Stockist Spotlight: Skylight Books // Los Angeles, California
We feature all of our different rad stockists weekly because we believe in supporting small business!
What's the name of your shop? Where are you located? Tell us about y'all!
Skylight Books. Our main shop is located at 1818 N Vermont Ave, with a smaller arts annex just a couple of doors down at 1814 N. Vermont Ave. We are a generalist bookstore though our current staff tends to place an emphasis on leftist thought, particularly with regard to race, gender, and class equality.
What made you decide to open? How long have you been around?
Skylight Books opened its doors in the wake of the closing of Chatterton's Books in 1996. The owners of Skylight did not want to see its neighborhood lose a bookstore and as Skylight has continued to flourish for more than two decades now it appears local residents were in agreement.
What's your favorite thing about being a small biz owner?
I don't own this place! However I think it's safe to say that everyone at Skylight is pretty happy to be working in a place that strives to be a community beacon for both education and recreation.
What's your favorite thing to buy for your store? How has the shop allowed you to discover new artists/product?
Well, books, of course. Skylight avails an onslaught of work by authors and artists spanning centuries past up until today's date, and my reading list expands daily. It's both thrilling and daunting at once!
Why did you want to open your store? What was your mission/intention?
I feel that the majority of people who choose bookselling as a career have a strong instinct for facilitating discovery. Be it within the realm of art, politics, or what have you, the bookseller is mired in an endless conversation with the objects and works that have inspired them and the public at large. As a buyer for the store I see the work as an endless curatorial project, though not necessarily all my own. I am constantly being informed by customers and coworkers alike, and while we each have our own ideas of what Skylight is I think that on some level we all strive to be both an echo and an analysis of the community surrounding us. That said, Los Angeles is a hell of a thing to be surrounded by! We're pretty lucky here!