{"id":509137,"date":"2026-01-11T19:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T19:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/509137\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T19:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T19:14:12","slug":"skid-row-coffee-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/509137\/","title":{"rendered":"Skid Row coffee shop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Planet Books, a long-running outpost known for its boundless collection of used books, toys, posters and other antiquities, must move \u2014 once again \u2014 by March or risk closure.<\/p>\n

After 27 years in business, owner James Rappaport said the news came last fall from the proprietors of the neighboring Antique Mall II, which, since 2020, has sublet to him a 4,000-square-foot warehouse now cramped with rare tomes and second-hand memorabilia.<\/p>\n

Andrew Jurkiewicz, who owns Antique Mall II alongside his partner, Linda, confirmed the move in a phone call Monday. They\u2019re selling their own store, a decision that ran simultaneously to their landlord\u2019s decision to sell the property altogether.<\/p>\n

One person familiar with the sale said the listing \u2014 which opened<\/a> in October \u2014 has drawn several interested buyers and is expected to enter escrow in the next week. A public record search found the properties, at 1851 to 1855 Freeman Ave., are owned by DPV Properties LLC, which recently moved its address from Seal Beach to out of state.<\/p>\n

When reached by phone, one of the owners declined to comment on their reason for the sale.<\/p>\n

After their leases end in March, the businesses are expected to vacate. The antique shop, Jurkiewicz said, will relocate to a space at 3588 Palo Verde Ave. \u2014 formerly a Joann Fabric and Crafts \u2014 under new ownership.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re both tired,\u201d he said of running the 37-year business that he moved into a former plywood business on Freeman Avenue in 2010.<\/p>\n

The future of Planet Books, meanwhile, is far more uncertain. Rappaport has been quiet about his plight until now, insisting he didn\u2019t want to \u201csound any alarms\u201d that might disrupt the flow of business or scare his regulars.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to panic anybody, especially myself. Not really sure what to do, actually,\u201d Rappaport said.<\/p>\n

This marks the second time the bookstore has needed to vacate its location since it opened in 1998.<\/p>\n

Its first incarnation on East Anaheim Street<\/a> was a combination of a couple of hundred book crates left behind by San Pedro bookseller Vinegar Hill Books and collectible toys acquired by the store\u2019s former owner, Michael Munns.<\/p>\n

Monthly rent at that time was about $2,000 for 1,500-square feet. Today, Rappaport said, the building costs $5,200 a month to rent, with half of it currently vacant.<\/p>\n

His search for a new space has spanned the city, even traveling into neighboring Seal Beach, each time running into the same story.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwice the money and one third the size,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also difficult to find something to fit their needs. The current store has a bookstock of easily more than 100,000 titles.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the trove of toys, postcards, movie posters and other antiquities that line the walls, counters and shelves throughout. In the back area \u2014 the workers call it the \u201cnether world\u201d \u2014 towering stacks of books form trench lines leading to an aging work computer, limited-edition prints and a bathroom which hasn\u2019t worked properly since they moved there.<\/p>\n

Any storefront they find will likely require a \u201cmajor purge\u201d of inventory, Rappaport said. Planet Books has two music sections and three sections for both science fiction and mystery. He plans to downsize through donations to nearby schools, shelters and prisons.<\/p>\n

If the store cannot find a new home, Rappaport said he\u2019ll have to move his inventory into storage, likely at a facility in Stanton.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the definite possibility the store closes, he said, though workers are more optimistic.<\/p>\n

For many, Planet Books has become the bookstore\u2019s bookstore \u2014 the book hog\u2019s mud puddle \u2014 where the clerks know the difference between Tom Wolfe and Thomas Wolfe and where patrons might lose themselves for the day among cheap out-of-print treasures on Zen and macrobiotics, Armenian dictionaries, Cantonese cookbooks and volumes on Lydia Maria Child, a 19th century abolitionist.<\/p>\n

Wherever the store lands, Rappaport said it will be his last move.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 68, getting old, you know, I don\u2019t need this,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t retire because I don\u2019t make anything in Social Security. I just want to have a little bit of fun.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Planet Books, a long-running outpost known for its boundless collection of used books, toys, posters and other antiquities,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":509138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-509137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115878065889180528","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}