453 S Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA

Among the canyons of downtown Los Angeles on an autumn evening, the last remains of light fading to a monochrome blue against skyscrapers and sidewalk, the shadows turning black, the neon lights apoplectic up and down South Main Street. We’d only been in town for a few hours but we decided not to wait. I really wanted to make sure I crossed this bookshop off my bucket list, and when we turned the corner and saw the little red neon sign flowing in the distance, my steps quickened past panhandlers dancing to boomboxes on sidewalks as wide as streets in other cities. We were close, closer, and then we walked through the door, past the doorman keeping an eye on those coming and going, and into a vast open room sprawling out into other floors and wings and nooks, revealing one of the greatest bookstores I’ve ever stepped into.