I recently spent a week in Los Angeles with my art director husband. It’s a city where he lived for 20 years – and that I barely know – so I always take his recommendations. And that includes a trip to Hennessey & Ingalls, his favorite bookstore.
If you have any interest whatsoever in art and architecture (and maybe even if you don’t), this is a store you should know. But instead of trying to tell you myself, I’m going to let him explain what he loves about H&I. Here’s John’s panegyric to the store:
“My children may not inherit a cent when I go, but I’m sure they’ll enjoy my
vast art and architecture book collection for years to come, and, hopefully,
will then pass it down to their own arty offspring. I’ve invested many years
and a small fortune amassing my art and design library, much of it at the
indescribably awesome Hennessey & Ingalls bookstore in Santa Monica,
Calif. Its jampacked shelves sit on 8,000 square feet of floor space
(that’s kinda like an Old Navy store), holding tens of thousands of vintage
and new volumes on photography, interior design, sculpture, architecture,
graphic design, cinema and fine art.
Like the Louvre, it’s impossible to see it all in one or two visits, which
is a big part of its appeal. I started browsing and buying there back in the
80’s and I still haven’t even cracked whole categories. The large box that
followed us home from vacation by a few days and just arrived on our front
porch is only the latest chapter(s) in my nearly 30-year love affair with
H&I. In my defense, three of the eight books were on sale, and one was for
my wife.
