Southern California Booksellers Weather the Conflagration

This week's cataclysmic fires in Southern California, which are estimated to have caused $1 billion in damages in San Diego County alone, have impacted business at independent bookstores in the area but have spared the stores themselves. Jennifer Bigelow, executive director of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association, told Bookselling This Week that she had had no reports of member bookstores being damaged, although several, including Book Works and EarthSong Books in Del Mar were closed, and some booksellers were forced to evacuate their homes.

Adrian Newell of Warwick's in La Jolla said she has never seen anything on the scale of 2003's Cedar Fire and the current conflagration. "I've lived in Southern California all my life. We've always had wildfires, but nothing like these two so close together," she said, adding that with drought conditions, the Santa Ana Winds, and no humidity, the area was like a "waiting tinder box."

Warwick's was in a "safe spot," said Newell. Although the store was out of range of the fire, it has nevertheless affected everyone in the area. "It's difficult because we have lots of customers, friends, and family that have been evacuated," she said. "We also have local authors that had to leave their homes. It's tough.

"One bookseller's family is in the process of being evacuated, another has chronic asthma and has to stay home. Having been through the Cedar Fire, it just seems so surreal. A lot of people were settling into homes that had just been rebuilt."

Meanwhile, the store has been "surprisingly busy," Newell said. "Many people who have been evacuated are coming to La Jolla because it's relatively safe. We've had lots of kids in because the schools have been closed. And a lot of the people who have been evacuated have kids. We spent the morning putting together little giveaways for the kids. It's hard on them. They don't really understand what's happening."

In Malibu, Diesel, A Bookstore, closed briefly and reopened, undamaged, at about noon on Tuesday. Owner John Evans told BTW, "The fire started very near our store. We even brushed ash from underneath our door, but it never got down to us. The firefighters have been sweeping through and putting it out. They've been amazing. That there has been so little loss of life is extraordinary."

Diesel was one of the few businesses open in his area, said Evans. About 40 feet from the store, helicopters were busy pulling water from a creek to dump on still burning areas.

Evans reported that his home and staffers' homes were untouched by the fires that raged through Malibu and San Diego, although one had to evacuate and another couldn't leave her neighborhood because she would not be allowed back in if she did.

Evans who said that about five or six people had dropped in during the first few hours of Diesel's reopening. One customer and friend who had to be evacuated at 2:00 a.m. told Evans that a newly renovated hotel owned by David Geffen was letting evacuees stay for free. "Malibu is a funny place," said Evans. "It's like a small town in that we really stick together. We have to. And in a month and a half, we'll have mud slides like crazy."

An Alice Waters event organized by Diesel and scheduled for this Friday at the Malibu Performing Arts Center will run as scheduled, said Evans. "I was in yesterday selling tickets on the phone," he said. "The event won't be what it would have been. But we're just trying to do whatever we can to make things as normal as they can be."

In Laguna Beach, Melony Vance of Latitude 33 Bookshop reported, "So far, Laguna hasn't sprung a fire.... We're only dealing with smoke from the inland areas. Schools are closed, as are local hiking trails as a precautionary measure (we've been through this before). Business is slower, probably because folks are staying close to home -- just in case."

Vance reported that local writers, T. Jefferson Parker and Don Winslow both of whom appeared at last weekend's SCIBA trade show, live in areas that have been evacuated. "Communication is very bad right now, so I have no idea how they are faring," she said.

To help some of the area's thousands of evacuees occupy their time, Vance was preparing to deliver boxes of ARCs to an evacuation center.

Patrick Heffernan at San Diego's Mysterious Galaxy reported that the bookstore was open and not in any immediate danger. "We're away from the fires," he said. "Several staff members do live in areas that are affected, but no one has been evacuated yet. Although they are packed up and ready to go.

"The store is not in any real danger. We can see the smoke in the air, but we can't see fire. Our hours are abbreviated because there aren't many customers."

San Diego "seems to be doing better than the last time," said Heffernan. "Everyone is pulling together and just taking it day by day. We're doing what we can to help, which is not much. But we're providing a way to escape. Some people came by who don't know if they still have homes. They want to pick up something to read to occupy their minds, so they don't have to constantly think about it." --Karen Schechner