Both the HAUNTED VAULT and the SCI-FI VAULTS will be open until 10 PM Halloween Night at Downtown LA's THE LAST BOOKSTORE

And so will be children's books 'ghost and goblin and dinosaur display' by the haunted book tunnel in the upstairs dollar book section - the LABYRINTH with its over 100,000 books at only a buck apiece- at the LAST BOOKSTORE at 5th & Spring - 453 S. Spring at the Spring Arts Tower.

Make Halloween a learning/reading experience for your kids at THE LAST BOOKSTORE

Besides all the great books for kids if all ages from pre-readers to young adults in the main first floor part of the store - the LAST BOOKSTORE's  one dollar only second floor LABYRINTH has just installed - for one week only - a display of books about ghosts and goblins and things that go bump in the night for all ages. 

It is loca

ted in the book cases attached to the... haunted book tunnel .... just past the Haunted Vault (filled with books that will keep adults wide awake on Halloween night) and the Sci-Fi Vault.

The store at 5th & Spring - 453 S. Spring Street in the Spring Arts Tower -  in Downtown LA is open from 10 - 10 this Tuesday to Thursday - and until 11 on Friday & Saturday.

Disney Buys Lucas - Making Disney One of the Few Local Companies to Continue to Buy Out of Area Competitors

One of the few bright spots in Los Angeles film future (with the loss of so many films to New York, other states and other countries due to tax credits and other programs), is the just announced acquisition of Lucas Films by Disney.  This is one of the increasingly rare cases where a Los Angeles firm is doing the acquiring rather than a New York or overseas company being the surviving entity..

While Lucas Films' production schedule has declined in recent years, its four campuses - all in Northern California except for one in Singapore) for its eight divisions - with Industrial Light & Magic being only one of the major divisions - are still one of the largest concentration of film & entertainment talent outside of Hollywood.

So even while the plan is for all the divisions and employees to remain in their present facilities, it is logical future expansions will likely take place in the LA area.  This move continues to make Disney one of the very few local companies in any field to aggressively buy out of area  and local competitors (starting with their purchase of ABC, Pixar and then Marvel) as opposed to being acquired by an out of area corporation, a fate shared most of the other major film studios.

Over 100,000 Books at Only One Dollar Each at THE LAST BOOKSTORE!

Today THE LAST BOOKSTORE at 5th & Spring in Downtown Los Angeles opens at 9 AM for the Sunday Historic Downtown LA Farmer’s Market also at 5th & Spring and stays open until 9 PM on all Sunday nights.  It opens at 10 AM on all other days and stays open until 11 PM on Friday, Saturday and Monday nights and 10 PM on all other nights. And besides the low priced books on the 10,000 foot ground floor - be sure and visit the upstairs… LABYRINTH - with it’s 100,000 books at only $1 each.    And besides the Sci-Fi Vault and the Haunted Vault in the first room - along with an aisle filled with one dollar cook books - the second room now has over 30 sections of carefully curated books.

In just the past week, over 100 books have arrived on Asia  - with many on India,  Judaic, all things English, early 20th Century European novels, business and economics (with over 1,000 books, psychology ( with over 1,000 books), literature & writing (over 1,000 books), and substantial additions have been made to the poetry, philosophy, sociology, Latin America/Mexico, (now over 300 books), folklore, gambling, France, Russia, Italy, Germany, woman’s sports, football, Socialism & Communism,  wood working, gardening, short story collections (over 300), ancient Greece & Rome, American history, biology, how-to-books, children’s books, young adult books, military history (over 700 books), chemistry, self-help, popular Russian novels, interior decorating, pets, physics, philosophy, natural history of all kinds, computers, knitting & needlepoint, law, medicine, Australia, theater, film, Africa, African American history & literature & popular novels, the Middle East, theology & religion  (also over 1,000 books), education, baseball, the history of sports,  and women in sports sections.

We have also added to our smaller but selective sections on  doll houses, chess, Christmas, snow sports, 19th Century books, anthropology, archeology, pre-Raphaelite artists, foreign languages, Scandinavian, Asian, Portuguese & Italian writers, plumbing, gay & lesbian novels & non-fiction, medieval history, Egypt, astrology, psychics, Central America & the Caribbean, and many, other subjects.

