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‘THE FINEST SECONDHAND BOOKSTORE IN THE WORLD’

Chris ZieglerWed. July 23
 

Acres of Books patron Robert Easton says goodbye to heaven, nirvana, Valhalla, whatever


PHOTO by JEFF GOULD

Robert Easton is the sort of person you’d never meet anywhere but Acres of Books: actor, writer, dialect expert and voice coach to the stars (known as “the Henry Higgins of Hollywood”) and a 50-years Acres patron who knew Bertrand Smith personally and who attributes “everything good that has ever happened to me” to information found in books. He was born with the same bibliophiliac tendencies as Ray Bradbury and has collected by now a specialized private library that is more complete than even institutions like L.A. Public, and much of that collection—the books that helped win an Oscar for Forest Whitaker and an Emmy for Cicely Tyson—came from the shelves at Acres, where even Bertrand himself would reserve special items for a customer he knew would appreciate them. As Acres weathers the first packed day of its final sale, Easton is wedged in the stacks on a tiny chair beneath the mural of the tank fighting its way across no-man’s-land. Pull up a crate, he says.

When was the first time you ever came to Acres?
Robert Easton: I first found out about the store more than 50 years ago. I’ve always gone to bookstores because of my compulsive bibliophilia, but it’s also very practical for me. Everything good that ever happened to me has happened as a result of information I’ve gotten from books—including my stint on the original Quiz Kids radio show. This place is like coming to whatever you want to say: heaven, nirvana, Valhalla, whatever. Without a doubt, Acres was—sadly I have to say ‘was’—the finest secondhand bookstore in the world. Foyles was touted in London, but Foyles didn’t compare. I can be away working in Europe on a film for six months and I’ll come back and the people at Acres will say to me, ‘Oh, Mr. Easton, we saved a whole lot of books for you!’ And they’ll go into the holy of holies and bring me treasures.

Why do you think Acres is closing for good this time?
Stupidity and greed. You give a bunch of bureaucrats a chance to make tax money and they’ll grab it. But this place is and has been a blessing to so many. For years, I’ve recommended it to writers and actors and teachers: ‘If you can’t find it somewhere else, go to Acres.’ It’s been so kind to me through the years. I really am sad about its going! In Japan they have a sense of recognizing their national treasures. It’s despicable that the bureaucrats are doing this to Acres of Books. It should be recognized as a great national treasure—a place where scholars can find what they need and hold it in their hands.

Why do you think no one from the city came when Ray Bradbury visited?
They were probably feeling unconsciously guilty—well they should! The bureaucratic mentality is the same all over the world. Make a fast buck and get a little tax money. It’s very short-sighted. A lot of people come here to get books and eat at the restaurants around and all that. The city fathers and mothers—accent on ‘mothers’—I think are being very shortsighted.

Is this the last time you’ll be visiting Acres and Long Beach?
I’m going to try and come back. Because it’s so huge—I had somebody leave me off this morning and they’ll come back for me at six when they close. As many times as I’ve been here and as many times as I go through the sections, I always find new stuff. And that’s the joy of it.

Where will you go when Acres is gone?
I’ll just have to be happy with the treasures I’ve already acquired. I’ll always be grateful to the original Mr. Smith and his wife and all the people who are so helpful. As you know, they were great philanthropists. They donated a lot of money to the library and gave so much to the community. They wouldn’t be very happy with this. To me a good bookstore really is a sacred place—a place for the sanctity of ideas. If you destroy those or desecrate them, it really is a crime against the human soul.  Is there any bright side to Acres closing? Let me do it very subjectively. For me, the only bright side to this is that there was—and this will sound a little poetic—but there was an enchanted place like this that I could come to for over 50 years, and I still have the treasures and the memories of where I got them, and that will survive.

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Viewing 5 Comments

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    Easton speaks the truth: "Everything good that ever happened to me has happened as a result of information I’ve gotten from books..."
    What a shame the city is destroying something so positive to so many.
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    Once again, we've imported a strident underclass, around 30 million illegal aliens, by some estimates, and now we just can't understand why libraries and bookstores are becoming museums, if not distant memories?
    A typical Mexican immigrant is not going to be reading Bertrand Russell, Mark Twain, or Herman Mellville. They don't care.
    Even if they do graduate high school, and the stats say that's not necessarily likely, they are not going to be reading up on the Civil War, the biography of George Washington, or how the French helped us win the Revolution.
    Even if they could understand it, reading at a sixth grade level, it's not relevant to their culture. It is not relevant to their children, since they will identify with their parents culture, before ours.
    We wanted to establish a high population of an underclass, while the middle-class hightailed it to Oregon, and other states, well now we've got it.
    Stop lamenting over something you asked for, go to Del Taco, and order a cheap burrito. You'll feel better.
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    "The bureaucratic mentality is the same all over the world. Make a fast buck and get a little tax money."

    That about sums it up. I wouldn't say it's the same all over the world, but definitely seems to be the case in downtown LB.
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    I am not the most educated person on earth but I do love to read and the fact that they are closing Acres and now possibly the main library makes me tired with frustration and disallusionment. Long Beach has it's bad qualities (like every city) but it has a ton of history and character, one of the main reasons I don't move somewhere else. I know money talks but isn't there anything we can do to preserve our land marks? Doesn't anyone care? Is nothing sacred?

    I will definetly avoid Long Beach bvd while driving so I can avoid the empty spot where my favorite bookstore used to be.....
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    Well, lulu, when you've been standing out in the hot sun all day in front of a Home Depot, when you get home you tend to want to listen to some Mariachi, break open a cold one, and gossip with friends. The last thing you're thinking about is going to Acres of Books, to find an out of print collection of essays by James Thurber.

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