A
R
C
H
I
T
E
C
T
U
R
E
+
D
E
S
I
G
N
PHOTOGRAPHS:
COURTESY
OF
JOHNSTON
MARKLEE
AND
JOSHUA
WHITE
Arcana: Books on the Arts puts a modern spin on a much-beloved but mostly
conventional retail concept
V I SUA L A RT
W R I T T E N B Y J E N N T H O R N T O N
L
overs of art, architecture and design—and
really just a fabulous bookstore—know
one local shop as sure as their own shadow.
Arcana: Books on the Arts, a lodestar for Los
Angeles' creative community and an exquisitely
curated emporium populated with aesthetes and
iconoclasts like Diane Keaton, which touted
Arcana as a favorite in Parade. In combing through
the store's vast selection of current and out-of-print
art books, from modern and contemporary art to
photography, design, architecture and film, the
place is one big expression of that intangible Keaton
effect—top to bottom cool.
e engine of Arcana is founder Lee Kaplan,
who established the store in 1984 and runs it with
his wife and co-owner, Whitney. For years, Kaplan's
local book business that could was located on the
ird Street Promenade in Santa Monica, then he
picked up stakes and moved the store to its current
home in the historic Helms Bakery Building in
Culver City. Substantially larger than the original
Arcana at 4,500 square feet, this is a space that
breathes. Unlike your average Barnes & Noble, there
is no homogeneous tone, the sense that one will find
nothing particularly interesting or inspiring beyond
the books. No cloistering, no clutter, no tripping
over people in the aisles. Arcana, rather, is like its
inventory and clientele—design-forward.
Working in collaboration with Venice-based
design/build studio Landlocd, L.A. architectural
practice Johnston Marklee designed Arcana's
current space, which it appointed with the store's
signature tall black-coated metal shelves to create
what architect Mark Lee calls a "forest of books."
ese stunning pieces give the space an industrial
edge that blends seamlessly with a clean-lined
sense of function. Credit this arrangement to an
expansiveness that one is likely to associate with
one of the city's modernist masterpieces than a
retail concept. Arcana not only echoes the tenets
of contemporary design, it is an extension of
contemporary design itself. arcanabooks.com
26 DIGS.NET
|
3.1.2019
