The Last Bookstore

Book stores have always been some of my favorite places in the world. When I got my allowance, it was to the book store I sped. I couldn't wait for those order forms to go around for the Book Days at school, and when your order finally arrived, how exciting that was! I just love how many ideas and stories and information swirls around in book stores, though I almost start to panic when I think I'll never be able to read them ALL.

So, last weekend when it was cloudy at the beach and I was all about field tripping, I added The Last Bookstore to my list of stops on our downtown L.A. adventure. I'd been meaning to get there for a couple of years, but it just never worked out. But now it was a cloudy day, we'd just had our minds blown by the spheres at MacArthur Park, and now it was time to blow our minds even further in an awesome book store. Perfect.

The place is huge. It's spread out over two levels, and the amount of writing contained in these walls is just short of overwhelming. There are books everywhere. There are sculptures made from books.

It really is a labyrinth, with new surprises around every corner. I love the way the books are displayed, not in just your standard rows, but sometimes horizontal, sometimes by color, making every aisle interesting and appealing to the eye. There is a vault containing the mystery and science books, that looks very genre-appropriate.

There is a tunnel made from gravity-defying books, giving it all a very Alice In Wonderland vibe, as indeed most of the day had felt (only more so when we stopped for macarons at Bottega Louie after!).

Once outside of the upstairs maze, you come upon a long hallway full of art and galleries and little indie Etsy type shop stalls. There was a lot to see, and a lot to covet, like this piece from Patrick Haemmerlein that I will be back for. Books! Art! Cute stuff! I was loving it.

The Last Bookstore hosts events and readings all the time, and now that I've been there,  I intend to go to them all. It feels good in there.

There were a lot of books I wanted right then and there, but as much as I enjoyed The Last Bookstore, I LOVE my local book store, Small World Books, the most. I want them to be around for a long time in my neighborhood, so when I want books to own, I get them there. To thank The Last Bookstore for their time and for just still being there, I did get a card though, and am now telling everyone to go there, because it's great.

It's called The Last Bookstore because this kind of place is an endangered species. They are treasures to get lost in for an afternoon, and to be inspired by for a lifetime. Support them all, so this one will never truly be the last.


The Last Bookstore
453 South Spring Street
Ground Floor
Downtown L.A. 90013
#213-488-0599
www.lastbookstorela.com

Balls For Hope!

When it's cloudy at the beach, it's time for Field Trips. Saturday was all overcast, so it was time to go check out the balls in MacArthur Park downtown. You might remember a few years back when all the lifeguard towers along the beach from Venice to Santa Monica were brightly painted in an art installation for the Projects Of Hope project. Well, they're back with another massive installation of giant beach ball type spheres placed in the lake in MacArthur Park.

School children and youth from all over Los Angeles hand painted all the spheres with brightly colored flowers and fish, and as the nearly 3,000 spheres float around, the look of the lake constantly changes. It's pretty surreal. And awesome.

When we approached the park, it was like when a kid spies the tall rides at an amusement park in the distance and gets all excited. I saw bright dashes of color through the trees and got all excited! The scale is truly impressive, and the riot of color instantly buoyed your spirits. Imagine being this little duck swimming around among all these colorful orbs - it's probably pretty cool.

A big Spanish language festival was also happening in the park, but the spheres were the main attraction. Folks from all walks of life were down there taking pictures, picnicking, and enjoying the mind blow that is this cool project.

When the spheres come out of the lake (the time frame of the project is kind of vague - says it's up for "four weeks" with no exact dates - so you'd better go soon!), they'll be distributed around to various  schools, hospitals, shelters and places like that to brighten and beautify their surroundings.

I love the Portraits Of Hope installations and their grand Christo-like scale. I also love the name of the project, as when you are there standing among all that color and unity and people coming together to make something beautiful ... you simply can't help but to feel hope.

And I hope you get there while it's there!