A California Road Trip for Book Lovers
If you’re anything like me, vacation planning includes a search for the best bookshops in the area. From block-sized destination shops like Powell’s in Portland or The Strand in New York City, to specialty shops like Peter Miller Architecture and Design in Seattle, and tucked away indie shops across America, there is always a trove of literary treasures to explore.
Books became destinations during my 2021 pandemic-era road trip from Portland to Los Angeles and back. I was particularly excited to visit the Los Angeles Public Library because it is the scene of Susan Orlean’s The Library Book, a tale part-history and part-mystery about a 1986 case of arson that devastated their collection.
Let’s begin there, and tour our way north, stopping at some of the Golden State’s most destination-worthy shops along the way.
DTLA
The Los Angeles Public Library
Notable read: The Library Book by Susan Orlean
A fire in 1986 destroyed 400,000 books and damaged 700,000 more in the Los Angeles Central Library. It wiped out whole collections owing, in part, to the building's unique architectural conditions housing highly flammable contents that exacerbated the flames. Officials long suspected a man by the name of Harry Peak, but nobody could prove it. Orlean dedicates her book to this mystery, as well as to the role libraries play in our society today. More than just a home for books, libraries act as social hubs, social service providers, and castles of history and knowledge. The Central Library has since rebuilt and recovered, and was a delight to tour through - https://www.lapl.org/branches/central-library
Los Feliz
Skylight Books
Notable read: Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, The Flesh, and L.A. by Eve Babitz
Tucked into Los Angeles’s hip, artistic enclave of Los Feliz, Skylight Books is a central fixture of community. We visited in the afternoon when it was bubbling with shoppers, but there were signs - literal signs hung up for nearby happenings and for their own visiting author series - that spoke to the outsized impact the shop has relative to their quaint footprint. Their architectural hallmark is a tree sprouting up from the center of their shop and, surrounded by a circular bench, it’s a fine place to sit and thumb through your book haul - https://www.skylightbooks.com/
Skylight Books is located at the foothills of the Griffith Observatory, which is an excellent mini hike and viewpoint for greater Los Angeles.
Ojai
Bart’s Books
Notable read: A Smattering of Ignorance by Oscar Levant
Drive inland on tiny, windy roads until you’re sure there's nothing nearby except for kindling landscape and you’ll eventually arrive in Ojai, a town seemingly from another time, perfectly preserved with charm, upscale shops, and punctuated by a gleaming white, historic clock tower. A few blocks off the main drag, under a shaded canopy is Bart's Books, an open air book oasis in the desert. Operating since 1964, expect to find rare and vintage books in what can only be described as a true treasure hunt - https://bartsbooksojai.com/
San Francisco
Green Apple Books
Notable read: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
With outposts in The Haight and along the southern edge of Golden Gate Park, Green Apple Books manages to be both neighborhood haunt and tourist friendly simultaneously. It’s an easy breezy bookstore that captures visitors with immediate respite from the bustle outside. Browse avant-garde deep cuts as well as best sellers - https://www.greenapplebooks.com/
On a nice day, bring your book haul and a blanket down the block to Golden Gate Park.
Point Reyes
Point Reyes Books
Notable read: Sharks, Death, Surfers by Melissa McCarthy
Point Reyes Station exemplifies the coastal, north bay aesthetic, and its namesake bookshop is the crowning jewel. This is an easy place to spend an afternoon, strolling down main street in the sunshine. Grab coffee at Toby’s to fuel up before browsing at Point Reyes Books, and don’t miss the art gallery, record shop, and wildflowers in between. I left Point Reyes Station feeling like it’s the kind of place I’d like to rent a vacation home and have myself a Nancy Meyers summer - https://www.ptreyesbooks.com/
Stop at Hog Island Oyster Co. along 101 for a seaside snack along the way.
And that’s it! If you drive any farther north and you’ll find yourself in the Redwoods on your way to Oregon. But we’ll save that book tour for another day.
🖤