A Hollywood Journey

20. Larry Edmunds Bookshop

Hollywood, CA

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When Hollywood was a reader's paradise of bookshops, this store opened to cater to film buffs in 1935. The bookstore has been in business for over 80 years and boasts an inventory of over 500,000 movie photographs, 6,000 original movie posters, and 20,000 motion picture and theatre book memorabilia. Heavy on the book side, this trove of Hollywood archives explores every period and virtually every performer and creator of the movie and film industry. Lawrence O'Connell Edmunds, the store's first and original owner, was a west-coast agent for the works of Dramatists Play Service and during the 1930s, worked for legendary Hollywood bookseller Stanley Rose. Rose's bookshop was a gathering spot for writers, though Rose himself is said to have liked writers more than writing. His shop was located next to the famous Musso & Frank Grill. While Edmunds loved books, he decided to set up shop to his own liking and filled it with eye-catching posters and illusions of early cinematic events. The shop was brimmed to the ceiling of printed plays, movie books, files of stills and even many books related to metaphysics and religion. Although Edmunds was a successful businessman, on Aug. 8, 1941, he stuck his head in the oven and turned on the gas. There was allegedly a note left behind reading, "If you think this is easy you're crazy." He left the store to employee Milt Luboviski, who then lost the store to a woman that was resentful that Edmunds didn't leave the store to her in the first place. Luboviski was eventually able to reclaim the store when his father-in-law had enough dough to buy the place back. Milt's wife, Git Luboviski, realized the store needed to be pushed in a different direction. She created a small brochure of movie-related books after realizing that they did not have a book catalog, and they nearly sold out of the entire list immediately. During the 1960s, publishers began churning out movie books and the store gradually pushed aside Edmund's general stock of books. Git also parted ways with this book-buyer's mecca and sold the shop to longtime customer Jeffrey Mantor, who kept the Edmunds name and tradition alive through a neon sign that can still be seen over the store.