Pickwick Book Shop

"[1] Louis Epstein purchased his first bookstore, a tiny bookshop attached to a gunsmith shop in Long Beach, California, in 1925.

The books were returned about a year later, and when the studio attempted to pay for only the original thirty days, Epstein phoned his lawyer who extracted the full amount.

During its heyday, notable figures such as F Scott Fitzgerald, Raymond Chandler, William Faulkner, Humphrey Bogart, and Marlene Dietrich frequented the shop,[1] and Orson Welles, Peter Finch, Marlon Brando, and Ray Bradbury were known to visit as well.

[2] Pickwick Book Shop eventually expanded into the building west of it, and fifteen additional locations also opened around southern California.

[3] In 1996, the building was sold for $580,000 ($1.16 million in 2024),[4] and as of 2024, it is home to a Starbucks, souvenir shop, and Taco Bell Cantina.