Hornbeam – Carpinus caroliniana

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The Last Bookstore is an independent bookstore located at 453 S Spring Street, Downtown Los Angeles. Conde Nast Traveler called it California’s largest new and used bookstore.[1]

History

Shop exterior, 2019

The store was founded in 2005 by Josh Spencer, the first incarnation being inside a Downtown Los Angeles loft. While here, the store sold books and other items online, then, in December 2009, it opened a bookstore at 4th and Main Street. The bookstore moved to its current 22,000 sq. ft. location in the Spring Arts Tower at 5th and Spring Street on June 3, 2011.[2][3][4][5] The current store, a former bank, contains two floors and also includes the bank's former vault.[further explanation needed]

The book window is one of several book sculptures on display, 2022

Vox reported that the store creates visual merchandising through creative displays and book sculptures, which attracts Instagram users, "in the hope of trying to convert Instagram visitors into book purchasers."[5]

In 2021, the bookstore installed a plant wall to the famous book tunnel. The store also features a restaurant: Yuko Kitchen.[6]

Media

Filmmaker Chad Howitt chronicled The Last Bookstore and its owner, Spencer, in a short documentary titled Welcome to the Last Bookstore, released in 2016. It tells the story of how Spencer was injured as a young man and lost the use of his legs, forcing him to re-examine his life.[7] Los Angeles Film Review called the effort an "ode to resilience."[8]

In popular culture

The bookstore appeared in the 2014 David Fincher movie Gone Girl, and also in the 2018 movie Under the Silver Lake, directed by David Robert Mitchell.[9][10]

The bookstore featured in the 2021 Netflix series Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel.[11]

References

  1. ^ "The Last Bookstore: Our Review". Conde Nast. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  2. ^ Bartlett, James (14 May 2014). "Josh Spencer: The Last Bookstore Owner". LA Weekly. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  3. ^ Kellogg, Carolyn (15 June 2011). "Downtown L.A.'s the Last Bookstore defies trends". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  4. ^ "Inside 'The Last Bookstore' in Downtown Los Angeles". Untapped Cities.
  5. ^ a b Chittal, Nisha (19 December 2018). "Independent bookstores are growing — and Instagram helped". Vox.
  6. ^ "The Last Bookstore Los Angeles Installs Living Plant Wall at New Location". Sunset Magazine. 2021-07-09. Retrieved 2022-07-05.
  7. ^ Ajaka, Nadine (August 18, 2016). "The Man Behind 'The Last Bookstore'". The Atlantic.
  8. ^ Grey, Linn (23 May 2016). "Review – Welcome to the Last Bookstore". Los Angeles Film Review.
  9. ^ "Gone Girl – Filming & Production". IMDb. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  10. ^ "Under the Silver Lake – Filming & Production". IMDb. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  11. ^ Turchiano, Danielle (13 January 2021). "Netflix Announces Elisa Lam Docuseries 'Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 21 January 2021.

External links

34°02′52″N 118°14′59″W / 34.04773°N 118.24982°W / 34.04773; -118.24982

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