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Bart's Books

Bookstore in Ojai, California

Field	Value
name	Bart's Books
logo	Company logo of Bart's Books.png
logo_alt	Two thin, black lines sandwich the words "Bart's Books". The "B" spans across both words.
image	Bart's books.JPG
image_alt	A front view of the bookstore. Bookshelves are in front of the building's walls.
image_caption	Street view
former_name	Bart's Outdoor Bookstore
founded	1964
founder	Richard Bartindale
hq_location_city	Ojai, California
owner	David and Andrea Grant
website

Bart's Books is a bookstore in Ojai, California. It was founded by Richard Bartindale in 1964. In the outdoor section, shelves of books face the street, and patrons are asked to drop coins into the door's coin box to pay for any books they take whenever the store is closed.

Bart's Books has been featured in the 2010 movie Easy A and novels.

Description

The outdoors section is surrounded by plants and bookshelves facing the street. There are over 100,000 used books, which are categorized depending on the room the books are in. When the store is closed, customers can pay for books shelved outside via a coin box. There was a 300 year old oak tree that grew inside of the bookstore; it was removed due to it falling into the street.

History

Born in Oxford, Indiana, in 1917, Richard Bartindale was a World War II navigator for the United States Navy Reserve. After the war, Bartindale traveled across Europe; in Paris, he was inspired by the "open-air" style of bouquinistes. Having worked at bookshops across California, he founded Bart's Books in 1964. In the late 1960s, Bartindale and his family left Ojai, California, to travel to Oxford; ownership shifted to Gary Schlichter, a former landscaper, when he purchased the bookstore.

In popular culture

Bart's Books appears at the start of Carl Hyndman's novel Bookstore on the Seine. The store was featured in Easy A, a 2010 American teen comedy movie.

References

(27 July 2023). "The untold story of California’s most iconic outdoor bookshop". The Los Angeles Times.
Stewart, Rachel Schnalzer. (July 27, 2023). "The untold story of California's most iconic outdoor bookshop". [[Los Angeles Times]].
Hillinger, Charles. (1990-12-16). "The Honor System Works All Night Long at Bart's Books: Ojai: Real estate agents cite the store as an example of the city's small-town style. They say it helps sell houses.". [[Los Angeles Times]].
Randall, Laura. (October 16, 2005). "Ojai, Calif.: The Anti-L.A.". [[The Washington Post]].
(1945). "Army, Navy, Air Force Journal & Register". Army and Navy Journal, Incorporated.
Hyndman, Carl. (August 11, 2022). "Bart's Books is center stage in mystery-thriller novel". [[Ojai Valley News]].
"Hollywood Backlot: ''Easy A''".
Palladino, D.J.. (September 23, 2010). "''Easy A''". [[Santa Barbara Independent]].

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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