Sunday, November 16, 2008

Stories: an Echo Park bookshop with coffee and lunch

Stories has a full cafe in back of the book racks.

We stopped by Saturday night's packed opening party for Stories, the new bookstore in the Sea Level records space on Sunset Blvd. near the Echo. The storefront has really undergone a makeover, with lots of tempting bookshelves upfront and a sleek little cafe at the back. Owner Liz Garo told me opening day will be Tuesday or Wednesday. Starting with Raven's Brew coffee and baked goods from Breadbar, the cafe will soon add sandwiches, soups and plates with hummus, couscous salad, etc. There's a good-sized patio out back which will accomodate several tables, so you can actually pick up a cool new or used book and have a full meal. It was too crowded to browse much, but we spied lots of books by local authors including the now-classic Bohemian Modern and a fun new book from Santa Monica Press, Pop Surf Culture.

4 comments:

Susan said...

Hooray, somewhere closer than Intelligentsia with Breadbar fare and with much better parking!

Anonymous said...

I just went this week, and im going to say I hate this place...THE WORST customer service..I went to order a coffee, waited more than 5 min to be helped and no one did.. there were only one other person besides me..3 lady's in the front register an 2 guys and a young lady in the coffee section...I wont go there ever again.....

Lindsey Fyfe said...

cool place, good books, good location, but I found front counter service oddly unfriendly for a new store.

Anonymous said...

This place is amazing, the food is great, the staff knows their stuff and the atmosphere is warm and comfortable.