangeable labels; this guide uses each description only where the shop's entry supports it.
Which featured bookstores specialize in art and design books?
Arcana: Books on the Arts in Culver City, Reparations Club in West Adams area and Iliad Bookshop in North Hollywood. Follow each shop's official link for its current selection.
Is there a map of the featured bookstores?
Yes. The Los Angeles issue includes a map and shop index. Select a shop to open its entry, then use the shop's official link for visiting details. The illustrated map is an orientation aid, not a turn-by-turn route.
Bring that attention
back to work.
The Corporate Artist: The Art of Working Beautifully
By Morgan Sage Norman
The Corporate Artist: The Art of Working Beautifully is Morgan Sage Norman’s book about bringing your creative self to everyday work. It explores how the roles we play, the conversations we have and the decisions we make can become creative practice.
Buy The Corporate Artist ↗Selected for browsing and discovery. Inclusion here does not mean a shop carries The Corporate Artist.
Prefer to buy locally? Check a bookseller’s listing or ask whether they can order ISBN 9781544552910. Ordering options vary; used-only and specialist shops may not offer this service.
Looking for books about creativity at work? Visit the Reading Room.
Turn to Every Role Has a Medium ↑