Clifton's Cafeteria is Becoming Downtown LA's Own 'Museum of Jurassic Technology' - With 7 Bars & Restaurants

First, for those of you who are not familiar with  'The Museum of Jurassic Technology' - on of LA's great cultural treasures - here are several links about it:  California Through My Eyes, ArtInfo, and the New York Times.

Second, as Hayley Fox explains in her blogdowntown column yesterday, the present owner/savior of Downtown's historic Clifton's Cafeteria on Broadway - Andrew Meieran, has always seen Clifton's 'as its own natural history museum'.  That is why he will be preserving - and restoring many of the unique historic features of the building - and the cafeteria - and establishing a museum dedicated to Clifton's history within the building..

But what makes the Museum of Jurassic Technology  allusion so apt is Meieran's plan to - after restoring Clifton's, to then open six other venues withing the historic building - each of which will reference a different time and a different sub-culture of  Los Angeles history - including a 1950's Tiki Bar and a 1920's Speakeasy.


And here are the opening paragraphs of the article:

'I've always seen Clifton's as its own little natural history museum,' says owner
By HAYLEY FOX
Published: Tuesday, October 16, 2012, at 10:59AM
Hayley FoxThe first phase of the renovated Clifton's is scheduled to open in five to six months.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — As crews peel back layers of Downtown’s historic Clifton’s cafeteria during the 50,000-sqaure-foot building's retrofit and renovation, owner Andrew Meieran says the space is a gold mine of treasures.

"The wonderful things about Clifton's is that it has the most incredible history and there's artifacts from every era of its history," said Meieran.
In addition to the world's oldest neon discovered in one of the walls, crews have found old playbills from the Orpheum, advertisements for cabarets, medicine bottles, candy wrappers and silverware -- all from the building's many reincarnations over the past seven decades.

"I've always seen Clifton's as its own little natural history museum," said Meieran, and he plans on highlighting these items in an actual museum that's being built inside the renovated space. This "history room" will join the seven bars and restaurants slated for the multi-level Broadway building.

“The space is going to be very, very modular and flexible,” said Meieran, and will include everything from a soda shoppe to a tiki bar. All the locations will be loosely tied together by Clifton's theme which Meieran describes as, “where science meets nature.”
“The idea is to go and not have it be themey but …its going to be stylistically interesting and unique.”

Meieran, who also designed and owns the Edison, said crews are knee-deep in construction at Clifton's, updating the building to current code and opening up a few of the floors to create an internal atrium space. The new space is scheduled to open in phases; phase one will open in about five months and include a 24-hour-cafeteria and a basement bar. The other floors will follow, opening in three month intervals with the top-floor tiki bar slated to open last.

And click here for the rest of the article - and to discover the long hidden ...secret plans .... founder Clifford Clifton had for the building - plans that even members of his own family were unaware of....

Legendary Los Angeles Artist/Curator/Educator Michael Asher, RIP 1943 - 2012

Long before I had met Michael Asher, artist after artist told me how important his influence - and support - was to their art during his tenure at CalArts from the 1970's until his death last Sunday.

When I finally met him at a show he had curated, it only took a few minutes to understand how well their deserved their praise was. His excitement and enthusiasm for art of all kinds - along with his wicked sense of humor - influenced much of what has happened in both Los Angeles - and the international - contemporary art world over the past 40 years. His passing leaves a void that will not be easily filled.  

Here are some links to the first stores about his passing.

East of Borneo

The Art Newspaper

Los Angeles Times

THE LAST BOOKSTORE Has Thousands of Just Arrived Used Books at Only $1 Each!! Now Open From 9 AM to 9 PM on Sunday and from 10 AM until 11 PM Saturday, Monday and Friday. - and 10 AM until 10 PM all other days.

