Skylight Books Expands -- With More Than a Little Help From Its Friends

This week, Los Angeles' Skylight Books expanded into a neighboring, 1,400-square-foot space. The 12-year-old store will continue to put finishing touches on the newly renovated location throughout August and will hold a gala Grand Opening on Saturday, August 30.

"Even though getting the space ready to open took about two months longer than I had originally figured on, we are bursting with pride and excitement that it is finally all coming together," said Kerry Slattery, Skylight general manager and co-owner. "We networked the two spaces (across an alley area), so we have the same phone system, computer database, etc. So far, all the parts seem to be working smoothly."

On the evening of July 30, the store closed early, and more than 30 volunteers joined Skylight staff to move the Art, Design, Architecture, Photography, Film, Music, Theatre, and Graphic Novel sections, as well as their large magazine section, to "Skylight Books 1814" (named for its address on Vermont Ave).

Skylight had help and counsel from all corners. "The senior librarian of our local library helped wrangle the volunteers and made coffee and tea and organized the food," said Slattery via e-mail. "Vroman's bookstore in Pasadena and Doug Dutton of Dutton's Brentwood, as well as the Los Feliz branch library, loaned book carts, so we didn't have to box anything up. We got some sage advice and tips from Linda Millemann of Tattered Cover in Denver, who has organized all their moves as well as Robyn Myers, the move coordinator of the Los Angeles Public Library (who will also be on hand to help, since she has moved 180 libraries!!)"

The move will allow the bookstore to more effectively organize and expand other sections of the store, including the children's and fiction sections, so they can better serve the surrounding Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Echo Park, and East Hollywood neighborhoods.

Fortunately, the earthquake that hit Southern California this week caused no damage to the store. "We were having a moving 'strategy' meeting in our mezzanine office overlooking the store," said Slattery. "It was definitely dramatic -- a real roller that seemed to last forever! When it was over, we ran next door to our new space to be sure there were no cracks or anything. Not a book fell in either space, and all is fine (two books in a window display fell over)." --Karen Schechner