Jan Marlyn Reesman’s indulgences www.WestsideToday.com
14 Westside Today • May 2007 www.WestsideToday.com
Enter The Dragon
Bel-Air Boasts A World Class Bookstore
By JAN MARLYN REESMAN • Photo by NINA RUSSO
S itting on a handsome weathered leather club
chair, Dragon Books manager, Julie Carpenter,
excuses herself to help an arriving patron who
enters the store. It feels more as if one may have
unintentionally wandered into someone’s private library
… one with an 18th-century French mantelpiece, Doric
columns supporting an upstairs readers’ gallery and
books rising halfway to the 26-foot-high ceiling – than a
bookstore. The fiery jazz of Miles Davis fills the room.
The patron decides to purchase a photography book
by Linda McCartney rather than a copy of Franz Kafka’s
Diaries. Glancing upward before taking out her credit card,
another title attracts her. Accessible by a traveling ladder,
a double volume of Apples Of New York (published 1905)
waits for a new home. This is a bookstore for eclectic as well
as, perhaps, eccentric tastes. It is nearly a world unto its own
among the more familiar looking shops and restaurants
that flank its location.
Dragon Books is the brainchild of Jay Penske, a collector of
books since he was a kid. “I first fell in love with the printed
word as a child, after reading a collection of tales from the late
John Gardner’s irreverent pen,” he said.
Those tales came from the book DRAGON, DRAGON. “…
Ever since completing it” he told the publication Vanity Fair,
“I have been devouring books. After years of unsuccessfully
scouring warehouse bookstores for so many of the books
that I wished to read, I dreamed of creating a bookstore of
my own...and after more years of reading and collecting, you
have found my world of Dragon Books.”
Dragon Books had just celebrated their three-year anniversary
of their online store when the Beverly Glen store was opened.
Anyone who enters what has become a landmark close by
Mulholland Drive is welcome to assistance from Carpenter
who can help anyone from the novice to the serious collector
in all aspects of collecting. Aside from the casual reader,
Dragon Books attracts those whose interests may be focused
on establishing a personal library, acquiring a hard-to-find
title, building a specific collection, locating a special gift or
just finding a new treasure. Dragon Books is always actively
seeking to acquire rare and fine books.
In a corner near an 18th-century fireplace, a pint-sized
chair sits in front of several lower, hand-carved oak bookcases
filled with children’s books. Penske has been known to say
(that): “They start in the juvenile section but find themselves
drawn to the rare books... and I can see it in a kid’s eyes-that
sense of wonder, the awakening of a new book-lover.”
Penske, the man who loves books, is a supporter of the Quill
Foundation, the New York Public Library and other literacy
causes. Later this month (please check with the store for exact
dates and times) Dragon Books will be hosting readings.
Plans call for a reading by the 91-year young, Pulitzer Prizewinning
playwright, Horton Foote. And that little children’s
corner will have the pleasure of hearing Camp Creepy Time
read by its author, Gina Gershon.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dragon Books is located at 2954 Beverly
Glen Circle, at Beverly Glen Boulevard and Mulholland Drive,
Bel Air (310-441-8545 or dragonbooks.com)
Bel-Air
“...Dragon Books attracts those whose
interests may be focused on establishing a
personal library, acquiring a hard-to-find
title, building a specific collection, locating a
special gift or just finding a new treasure.”
Enter The Dragon
Bel-Air Boasts A World Class Bookstore
By JAN MARLYN REESMAN • Photo by NINA RUSSO
S itting on a handsome weathered leather club
chair, Dragon Books manager, Julie Carpenter,
excuses herself to help an arriving patron who
enters the store. It feels more as if one may have
unintentionally wandered into someone’s private library
… one with an 18th-century French mantelpiece, Doric
columns supporting an upstairs readers’ gallery and
books rising halfway to the 26-foot-high ceiling – than a
bookstore. The fiery jazz of Miles Davis fills the room.
The patron decides to purchase a photography book
by Linda McCartney rather than a copy of Franz Kafka’s
Diaries. Glancing upward before taking out her credit card,
another title attracts her. Accessible by a traveling ladder,
a double volume of Apples Of New York (published 1905)
waits for a new home. This is a bookstore for eclectic as well
as, perhaps, eccentric tastes. It is nearly a world unto its own
among the more familiar looking shops and restaurants
that flank its location.
Dragon Books is the brainchild of Jay Penske, a collector of
books since he was a kid. “I first fell in love with the printed
word as a child, after reading a collection of tales from the late
John Gardner’s irreverent pen,” he said.
Those tales came from the book DRAGON, DRAGON. “…
Ever since completing it” he told the publication Vanity Fair,
“I have been devouring books. After years of unsuccessfully
scouring warehouse bookstores for so many of the books
that I wished to read, I dreamed of creating a bookstore of
my own...and after more years of reading and collecting, you
have found my world of Dragon Books.”
Dragon Books had just celebrated their three-year anniversary
of their online store when the Beverly Glen store was opened.
Anyone who enters what has become a landmark close by
Mulholland Drive is welcome to assistance from Carpenter
who can help anyone from the novice to the serious collector
in all aspects of collecting. Aside from the casual reader,
Dragon Books attracts those whose interests may be focused
on establishing a personal library, acquiring a hard-to-find
title, building a specific collection, locating a special gift or
just finding a new treasure. Dragon Books is always actively
seeking to acquire rare and fine books.
In a corner near an 18th-century fireplace, a pint-sized
chair sits in front of several lower, hand-carved oak bookcases
filled with children’s books. Penske has been known to say
(that): “They start in the juvenile section but find themselves
drawn to the rare books... and I can see it in a kid’s eyes-that
sense of wonder, the awakening of a new book-lover.”
Penske, the man who loves books, is a supporter of the Quill
Foundation, the New York Public Library and other literacy
causes. Later this month (please check with the store for exact
dates and times) Dragon Books will be hosting readings.
Plans call for a reading by the 91-year young, Pulitzer Prizewinning
playwright, Horton Foote. And that little children’s
corner will have the pleasure of hearing Camp Creepy Time
read by its author, Gina Gershon.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dragon Books is located at 2954 Beverly
Glen Circle, at Beverly Glen Boulevard and Mulholland Drive,
Bel Air (310-441-8545 or dragonbooks.com)
Bel-Air
“...Dragon Books attracts those whose
interests may be focused on establishing a
personal library, acquiring a hard-to-find
title, building a specific collection, locating a
special gift or just finding a new treasure.”
