Help save a local bookstore.
Plus Canyon Coffee opens in Brooklyn, the Dodgers partner with Uniqlo, and a bold plan to revive DTLA.
Happy Monday, everyone. This weekend was a mix of east side dinners and Oscar festivities — I cohosted a dinner for members of my regular gym class (yes, really), went to Doto, and skipped a viewing party at Red Lion to prep for a very exciting project I’ll tell you all about very soon.
In today’s issue: a beloved used bookstore needs your help, the Dodgers partner with Uniqlo, Canyon Coffee debuts in Brooklyn, a boots-on-the-ground rundown of the talent agency Oscar parties, the bold plan for DTLA’s retail revival, your chance to snag a bookstore job, Ubers are getting pricier at LAX, and two sub-$1mm houses.
If you haven’t signed up for Thursday’s party at Los Candiles, now’s your chance. The singles matching is now closed, but all Rag readers, single or not, should swing by for a fun crowd, great music, and an open bar. So many of the east side’s finest are already on the list — snag your spot here.
📅 Mark your calendar…
Friday, 3/20: Friend of the Rag Jason Stewart is DJing Sophia Ziskin’s Heatstroke party at Los Globos (3040 Sunset Boulevard) alongside FIFI, Honey, Tinashe, and more. It starts at 9:30pm and goes until late, you can snag tickets here.
Sunday, 3/22: Legendary LA restaurateur Lien Ta, the force behind the late, great Here’s Looking at You and All Day Baby, is hosting an Echo Park crawl featuring all women-owned businesses from 1-6pm. This one just sold out (unless you skip the first stop), but you should follow Lien to snag a spot on the next one.
The (illegal) eviction of an Eagle Rock bookshop.
Today, guest correspondent L.A. Scolnick drops in to report on the recent turmoil at Eagle Rock literary institution READ Books.
Stepping inside of READ Books (pronounced red or reed, take your pick) immediately puts you in a Los Angeles of years past. Just inside the charmingly creaky front door you’ll find Jeremy and Debbie Kaplan, and often their pup, Florence. They’ve owned the quaint, appealingly dense bookshop in Eagle Rock since 2007. A lot has changed in Northeast Los Angeles since then, but not READ Books — the shop stands as it did all those years ago, with the same categorical curation, with the same dog, with the same comfort and friendliness waiting to greet you.
Jeremy and Debbie are exactly the people you’d hope to be running your local bookshop, having previously been a LAUSD schoolteacher and bookseller, respectively. Each section of their bookish heaven is overflowing (literally and figuratively) with wonder and literary history — ask them for help and they’ll gladly point you to what you’re looking for, or offer suggestions if they don’t have the exact title. They’re always up for conversation, no matter the topic, and they’ve got plenty of stories to share. One time, I spoke to Debbie and heard about the time she met John Waters while working at Book Soup (what a character he is). I’ve spent many an afternoon in there, finding first editions and rare covers of some of my favorite novels of all time (looking at you, Vonnegut’s Jailbird). It’s easy to get lost in a space so small when it looks and feels like READ Books.
The level of care, passion, and love exuding from the walls of the bookshop, however, is not being reciprocated by its new landlord. Despite rising rents across the city, Jeremy and Debbie’s former landlord only raised their rent once in nineteen years — a decision made intentionally to keep READ Books open and thriving. When the building changed hands, however, the duo was given a notice both disheartening and predatory (and far from the sort of thing they were accustomed to from the previous owners).
The property was sold in late February to a limited liability company owned by a La Cañada Flintridge-based doctor, Ari Ucar, and the Kaplans were told their rent would be raised 130% effective 4/1. With this news, they were given an ultimatum: accept the terms and lock in to a 3-5 year lease agreement, or announce intent to vacate within ten days. California law states that any rent increase higher than 10% requires a 90-day notice, and intent to vacate must allow 60-day notice.
Unfortunately, READ Books wasn’t the only business hit by this notice. If you pop next door, you’ll find yourself inside Owl Talk, a women’s vintage store owned and operated by Sharon Kroner. Like at READ Books, the clutter is the charm of this little boutique, with knickknacks, jewelry, and clothing that dates back decades. Dresses from the ’60s, bangles from the ’70s, sunglasses from the ’90s — you can find it all and then some on every rack. Sharon told me that the notice she received is representative of a larger problem in Los Angeles, that “one day you’ll wake up and the only places around are some chain or an empty building, and nothing actually steeped in the community around you.”
