I'm spoiled. I had great used bookstores to go to in Texas where there's many, many photography books. Granted we wouldn't get all the great ones but there's a pretty good selection. Once I moved to LA, used bookstores are harder to find and in these economic times, dying faster than ever.
A few days ago I was taking a friend to pick up her car at her mechanic and drove by Illad Bookstore over on Cahuenga Boulevard. My god, I thought they closed down ! They used to be on Vineland and whenever I was up in the Valley, I would drop by and lose a few hours looking through their books. My last purchase there I believe was Avedon's An Autobiography.
So believe me, I was happy to lose a few hours (and a few bucks...okay about $50) at the spot. I've been to many used bookstores here in LA and many times the photography section was pretty much travel photography books and such. Illad has a great selections. Besides the usual suspects such as Arbus or Newton, I also found current titles such as Andrew Bush's "Drive" whose exhibition was just at M+B Gallery a few months ago. The selections may not be as current but I love the feeling of just looking through photography books.
Yes, Amazon probably has it cheaper but I miss the whole holding the book, smelling it, flipping through the pages and just plain rummaging through titles which I may never look at online. I spent at least 2 good hours looking through most of their books. At one point I overheard the older sales clerk talking to a customer how some kids in their teenage years came in recently, looked through the bookstore and asked him if this was a library ! ^^ I quietly shook my head.
Wasn't aware Manuel Álvarez Bravo did polaroids ^^. In the future, I plan on exploring more used bookstores here in LA and if I find one with a decent photography selections, I'll post them up here so y'all can check it out :)
ILIAD BOOKSHOP
5400 Cahuenga Boulevard
North Hollywood, California 91601
(818) 509-2665
Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sunday 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
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