Another one's done gone...

Yesterday I had one of those startling moments when something you expected to see isn't there. In this case, it was one of my favorite places in DC, Kultura Books. The last time I'd been in there, which was probably mid-April, I had no idea they would be closing. Then yesterday I stopped by there to kill some time while I waited for someone to arrive on the Dupont Metro. Or at least I thought I'd stop by there. A sign in the window said they had closed April 25th or 28th and had moved to L.A.

I stared at the empty store window blankly. Kultura had moved all around Dupont (this was its third location in my time in DC), but it seemed like a given. In political science, it's depth far outstripped its larger rival, Second Story Books, just down the street. Kultura also had an incredible cookbook section.

Used book stores are so important to a city's character; intellectual tourists will come to a city and make it a point of stopping by the bookstores, new and used. It would be hard to imagine a literary fiend going to San Francisco and not stopping by City Lights. Or to be in Paris and not go by Shakespeare and Company, even if it's not the original and bears only a tangential relationship to Sylvia Beach.

I've seen some wonderful bookstores either move or close down. Vertigo Books left Dupont Circle years ago for College Park. Atticus Books, too, left town. Atticus was a treasure, and it was a sad day when they left U Street. Neil's Books was a brief-lived used bookstore on 17th Street. I think 17th and Corcoran.

Well, we still have Second Story and Idle Time Books. Both of those are great.

As far as "new book" bookstores go, Bridge Street Books, just on the edge of Georgetown, is easily the best thing in DC. The Olssons that used to be in Georgetown was outstanding as well -- it was creaky and quirky and part of what used to be Georgetown's unique character. These days, all Georgetown really seems to be is a mall without a roof. It has about as much character as every other pre-fab strip of company stores.

Kultura, I will miss you.