Some time ago in this post, I wrote about how for Christmas of 1963 — when I was 11 years, 9 months and 23 days old — I scoured used bookstores in Los Angeles to find one book in particular to be part of a holiday gift for my mother. I finally found what I was looking for (sort of) in a large, scary, cluttered shop down on Western Avenue called Yesterday's Books.
When I wrote that article, I didn't have a photo of Yesterday's Books and didn't imagine that one existed — or if one did exist that I would ever find it. Well, it just goes to show you: A year or two ago, I came across this one…
I have no idea when the place went outta business but I suspect this shot is from not long before they closed forever. When I was there in '63 and a few times after that, there was no any-book-a-buck banner. This looks like a going-outta-business offer. Also, the "Books will turn you on" banner suggests the rhetoric of late sixties or early seventies.
Inside, it was three stories of books piled in crates or shelved in no discernible sorting order. A major tremor could have shaken the place like a James Bond martini and what you were seeking would have been no more difficult to find. Every time you shopped there, it was a major scavenger hunt. I hate to think what it took to clean out the place when they moved out…but they did. I seem to remember driving by and seeing other businesses in the building after that. Here's what's there now…
Not only do we no longer have Yesterday's Books in Los Angeles, we no longer have very many second-hand bookstores at all. Once I discovered online book search engines and eBay, I was able to easily find all the books on a little list of "wants" I carried around in my wallet for years. So I didn't particularly regret the slow extinction of used book stores. Still every so often, I remember how much fun it was to browse in them and I recall the joy of finding one on my list…or maybe one I'd never known existed. And then maybe I miss them a little.