Noah's ark from the books
At a time when the very Encyclopaedia Britannica has ceased to be published on paper and the sale of ebooks is advancing by leaps and bounds, are traditional bookstores destined to become extinct? If only one could be 'saved', what would it be? In the center of the mammoth city of Los Angeles, we have found _ The Last Bookstore _, a space, half magical and half dark, where more than 250,000 copies are exhibited in narrow corridors, shelves and even hanging from the ceiling. Considered by many to be one of the most beautiful book stores in the world, the fateful moment of the final checkmate has arrived from digital to paper, Is this the bookstore worthy of being rescued?
They hoard more than 250,000 books
BEHIND A GREAT BOOKSTORE THERE IS A GREAT MAN
Behind The Last Bookstore there is a clear love story for literature, but also a less obvious one of courage and daring: that of its owner and inspiring Josh Spencer . Unfortunately Josh is not on site at the time of our visit, but an employee gives us his number and now, through the phone line, a deep, powerful voice answers my questions.
Through the cadence of his words, it is easy to outline the face and athletic figure of a man who was once a great athlete. An accident cut short the dreams of this young man, confining him, quadriplegic, to a wheelchair: depression, years of darkness… and, finally, selling books or whatever through eBay or Amazon to "pay the bills".
Little by little, his great passion for literature made him concentrate on the book business until in 2005 a friend suggested opening a bookstore. "Could there be a worse business at that time?" “No one opens book stores anymore, but I thought that if bookstores were going to disappear at least one last redoubt of paper should be safeguarded” , he tells me he. “Didn't you think it could be a disaster?” I ask. ”In my life I have lost things much more important than a business. I'm not afraid". “No fear” (“no fear”), he repeats and, then, everything in The Last Bookstore makes sense.
Here the books hang from the ceiling
ONE OF THE LARGEST BOOK COLLECTIONS IN THE WORLD
In 2005, he opened the first book store, a second in 2009, and finally moved in 2011 to the then inadvisable 'downtown' of Los Angeles, occupying the space of an abandoned bank. From that moment on, Josh and his team will be dedicated to amassing a vast collection of books, one of the largest in the world held by an independent bookstore: 250,000 books of which 80% are used. Private sellers, donors... Every day boxes full of books arrive at this place: those considered uninteresting will end up in the bin, the others will go on to swell The Last Bookstore's inventory.
From 1 to 1000 dollars, there is something for everyone here, no matter what genre it is and what language it is written in. Like the case of a man who traveled from Nigeria, Josh tells us, who was looking for a book that his mother read to him when he was a child. And she found it... "It's one of my favorite stories, because at the end of the day that's what it's all about, making people happy." Probably here he also found some treasure the Australian actress Cate Blanchett, who recently walked among the shelves of The Last Bookstore; and, surely, many the actor Tom Hanks, one of the regulars of the already iconic establishment.
Literally, in this bookstore knowledge surrounds one
NO TECHNOLOGY, BETTER THE OLD LIBRARY SYSTEM
I wonder what it will be like to catalog and above all find a whopping 250,000 books and, to my surprise, Josh tells me that everything is practically manual. “We try to use technology as little as possible” . Via a careful (and secret) filing system He assures us that all of his employees (all of whom are passionate about literature) are capable of finding any book
No technology, the search is analog
IF CIVILIZATION COLLAPSED AND ONLY ONE BOOKSTORE LEFT, WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE?
More exciting than asking an employee for help is getting lost in one of its two floors and be surprised by the unusual decoration, straight out of a Lord of the Rings movie . “It's my post-apocalyptic fantasy. I wondered: if civilization collapsed and there was only one bookstore left, what would it look like? From there I let my imagination work…”
A grotesque virgin (Our Lady of the Last Bookstore) and a shelf of comic books welcome you to the second floor of The Last Bookstore. The so-called 'labyrinth' leads us to corridors and nooks and crannies full of books (all at the price of 1 dollar), a tunnel built with old copies and even a secret room, the old vault of the bank, where we suppose the most valuable works are kept. Going through the ins and outs of the Last Bookstore is an adventure, an immersion in a fantastic universe full of surprises where the texture of paper is the protagonist.
There is also space for art between its corridors
You will need more than an hour to explore The last Bookstore. Part of the ritual consists of sitting on one of its soft sofas (attention 60 minutes of maximum enjoyment according to the rules of the house) with a stack of books and be transported to a time when reading was not interrupted by the beeping of whatsapps. There is no Wi-Fi here and it is no coincidence, it is not ok to play with the mobile either. “There is so much to do here… whoever wants to be connected should go to Starbucks, there is one right on the corner,” an employee tells us when we think to ask for the password. In addition to books, this great paper temple offers other surprises, such as a fantastic vinyl collection and art gallery on the second floor: the Spring Arts Collective, where five artists work and exhibit their works in an eclectic space with sculptures, paintings, metal works...
Yes, his vinyl collection is also famous
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? WE WON'T BE HERE FOREVER"
It is the final challenge in the form of a panel at the entrance that The LastBookstore throws at us. Of course if you thought traditional bookstores were in terminal phase You don't know how much you're wrong.