First the UPDATE for Sunday Oct. 14th :

THE LAST BOOKSTORE is now open on Sunday's from 9 AM to 9 PM so you can attend  the Farmer's Market that takes place right outside the front door of the store from 9 AM until 1 PM and you can visit the store after enjoying your daytime Sunday activities. And besides all the $1 books listed in the link below - we just had a great selection of books on English and American history & literature. Latin American & African history and literature, books on legal history, tons of bios on actors, writers, film stars & directors plus books on legitimate theater, classical music,science fiction, chess, gambling, doll houses. interior decoration, indoor gardening, the occult, pets of all kinds and many other subjects.

Located at 453 S. Spring,  THE LAST BOOKSTORE has one of the best collections of used books in California.  And the newly opened mezzanine,  the LABYRINTH has 100,000 books - all of which are only $1.  Most of these are randomly sorted,but among the larger curated collections of $1 only books are over 850 psychology books, well over 1,000 books on history - with strong selections  for Latin America, Asia, the US, Ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece, Russia, Africa, France and England, hundreds of children's and young adult books and cook books all over the second floor.  Photo is part of the Psychology section.

There are also strong collections of poetry, sports, all things African-American, the military (at least 700), religion and theology (at least 500), music, theater, film andTV, college & high school text books in most of the sciences (chemistry, biology, psychics, geology, bio-chemistry, etc.) and many of the major disciplines, hundreds of popular contemporary Russian novels, philosophy, science-fiction, sociology, golf, wine, computer books of all types, all things Jewish (at least 400 books), law and medical books, education  and many other subjects. Below photo is part of Asia collection.

The next photo is of half of the section that deals with words - writing and how to write anything, literary criticism, MLA journals, linguistics, printing & publishing books, zines,  magazines or anything else, literary history and bios, editing, public speaking, etymology, dictionaries of every type; rhetoric & logic and anything else that can be done to - or with - a word - along with media & cultural studies.

There are also smaller collections on pets, gambling and card games, gardening, books with 100 year old covers & bindings, nature and natural history, art history, birds, gardening and many other subjects.  And all are for only one dollar each.

But most of the almost 100,000 books are randomly sorted so that you can find the book you never knew existed by an author or on a subject you never knew would interest you.  And if you can't find it upstairs, you will likely be able to find it on the first floor where most prices are from $4 to $20 dollars for books that sold for far more when they were new.  The first photo below is of the Latin America, Mexico & Canada $1 section.

Next is just a small portion of a huge Russian Pop fiction $1 collection

Next are $1 books with old spines from 50 - 150 years old.

Next is just over half of the $1 business section.

Here is part of the $1 England collection.

Close-up of small part of $1 Judaic collection.

Another close-up of another small part of the $1 Judaic collection..

Top Shelves part of  $1 Judaic and bottom shelves math, accounting & statistics $1 books.

Lastly - view of the first floor of the LAST BOOKSTORE where the regularly low priced books can be found.

LA County May Purchase Old State Building Site Across From City Hall Hall to Expand Grand Park

The Downtown News reports on a plan for the County of LA to purchase the old State Building site across from City Hall - and adjacent to the Grand Park - to expand the park.

Another option - which might make an expansion of the park more feasible - could be to use part of the site for commercial development, such as a narrow condo tower (which would start the process of building a 24/7 residential community in the Civic Center) along with retail that would be open nights & weekends - to give more life to the area. Then the money from that project could pay for the land and the development of the rest of the site as park space.

And does anyone know where the murals (or any other historic elements) which may have been removed from the old State Building - and the old Hall of Records - are being stored?

‘Graffiti Pit’ Site Could Become a Park

by Ryan Vaillancourt, Staff Writer | Posted: Friday, October 12, 2012 5:30 am

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - The recently opened Spring Street portion of Grand Park infused the Civic Center with sorely needed green space. It gave Downtown residents and workers a place to relax and also delivered a small fenced-in dog run.

The opening of the third and final section of the $56 million park also magnified an adjacent blighted spot known as the graffiti pit. The fenced-in property on the northeast corner of First Street and Broadway has been derelict for decades.

Walking by the site, which contains the remnants of an office building razed after an earthquake 41 years ago, it’s hard not to wonder why it wasn’t folded into the neighboring park. Now, that vision is in the works.

