When Doug Dutton first caught sight of a quaint book shop on San Vicente Boulevard, placed on the market after a chain competitor moved in two blocks away, he saw a glimmer of potential, something special in the literary boutique.
It was the little book shop that could and in the 24 years since Dutton purchased the business, it became the little book shop that did, weathering economic storms endured by independent booksellers in the face of competition from national powerhouses like Barnes & Noble and the Internet.
Like all stories, the tale of how Dutton’s Brentwood Books captivated the affluent community with its unique collection will have an ending, and not a very happy one. The store is closing at the end of the month.
“It’s very sad,” Dutton said in an interview last week. “It’s modest to say it will be a loss to the community as the closing of any bookstore is.”
The uprooting of the business comes nearly a year after billionaire Charles Munger bought the Barry Building — which houses Dutton’s — and proposed demolishing the 57-year-old courtyard-style complex to pave way for a condominium development. After the Brentwood community expressed outrage about the proposal, Munger withdrew the plans. Los Angeles City Council landmarked the building last fall.
Munger is believed to be planning another type of commercial redevelopment for the site.
But the uncertainties that came with the redevelopment proposal clearly had its toll on the bookstore, which had already been aching from the loss of its sister branch in Beverly Hills in 2006.
Reportedly enduring more than $500,000 in debt, the bookstore’s closure was announced in February, a result of problems caused by the loss from the Beverly Hills store, the uncertainties with Brentwood’s future and the unpredictable book market. Munger has offered to cover the debt.
The clearance signs have gone up in the windows of Dutton’s and long-time patrons have been stopping by in the weeks leading to the store’s closure. The once packed shelves of South American literature and classical music are now empty as the three-wing bookstore slowly begins to vacate its inventory.
What is unique about Dutton’s is that much of its collection is a result of referrals by customers, Dutton said.
“We’ve brought a philosophy of meeting the community’s needs,” Dutton said.
Among the shoppers last week was Jill Cervant, a mother of four children who has called Dutton’s her favorite shop since moving to the neighborhood in 1990. During a trip to the store last Thursday, several books and gift wrapping paper made their way into her arms.
Cervant said she visits the shop at least once a month, often with her family.
“I was just nauseous when I heard the news,” she said. “It’s going to leave such a void.”
Generations of book lovers
William and Thelma Dutton opened Dutton’s Books in North Hollywood in 1961, a business that was eventually handed down to their two sons in the 1970s.
In 1984, the two Dutton sons set their sights on the Brentwood Book Shop that was about to go out of business because a Crown Books had just opened a few blocks away. A year after taking over the book store, Doug Dutton assumed full control of Dutton’s Brentwood Books while his brother continued to manage the North Hollywood branch.
The West Los Angeles location quadrupled in size over the next 24 years, expanding from the west wing in which the original store was centered, to the north wing and later the east wing, which now houses the café and gift shop.
While the shop was famous for what it stored on the shelves, it was what was off the shelves that often served as the main attraction.
Dutton points to the center courtyard — where all the wings face — as having created most of the book shop’s memorable occasions, from the John Kerry book signing last fall to when author Tom Wolfe gave a talk in the rain. Many of these author events would bring in a packed courtyard, spilling to the second floor, which houses an architect, dentist and lawyer’s office.
The courtyard has created lifetime memories for the book shop’s long-time patrons, also hosting a wedding ceremony for a couple who met while standing in line for a book signing.
628,“This courtyard defines the center and the heart of the store,” Dutton said.
The courtyard was where Clare Elfman had her first book signing for “The Girls of the Huntington House,” and later her final book signing in 1991.
“It’s a tremendous loss and changing times for the worst,” Elfman said on Thursday as she left the book store.
One of the distinctive features of Dutton’s, and a quality that many patrons of independent bookstores say they appreciate, is the personable and knowledgeable staff, knowing customers by first name, fostering a small-town community feeling in a big-time city.
About 200 employees have worked at Dutton’s Brentwood Books, some who are part of the same family but from different generations.
Lise Friedman, the events coordinator, has worked at Dutton’s for 23 years and everyone from her parents to her daughter have helped out at a book event.
“It’s been a fabulous experience,” Friedman said. “It’s a very family-friendly place.”
Dutton said he isn’t sure if his time is up in the book business and is currently considering his options and looking into possible alternate locations.
“We’ve sold books to grandparents, parents and their children,” Dutton said. “In a world that is in flux, we have to look with a certain amount of pride of what we’ve been able to achieve, shy of a quarter of a century.”
Jump hedline: End of a literary era in Brentwood
Suggested pullquote: “It’s modest to say it will be a loss to the community as the closing of any bookstore is.”
Doug Dutton
Owner, Dutton’s Brentwood Books
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 9, 2008. Read the original PDF.