Los Angeles has become home to an underestimated hub for all sorts of art and creativity. The sprawling city now hosts a variety of creatives who can choose from a wide breadth of places to buy books about art and design, as well as attend events. That is, if you live close to, or in, the actual city of Los Angeles. For other communities that reside at the edges of LA County, bookstores and multi-functional spaces that house some of the best art and design titles are few and far between.
However, it’s new, independent and passionate brick and mortar spaces like Mirrored Society in Claremont, that are bringing the rich artistic culture from the city to the suburbs. Mirrored Society, run by long-time friends and creatives Julian Lucas and Kathleen Graulty, is home to a seriously well-curated selection of books (Deanna Templeton’s The Swimming Pool, John Brian King’s LAX: Photographs of Los Angeles 1980–84) and limited-run zines focused on the arts and a quaint gallery space that has now hosted work from street photographers like Valerie J. Bower and Estevan Oriol, and has an upcoming exhibition with local painter Kendall Johnson in the works.
Julian and Kathleen knew it was a risk opening an art bookstore on the second floor of the historical Harvard Square Building, located on Bonita Avenue in the Claremont Village, but the duo also recognized the need for an alternative space and bookstore like Mirrored Society in the city’s already artistic community. After four months in their new space, two successful book-signing events and exhibitions, and a publishing project under their belt, it’s becoming apparent that Mirrored Society has filled a void in the San Gabriel Valley. Instead of traveling the almost 35 miles into Los Angeles proper, San Gabriel Valley residents and those even further east, now have an art hub that boasts the same carefully curated collection of new and rare titles that they would find in any of the most popular bookstores in LA.
We stopped by Mirrored Society to check out Julian and Kathleen’s new digs and riffle through some rad books. What’s even better, is that now you can snag a copy of Amadeus in the shop as well!
For more from Mirrored Society and to learn about upcoming events, head to their website: http://mirroredsociety.com/.
