Bart's Books is a

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The found ...

Ojai, California Ojai ( ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east– ...

. It was founded by Richard Bartindale in 1964. In the outdoor section, shelves of books face the street, and patrons are asked to drop coins into the door's coin box to pay for any books they take whenever the store is closed. Bart's Books has been featured in the 2010 movie ''

Easy A ''Easy A'' (stylized as ''easy A'') is a 2010 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Will Gluck, written by Bert V. Royal, and starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, L ...

'' and novels.

Description

The outdoors section is surrounded by plants and bookshelves facing the street. There are over 100,000 used books, which are categorized depending on the room the books are in. When the store is closed, customers can pay for books shelved outside via a coin box. There was a 300 year old oak tree that grew inside of the bookstore; it was removed due to it falling into the street.

History

Born in

Oxford, Indiana Oxford is a town in Oak Grove Township, Benton County, Indiana. The population was 1,165 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Lafayette, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Oxford was Benton County's first town. Commissioners app ...

, in 1917, Richard Bartindale was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

navigator for the

United States Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2004, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called reservists, are categorized as being in either the S ...

. After the war, Bartindale traveled across Europe; in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, he was inspired by the "open-air" style of bouquinistes. Having worked at bookshops across California, he founded Bart's Books in 1964. In the late 1960s, Bartindale and his family left

, to travel to Oxford; ownership shifted to Gary Schlichter, a former landscaper, when he purchased the bookstore.

In popular culture

Bart's Books appears at the start of Carl Hyndman's novel ''Bookstore on the Seine''. The store was featured in ''

'', a 2010 American

teen comedy A teen situation comedy, or teen sitcom, is a subgenre of comedic television program targeted towards young people ( tweens, teenagers and, to a lesser extent, young adults). In general, these types of programs focus primarily on characters betwee ...

movie.

References

External links

*
"California's Tranquil Ojai Valley"
November 6, 1988, ''New York Times'' 1964 establishments in California Bookstores in California Buildings and structures in Ventura County, California Companies based in Ventura County, California Independent bookstores of the United States Ojai, California Retail buildings in California Tourist attractions in Ventura County, California {{coord, 34.4486, -119.2497, type:landmark_region:US-CA, display=title