Rackage: Ivanhoe Books in Silver Lake

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Rackage is a look inside recently-opened stores around town. Today, let's look inside Ivanhoe Books on Silver Lake Boulevard.

Since the summer of '07, Lucy Spriggs has quietly been mantling Ivanhoe Books, located in the back room of furniture and design outpost Lawson-Fenning on Silver Lake Boulevard. Culling together new and vintage tomes from estate sales, auctions and swap meets, the shop is now chock-full with art, architecture, fashion, and graphic design books. Spriggs, from the UK, who has a master's degree in art history, worked in editorial and fashion PR before setting her sights on retail and collaborating with owners Glenn Lawson and Grant Fenning on the lit venture. "When we decided to do it, obviously everyone cautioned against it, as book retail isn't the most thriving of businesses, but I think we are niche enough that we will do great, and in the first couple of months, we've gotten some great feedback."

They've been doing particularly well with used book sales, which we noticed are all in pristine condition: "I try to keep it at about a 50-50 vintage to new ratio but it's hard to keep the vintage in stock as it flies out pretty quick." The shop—filled with cush chairs and couches—is perfect for leisurely browsing. And though Ivanhoe has only been up-and-running for a couple months, it feels as if it's always been part of the community. Check it out Wed-Sat 11am-6pm and every other Sun noon-5pm.
· Ivanhoe Books [myspace.com/ivanhoebooks]