Noble House (of Ideas)

I recently got to go back to Santa Monica, California for the first time in a decade or so.

When I got out of school and moved to Los Angeles, I had (pretty close to literally) no money.  I learned to do, for leisure activities, things that cost very little, or things that cost nothing.  One of the first things I learned to do was to go to the 3rd Street Promenade (the street-long collection of shops, boutiques, and touristy places three blocks from the Pacific Ocean), where I could park for free in one of their multi-level garages, and look around, go to the beach, or cleverly . . .

. . . I could go to the Barnes & Noble on the corner, pick up a book or magazine, and leaf through it until it was time to go (or buy something), to keep from having to pay to park.

I loved the Barnes & Noble.  It had three levels, and there were escalators in the center of it, but instead of one side being to go Up and the other to go Down, they made you circle the entire floor on each level, just to eff with you.  It was kind of a magical place for me, since I ran into a couple of celebrities there (including a certain muscular Austrian I do a fairly unpleasant [but amusing?] impression of).

I wrote a story called "House of Ideas" that was set there.  Maybe not my finest work, but they say it's among the twenty-three best "magical toilet stall" tales ever run on the Dunesteef.

Well, after a dozen years, I went back this week, and found a rather sad sign on the window (as well as a rather empty building behind said window).  The Santa Monica Barnes & Noble has closed.

Of course, that is the way of things (the way of the Force).  Pretty soon, my local Toys R Us (and yours as well) will be closing its doors* and eventually, every place (and person) I've ever liked, visited, or loved will also be gone.  I ought to get used to it.

But it's nice to get melancholy about stuff like this; it's because I had good memories associated with the person or place that makes it noteworthy.

Guess I should find a new place to write a story about.  Maybe a strip club or two?

Rish Outfield, Once Actually Bought A Book In Barnes & Noble

*And I wrote a story that took place there as well: a Holiday-themed zombie apocalypse story where the town's survivors go in search of presents on Christmas Eve and one of them ends up getting trapped in the back room by the living dead.