favorite book store

[Lily]

I wanted to know everyones favorite book store in or near santa monica. Mine is Kulturas on ocean park blvd.

[Tracy O]

This isn't very original, but Dutton's in Brentwood, on San Vicente is my favorite book store in LA. The depth of what they have is unbelieveable - the best poetry selection, too. AND, the people who work there are true readers and have great suggestions and feed-back, too. I live within a few blocks of Kulturas and I'm grateful that our neighborhood finally has a good book store, too.

[Chris]

In no particular order: Alias books near the NuArt Theatre, Gene de Chene, Wilshire books, and Small World Books on the Venice boardwalk.

I'm excited to go check out Kulturas! I wish we had a good used/new bookstore on Montana Ave. Ha!

[Sarah]

I just moved to LA and live near Small World Books. Their recommendations are pretty great. I'm excited to check out the other ones too, but used bookstores are really my favorites! Any suggestions on those? Thanks!

[Jaime]

I have yet to find one in Santa Monica, but there is a used/rare bookstore on Venice and Centinela. It's small and very old school, but I love it! Unfortunately I don't remember what it's called, when I find out I will let you know!

[John]

I also live by Small World Books, and really like it. A number of times I've just gone up the counter and chatted with the person, to walk out with a new favorite book. "Immortality" by Milan Kundera was my last SWB pick. It takes very little for me to give them money :)

I'll second the "Alias" suggestion. They have a good selection of art books, kids books, and old noir and mysteries -- my haunts.

[Kristy]

I don't live in the area but I would like to put my two cents for what its worth in for the independent bookstores. They honestly have such a time of keeping their doors open with all the chains coming in and becoming sadly enough the "Wal-Marts" of bookstores. I applaud each of the Independents as they truly struggle to stay afloat and I applaud the patrons who shop them.

Sometimes we find that by shopping in their stores we have to order many of the books simply because their shelf space is so very limited due to the lack of traffic but to me it's well worth the wait and for the most part you get true genuine friendships built with their owners.

[Erika]

I frequent the used bookstore on Santa Monica Blvd and, uhhh, between Federal and Barrington (those are the cross streets).

[Chris]

Did Wilshire Books close? I saw they had a huge sale, and the other night it looked pretty dark in there. Damn.