Leaving their longtime home on the Santa Monica Promenade, Arcana: Books on the Arts will be relocating to the Helms Bakery District on April 1st (no joke! ) As Lee and Whitney Kaplan prepare to pack up and head east, they are anticipating joining the retailers in Culver City catering to the cultured.
Why did they choose to move here? Lee Kaplan was thinking of making it easier for the customers. “We already have a number of [regular patrons] in Culver City, and being a part of the gallery scene and the very art-centered ethos of that area was very appealing to us. People don’t want to have to come all the way over to Santa Monica, and this gives a not just a better site, but a much better location.”
Arcana had been located in Santa Monica since 1984, and was located on Third Street prior to it being developed as the Promenade. The new space, designed by Johnston-Marklee, will be a great place to search for rare and out of print volumes as well current and new art books.
This is thrilling news! Welcome Arcana! It’s been hard to be an advocate of buying local, when our city has had no bookstore for years (besides the small but brilliant collection in Lundeen’s). I can’t wait for April!
Also thrilled!
Great, sign me up – coffee, books, art..its all good!