Under pressure from Gov. Jerry Brown to sell off unneeded assets to raise revenue, the Department of General Services is putting the graffiti pit on the market. State officials have notified public entities of their intent to sell the parcel, but are waiting to finish a $600,000 cleanup of the site before it formally considers any offers, said GSA spokesman Michael Liang.

Both city and county officials have signaled interest in the site. If approval is granted from the Board of Supervisors, the county will submit an offer when the property becomes formally available, said David Sommers, a spokesman for County CEO Bill Fujioka.

“The County’s preliminary plan entails incorporating the site into Grand Park,” Sommers said in an email.

(the rest of the story can be read at The Downtown News) 

Stay DRY on Tonight's Downtown LA Art Walk at THE LAST BOOKSTORE and it's Second Floor with 100,000 Books at Only One Dollar Each!

Stay DRY on tonight's Art Walk!  If it's showering for awhile - spend a hour or two or three in the two stories of THE LAST BOOKSTORE and its attached art galleries - with over 20,000 feet of books and art..  The art is open until 9 PM and the books are open until midnight.  And for this Art Walk multiple collections of vintage books have just arrived.  Tonight you can easily fill an entire box with one dollar books on just the Spanish Civil War, Chinese-American relations, wine, classical music, doll houses, needlepoint, knitting, golf, a dozen different topics of American, English, Russian or French history and culture - and at least 50 other subjects.

Our Latin American and Asian collections have also expanded by two more shelves and our business, legal, medical, math, computer, sports and science sections have each expanded by five or more shelves and both our psychology and theology collection now have well 1,000 books,

Plus we have hundreds of books on sports, gardening, pets, archeology, anthropology, natural history, sociology, education, philosophy, home improvements, decorating and over 1,000 cooking books and even more self- help books.

And we always have lots of kids and young adult books - all for a dollar each on the second floor.

Located at 453 S. Spring,  THE LAST BOOKSTORE has one of the best collections of used books in California.  And the newly opened mezzanine,  the LABYRINTH has 100,000 books - all of which are only $1.  Most of these are randomly sorted,but among the larger curated collections of $1 only books are over 850 psychology books, well over 1,000 books on history - with strong selections  for Latin America, Asia, the US, Ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece, Russia, Africa, France and England, hundreds of children's and young adult books and cook books all over the second floor.  Photo is part of the Psychology section.

There are also strong collections of poetry, sports, all things African-American, the military (at least 700), religion and theology (at least 500), music, theater, film andTV, college & high school text books in most of the sciences (chemistry, biology, psychics, geology, bio-chemistry, etc.) and many of the major disciplines, hundreds of popular contemporary Russian novels, philosophy, science-fiction, sociology, golf, wine, computer books of all types, all things Jewish (at least 400 books), law and medical books, education  and many other subjects. Below photo is part of Asia collection.

The next photo is of half of the section that deals with words - writing and how to write anything, literary criticism, MLA journals, linguistics, printing & publishing books, zines,  magazines or anything else, literary history and bios, editing, public speaking, etymology, dictionaries of every type; rhetoric & logic and anything else that can be done to - or with - a word - along with media & cultural studies.

There are also smaller collections on pets, gambling and card games, gardening, books with 100 year old covers & bindings, nature and natural history, art history, birds, gardening and many other subjects.  And all are for only one dollar each.

But most of the almost 100,000 books are randomly sorted so that you can find the book you never knew existed by an author or on a subject you never knew would interest you.  And if you can't find it upstairs, you will likely be able to find it on the first floor where most prices are from $4 to $20 dollars for books that sold for far more when they were new.  The first photo below is of the Latin America, Mexico & Canada $1 section.

Next is just a small portion of a huge Russian Pop fiction $1 collection

Next are $1 books with old spines from 50 - 150 years old.

Next is just over half of the $1 business section.

Here is part of the $1 England collection.

Close-up of small part of $1 Judaic collection.

Another close-up of another small part of the $1 Judaic collection..

Top Shelves part of  $1 Judaic and bottom shelves math, accounting & statistics $1 books.

Lastly - view of the first floor of the LAST BOOKSTORE where the regularly low priced books can be found.

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