Caravan, a downtown LA bookstore for 64 years, writes its final chapter
LOS ANGELES_Moving day arrived in the morning earlier this week at Caravan Book Store in downtown Los Angeles, bringing with it an air of weary resignation.
Four weeks of 12-hour days had led to this ruin: shelves pried from the walls, their inventory labeled and packed, the small stage for the window display a heap of plywood, veneer and two-by-fours.
"I'm OK with this," said the owner as he shuffled among the stacked boxes destined for the vans at the curb.
What had been a jewel box of antiquarian surprises - an artful display of old books and lithographs, ship models and toy trains, memorabilia and Americana - was now a way station for cardboard, packing tape and bubble wrap. If it had not been for his children helping, it might not have happened.
"This is fine," said Leonard Bernstein. "This is normal."
A month ago, he had announced that