By my count, there are just four bookshops in LA dedicated to strictly used books, with a handful of others operating as new and used shops. We can’t stand to lose another. The literary community in Los Angeles was once a strong one. The Babitzes, Bukowskis, Chandlers, Didions, Ellroys — once upon a time, this city had writers who were culturally relevant across the world. Where are Los Angeles’s literary icons today? The answer: READ Books, where their work still living and breathing on wooden shelving. This place, among others in LA, needs to be protected by the community it serves and uplifts. While we wait for a new LA literary boom, the new-agers can find their writing ancestors in our indie bookshops. We should demand that our city council and representatives ensure these places can exist, and that tenant rights are sternly upheld and defended against bad actors with no regard for the culture this city worked so hard to build.
While they’ve found some pro-bono legal support from the wonderful community around them, the READ Books gang could still use your help. They’ve been approached by the city of Altadena for a new home, but would prefer to stay in the Eagle Rock or Highland Park area. If you, reader, or anyone you know has a retail space that this incredible couple can re-open in, please reach out to either me or the Kaplans. Owl Talk also needs a new home, and you can reach out to Sharon via Instagram, or send me any information I can pass along to her. You can also join the letter-writing and phone-calling campaign to Assemblymember Jessica Caloza and City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s offices. Other folks are showing support by contacting press outlets to shine more light on this story, as I have done and as John at the Rag has so graciously given me the space to do.
In the age of never-ending corporate expansion, a nation-wide decimation of indie bookshops and clothing stores, and a fast-growing monoculture, places like READ Books and Owl Talk must continue to exist. The soul of Los Angeles depends on it.
To keep up with Owl Talk, find Sharon on Instagram and the shop at 4974 Eagle Rock Boulevard. For more from Jeremy and Debbie, you can find the READ Books gang on Instagram or visit the store at 4972 Eagle Rock Boulevard before they have to leave on 6/1. Join the movement to keep them here, where they belong.
You can follow L.A. Scolnick on Instagram here.
🍽️ And now for some table scraps…
Uniqlo is now the presenting partner of the playing field at Dodger Stadium. Though the name of the stadium will (thankfully) remain unchanged, the fast-growing Japanese fashion behemoth has acquired naming rights to the field itself, which will now be called Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers organization hired marketing agency Sportfive almost four years ago to search for such a sponsorship; it appears the windfall — one of several international partnerships since Shohei Ohtani’s arrival almost single-handedly globalized the Dodgers’ appeal — has officially arrived.
Canyon Coffee officially opens its second location in Brooklyn this week. The new shop looks almost eerily similar to the Echo Park flagship, and owners Ally Walsh and Casey Wojtalewicz very smartly chose another highly visible, well-lit corner location (this one in Prospect Heights). The coffee is great, but it’s the Echo Park location’s unique corner setting, and the ways in which Ally and Casey activated it, that allowed Canyon to become the lifestyle brand it is today. If you missed my interview with Ally and Casey a few months back, check it out here.
Uber and Lyft fees are set to increase at LAX once the people mover opens. But let’s be real here….will the people mover ever actually open? I’m waiting.
Downtown LA’s boosters are aiming to emulate the pop-up approach that’s helped revitalize retail in San Francisco. A program called Vacant to Vibrant has brought dozens of abandoned storefronts back to life and contributed to increased foot traffic in San Francisco’s downtown retail districts by offering free or reduced rent, mentoring opportunities, and small business grants to pop-up shops and other small retailers. Organizers are hoping to institute a similar program in downtown LA, where retail vacancy rates have been close to 40% in recent months. I’m a big fan of this idea — though downtown has struggled over the past several years, I’m a huge believer in the potential of the neighborhood. People crave walkable business districts, and LA doesn’t have that many of them. If this program can help make downtown feel alive again, the crowds will return.
City council member and buzzy mayoral candidate Nithya Raman is hosting a community open house at the Griffith Park Pool on Thursday. Nithya and team will discuss and answer questions about the historic pool’s ongoing restoration.
If you’ve always dreamed of working at an independent bookstore (and don’t mind heading to another neighborhood), both The Last Bookstore and Book Soup are hiring. Book Soup is looking for part-time booksellers with “an astounding vibe” in West Hollywood, and The Last Bookstore is on the hunt for experienced night managers and event producers downtown. No word on pay…
Friend of the Rag Kirsten King’s anticipated debut novel A Good Person comes out on 3/31. You should order it immediately. It’s already been optioned for a film adaptation, with Daisy Edgar-Jones attached to star and Working Title producing.
If you’ve always wanted a cottage in Elysian Heights for under $1mm, this might be your chance. It’s petite, but the light and views make this place feel a bit bigger than it actually is. I’m very into the front porch, but the fireplace might have to go (and the yard could use the Terremoto treatment).
And this house, asking $825k in Glendale, is borderline perfect. Does it need a lot of work? Obviously. But you can’t manufacture charm like this (nor a tree like the one in the backyard) and Adams Hill is one of the best places to buy. Mark my words: this house will be worth double the asking price in a few years.
Sounds like something similar happened to Eagle Rock Camera and Goods. They ended up closing (and fast). I just loved that little store!