The Last Bookstore Los Angeles – A Book Lover’s Heaven

Let’s face it: Los Angeles isn’t really known as a literary destination.

You go for the star spotting opportunities, the palm tree lined streets and the almost constant sunshine. Not the books.

Unless, of course, you’re me.

While most visitors to Los Angeles head straight for the Walk of Fame or Santa Monica Beach, I dragged my husband, my brother, his wife and her two colleagues to Downtown LA to go to a bookshop.

Not just any bookshop. An incredible treasure trove of the written word, known as The Last Bookstore.

Random bookish street art that’s somewhere on the other side of LA!

The Last Bookstore Los Angeles

I lured my travelling companions to downtown Los Angeles with the promise of amazing BBQ and ice cream, which I dutifully delivered in the form of Grand Central Market, one of my favourite spots in Downtown LA thanks to its excess of neon signage and mouthwatering food.

We had an enormous lunch at Horse Thief BBQ (the best BBQ I’ve had outside of Texas) and followed it up with dessert at McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams (which truly are fine). Sufficiently full, and in a kind of a post-lunch coma, we strolled a few blocks over in the sunshine until we reached the grand entrance of The Last Bookstore:

The building began its life as a bank, which explains the vaults I discovered throughout, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

When I stepped inside, I almost cried. The Last Bookstore may be an independent book seller, but it’s the biggest book shop I’ve ever seen in my life, and it took my breath away! The ground level is a light-filled space with vaulted ceilings and imposing pillars dotted throughout, and almost every inch of it is dedicated to the written word.

It claims to be the largest used and new book and record store in California, and with a quarter of a million books in stock, I’d say they’ll be keeping that title for a long time to come.

There are new books, used books, rare books and really beautiful, leather-bound books. And thousands of other types of books in between. It’s genuinely a book-lover’s paradise.

I began by strolling around the ground floor, looking like a human version of the heart-eyed emoji, completely overwhelmed by the huge wealth of literature on display.

Then I discovered a staircase at the back, and I made my way upstairs. I’d thought the downstairs area was impressive, so I was completely unprepared for the treasures that the upper floor contained.

The Last Bookstore book tunnel

There was A TUNNEL OF BOOKS!

I repeat: a tunnel of books! I think I may have squealed at the sight of it. I’d lost everyone else by this point, so I just kept walking, and admiring, and gasping, as each new corner of The Last Bookstore revealed some new piece of bookish treasure.

As well as the tunnel, which is quite famous and a huge drawcard for visitors to the shop, there was a small queue of people trying to get their photo taken through this circular book frame:

The horror vault

Although I don’t read much horror – I’m far too easily frightened – this vault was all kinds of perfect. It was creepy (I mean, stepping into any vault with a door that thick is kind of terrifying), and the walls were lined with old radio equipment, which I half expected to start broadcasting goosebump-inducing static, or threatening whispers.

No such terror occurred, thank goodness, and by the time I walked out again I was almost tempted to buy a battered old copy of a Stephen King novel. I swear, I didn’t chicken out. I was simply travelling light, and a book could have pushed my hand luggage weight limit over the edge. That’s the story I’m sticking to, anyway.

The second vault I discovered was the one pictured below, which was home to colourful, leather-bound tomes that looked almost magical in the dim light that radiated from industrial lamps.

It’s hard to describe just how much I adored every nook and cranny of The Last Bookstore. It’s something of a monument to the power of books and reading, and to those who get lost within their pages. It’s the kind of place where you can get lost, find a quiet corner, and discover a new author or genre or indeed an entire world.

There are collectible books, volumes on any niche topic you could imagine, decorative books sorted by all of the colours of the rainbow, first editions, books in the current charts, and even a section of vinyl that contained some treasures of its own.

I could have stayed for hours, and I could have spent a lot of money, but my literary Los Angeles day wasn’t over yet. I still had another stop to drag my companions to.

The Los Angeles Central Library

I’d spotted a photo on Instagram that claimed to have been taken inside the Los Angeles Central Library, and it looked so spectacular that I needed to see it with my own eyes.

I dragged my posse another few blocks away and, right opposite the Millennium Biltmore Hotel (how did I not know about this last year?!) we found the Goodhue building, an impressive art deco structure designed by New York architect Bertram Goodhue. The exterior is well worth stopping to admire, but it’s the interior that I came for:

The heart of this building is the Rotunda, an enormous chamber that’s intricately painted, and which features the imposing bronze Zodiac Chandelier. This masterpiece was created by sculptor Lee Lawrie, and it’s nothing short of mesmerising to look at.

Luckily, there are wooden benches right underneath it so you can sit and stare, and marvel at this little slice of literary Los Angeles.

Have you visited Los Angeles? Did you know about The Last Bookstore or the Rotunda at the Los Angeles Central Library?

Pin this for later: