Literature in L.A.

Re “Why do we read?” Opinion, April 26

David Kipen’s poem, “Book City,” praises the bookstores he grew up with and those of today: “I’m a reader because I grew up in Los Angeles, most readerly city I know.”

According to the recent “America’s Most Literate Cities” report from Central Connecticut State University, Los Angeles is hardly a “readerly city.” Los Angeles had an overall literacy ranking of 56th out of 71 cities.

In contrast with Kipen’s impressions, Los Angeles did not do well in the bookstore category, ranking 59th.

Our worst performance was in the category of public libraries, where L.A. ranked 62nd. Several other Southern California cites also did poorly (Long Beach, 53rd; Anaheim, 65th; and Santa Ana in last place). For those who cannot afford to buy books from bookstores or Amazon, the public library is often their primary source of books.

Stephen Krashen

Los Angeles

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Kipen had one glaring omission: He didn’t mention the Pickwick Bookshop at 6743 Hollywood Blvd.

It was the big bookshop in Hollywood.

Anyone from Hunter’s Books, Dutton’s and all the other bookstores Kipen listed would have felt sadness over this omission.

These very fine shops used to say that “if we don’t have it, try Pickwick.” Pickwick had three floors of books and the owner, Louis Epstein, always said, “If I don’t have a book in stock, I feel ashamed.”

Nick Clemente

Glendale