Best LA bookstores

What are your favorite LA-area bookstores (whether used or new, independent or not, specialist or general)?

Book Soup on Sunset and Midnight Special on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica

i have to make a disclaimer about this suggestion because i also work there...but skylight books in los feliz on vermont is really awesome...we have a CAT! but book soup is great and i am glad to see that midnight special is still there...i thought it had closed. also, i really enjoy chevalier's books on larchmont and dark delicacies in burbank (this one only sells horror and scifi books and things and the owner really knows his stuff).

disclaimer #2: I also work at skylight and think it's awesome. But second to that, I absolutely love The Iliad Bookshop in North Hollywood. It used to be downtown somewhere and I fell in love with it long before I moved here. But be sure to allow for a few hours (or days) in their luxurious literature section. And they have a cat too... a pirate cat with only one eye!! Yaarrrggghh!

My favorite in Silver Lake is Skylight books on North Vermont Avenue. It's an independent with new books especially, alternative, feminist, art, architecture, GLBT and writers of color. You can check them out at: www.skylightbooks.com

My favorite are

The Counterpoint on Franklin Blvd in Hollywood.
Also berkelouw , on highland and Melrose.
I love both of them.

I'll put in my votes in favor of The Iliad in North Hollywood (I trip on down there every few weeks to browse and get brodarts put on any new hardcovers I've bought) and The Bookhouse in Northridge (on Devonshire just west of Balboa). The Bookhouse is a great "kill-two-birds-with-one-stone" trip because there's a good comic shop (Continental Comics) in the same strip mall.

And, in case you don't believe in one-eyed pirate cats, here's the story of Zola http://www.iliadbooks.com/pets.html

Hi! Just now stumbled on this group by accident but by a strange coincidence also today and also for the first time and also without planning to went into Skylight Books on Vermont!

Archives in Pasadena is my favorite!

I'm a very big fan of the Brand Bookshop in Glendale...on Brand Blvd, of course. There's an older gentleman that works there who is hilarious and has a quick wit. He even asked me if I had ID when I was paying with cash. Good sized store with a large inventory on most subjects. They probably have the largest section on new age and "alternate" religion that I've ever seen in a used place.

I also love the Iliad in North Hollywood.

Noooooooo!!! Dutton's in Brentwood is closing. :(

I've been looking for bookstores in LA i could visit instead of borders, glad to have found this thread :)

You should check out the new Local tab as well. Just set the address over the map to Los Angeles or some zip code in LA and see all the bookstores that LibraryThingers have entered since the beginning of the week.

oooo thats pretty cool!

Just an update to my message 7:

The Bookhouse in Northridge has closed as of a few months ago. Rumor has it the landlord did the ol' rent increase that made the business unsustainable.
The cost of commercial real estate really is the main killer of indy bookstores.

Any independent bookstore in LA is a big deal and should be blessed. I agree that commercial real estate prices have killed bookstores in LA (and the fact that nobody in the town seems to read anymore). I've seen too many come and go over the years. I don't live in LA anymore, but I still like Book Soup on Sunset and Hennessey + Ingalls in Santa Monica and Vroman's in Pasadena and Arcana Books on the Arts on the Third Street Promenade and Village Books in Pacific Palisades. Dutton's was great. I'm really sad it is closing.

I fondly remember A Change of Hobbit, but nowadays I shop at chains.

I recently discovered Metropolis Books on Main Street between 4th and 5th in downtown L.A. It's small and doesn't stock at lot in the store, but I like it because I can walk there and the people running it are very friendly and helpful.

I love The Iliad Bookshop too. My old haunt in Burbank is Book Castle/Movie World, on San Fernando. That place is insane -- disorganized, musty, cheap, blissful. You wouldn't know it from the site (http://www.bookcastlesmovieworld.com/), but they stock all kinds of used books, including a huge wall o' fiction. They made my high school years good.

Now I live near Stories in Echo Park (http://www.storiesla.com/), which is lucky because along with all the lovely books, they also have a cafe and free wifi. Saved me when I had just moved in and needed my email fix.

There is a new independent bookstore in the South Bay. Pages in Manhattan Beach opened about 6 months ago. It was created by three women friends who always wanted to own a book store. There is a regular electronic newsletter you can subscribe to that tells of the many events during each month. They have local authors, workshops, very interesting! And to be in our own backyard! Here is the website: http://pagesabookstore.com/

Nice! I wish I lived closer to Pages. I think I've mentioned Metropolis Books, which hosts local authors too. Recently I discovered a used book store just down the street from it. I can't recall the name offhand but will add it when I remember it. All I know is they have an enormous stock of used books at pretty decent prices, it's a friendly place, and I spent a lot of money (but less than I would have at a new bookstore) there a month or so ago.

There's a newish independent bookstore downtown called the Last Bookstore (aka The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles), which has a really good and reasonably priced selection of second-hand literature, both contemporary and classic. It's not a very big store, but they seem to be really careful in what they buy. I can't remember their other sections, but their website might say. I put them in LT Local: http://www.librarything.com/venue/54741/The-Last-Bookstore

ETA - I think this is the one Storeetllr is thinking of.

Yes, thanks, rsterling. I think you're right. I thought it was of a pretty good size and had a good selection, although it's not as big as, say, NYC's Strand. :) Thanks for adding them to local.

Yeah, it has a great selection, and I guess it's not that small compared to others in the area. A smaller store overall than something like Iliad in North Hollywood, but still a lot of books.

I didn't know I could post a venue for a bookstore...learn something every day. I have added pages to the venue list and informed the bookstore of Librarything.com. Now hopefully, the store will take over the venue and see that its myriad events are publicized. :-)

Brands Books in Glendale. It is a second hand bookstore. It is fantastic and has sales quite frequently. Has a large collection of books.

I just saw that Metropolis Books on Main between 4th and 5th in downtown L.A. is closing in 30 days. So sad.