Adams Avenue Book Store, a gem in the mountainside

June 19, 7:57 PMSan Diego Literature ExaminerJeremy Albers

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all photos by Jeremy Albers

Want to get away from the big warehouse bookstores? Adams Avenue Book Store is a treasure chest of rare, hard to find used books www.adamsavebooks.com/. Specializing in Theology, Biblical Studies and Church History, Philosophy, Military History (in particular World War II and Civil War), History, Western Americana, Literature and the Humanities; they have a number of hard to find and out of print editions. A fixture in Normal Heights since 1965, Adams Avenue Book Store is built like a funhouse of literature. There are two cats living in the store, snoozing in between the shelves. Each section is accompanied by a theme, an old time novelty of newspaper articles and slices of history. For example, in the photography area there is décor consisting of an early twentieth century camera with black and white photographs. And in the science region, there are old pictures of Albert Einstein, and so on…

Upon entering and meandering through the shelves towards the back of the store, a staircase invites guests to climb up to the second floor. Five steps, then turn right, eleven, a turn, then seven more until opening up to a grove of books. Upstairs elevates the mind. The philosophy and religion section is immense. Manager Michael Smythe mentioned, “Here we emphasize Humanities, Religion, and Philosophy. This store is dedicated to those on the inside of literature.” The intention is to get in touch with your self, outside of yourself -- through books. The Cooking, Health, and Nutrition room is (ironically) an old kitchen with bookshelves over the sink. There are foreign language rooms and a section of out of print children’s books. The Americana area is extremely rich with books about the forefathers, some were printed way back in the nineteenth century. www.archive.org/details/manysidedfrankli00forduoft

When asked what people should know about Adams Avenue Book Store, Michael Smythe responded, “It is bastion of ideas and books that are classic. We feel a special regard to a younger generation, and expose those classic authors and writers.” Mr. Smythe is a gentleman and a scholar, with over twenty years spent in education and a library of fourteen thousand books. To him literature means, “Tradition. What stands the test of time, the great works.”

Adams Avenue Book Store is located at 3502 Adams Avenue in San Diego, California 92116. Email address is info@adamsavebooks.com.