Events Posted Jun 28, 2021

Show & Tell with Jason E.C. Wright / Burnt Sienna Research Society!

Clear your schedule and tune into @arcanabooks Instagram this Wednesday (6/30), 5:00 PST we are delighted to host another monthly Instagram “Show & Tell” moderated by Jason E.C. Wright of @burntsiennaresearchsociety! You are in for a real treat so gather up your art books, design books, coffee table books or rare magazines and come nerd out with Jason!
 
Watch live for a special discount code to get 10% off any book that is discussed in this week's show & tell. If we have it in stock you can get a discount by visiting/writing/calling the shop!
 
 
Here’s how it works: Jason will be live @arcanabooks sharing some of his favorites with you. Raise your hand to share and he will tap you in. Chat about your most influential book or bookshop. Enjoy the hour, meet some interesting people, and support your local bookstore. There’s nothing like a little book fun in the middle of the week.
 
Jason E.C. Wright is the Founder of Burntsienna Research Society, a critical-thinking research consultancy for design histories, intangible culture, and reference materials. Jason is Indiana born and raised, who now considers Los Angeles home. He is an accomplished designer, researcher, writer, with 20+ years as a retail and fashion professional, who takes his love of books seriously, serving as librarian-in-residence at home in Treehouse Hollywood.
 
* You can watch the 5/26 show and tell through our instagram post here.
 
Thanks to Frances Anderton & Angela Anthony / Helms Bakery District.
Events Posted Jun 16, 2021

Stephen Shore LIVE with Mack Books USA SCREENING 6/17 !

MACK BOOKS pressents a live discussion on Thursday, June 17th 3:00 PDT with STEPHEN SHORE!
Order signed copies of STEEL TOWN and TRANSPARENCIES while supplies last here
Stephen Shore joins architect and author Jack Self to discuss Steel Town, Shore’s revelatory document of the American Rust Belt in 1977. They discuss the turbulent historical moment the project depicts as well as the history of Shore’s own process and photography’s capacity for illuminating our past, present, and future.
The conversation will be broadcast four times for UK, European, Asian and Australian, and US audiences, with relevant subtitles:

Monday 14 June: UK Screening, 18:00 BST London⁠
In partnership with @villagebooksdulwich @thephotographersgallery

Tuesday 15 June: Europe Screening with French subtitles, 18:00 CEST Paris⁠
In partnership with with @librairieartazart @ofrparis @lanouvellechambreclaire @l.ascenseur_vegetal @leplacartphoto @librairiequaidesbrumes @librairiesanstitre #lerevelateurphoceen @kominekbooks @micamera_milan @dispara.cultura @fragmentphotobooks @tronsmobok ⁠ 

Wednesday 16 June: Asia & Australia Screening with Japanese subtitles, 18:00 JST Tokyo / 19:00 AEST Sydney / 14:30 IST Delhi⁠
In partnership with @perimeterbooks

 
Thursday 17 June: USA Screening, 18:00 EDT New York / 15:00 PDT Los Angeles⁠
In partnership with @arcanabooks

Follow this link for more info and global screening times, and to sign up for reminders for all screenings.
 
A limited number of signed copies of both Steel Town and Transparencies are available on our website here!
 

 

 

 

Events Posted May 15, 2021

Show & Tell with Jason E.C. Wright!

Starting on Wednesday 5/26 at 5:00 PST we are delighted to host a monthly Instagram “Show & Tell” moderated by Jason E.C. Wright of @burntsiennaresearchsociety! You are in for a real treat so gather up your art books, design books, coffee table books or rare magazines and come nerd out with Jason.
 
Here’s how it works: Jason will be live @arcanabooks sharing some of his favorites with you. Raise your hand to share and he will tap you in. Chat about your most influential book or bookshop. Enjoy the hour, meet some interesting people, and support your local bookstore. There’s nothing like a little book fun in the middle of the week.
 
Jason E.C. Wright is the Founder of Burntsienna Reseach Society, a critical-thinking research consultancy for design histories, intangible culture, and reference materials. Jason is Indiana born and raised, who now considers Los Angeles home. He is an accomplished designer, researcher, writer, with 20+ years as a retail and fashion professional, who takes his love of books seriously, serving as librarian-in-residence at home in Treehouse Hollywood.
 
* You can watch the 5/26 show and tell through our instagram post here.
Events Posted Apr 15, 2021

Personalized copies of Deanna Templeton's WHAT SHE SAID Available to pre-order!

Already a “Best of 2021” photobook, Deanna Templeton’s fantastic new MACK offering What She Said is now available! We had intended to have a real-life signing event for its launch, but as we’re all still playing it safe, Deanna will be specially personalizing copies with your choice of inscription (within reason of course) and a special rubber stamp created for the occasion. Order by April 24th, while supplies last! Order now on our website here.

What She Said takes its title from a song by The Smiths: “What she said was sad / But then, all the rejection she’s had / To pretend to be happy / Could only be idiocy. ”The work originates in portraits Deanna Templeton made on the streets of the US, Europe, Australia and Russia, in which she captured women in their adolescence: punks and outcasts whose ripped jeans and tights, tattoos, and hairstyles stand as testament to this transitional moment in their lives as they navigate the intensity of teenage life. Templeton grew up in an ostensibly different environment in 1980s youth, but she recognized in them something of the universality of female adolescence, as they struggled with similar disappointments and challenges she encountered as a young woman. The book combines these modern portraits with gig flyers and Templeton’s own teenage journal entries from the mid to late 80s, in which the familiar experience of growing up is laid bare in all its antagonism, humour and pathos.”

Events Posted Apr 03, 2021

APRIL 3rd THROUGH MAY 2nd - eb, “THE JERSEY GENIUS” EXHIBITS “MOTHER’S KITCHEN FLOOR COLLECTION”

For those who attended Arcana’s 2014 presentation of the artwork and inventions of reclusive outsider artist / folk engineer “eb, The Jersey Genius”, to say that it was a memorable event would be an understatement. Cited by an outreach member from the National Gallery of Scotland as “the best art exhibit he saw in Los Angeles” that year, the exhibition was filled with amazing folk art sculptures, wonderful inventions, and live demonstrations that explained exactly how eb believed the Egyptian pyramids were built. The highlight of the event was witnessing eb’s invention, The Boonsburg Egg, being used by a single person to easily roll one ton of bricks up an incline. For those who missed it, we offer this link to our original promo material, and this video of The Boonsburg Egg in action.

Arcana is honored that eb has given us the opportunity to offer tiles from his “Mother’s Kitchen Floor Collection.” Consisting of one dozen hand cut tiles crafted as a surprise to replace his mother’s aging kitchen floor, each VCT tile is a 12 x 12”, one of a kind piece of art depicting eb’s hand holding a disk shaped in the form of his invention mounted on board. The Boonsburg Egg, (which he believes not only explains how they built the pyramids of Egypt, but also Stonehenge, Coral Castle, and Easter Island.) On the reverse of the tiles eb has hand written excerpts from his theories, many of which challenge the teachings of modern day Egyptology.

Knowing that he rarely, if ever, parts with any of his creations, upon learning that these colorful tiles were just collecting dust in his workshop after his mother barred him from pulling up her old floor, we suggested allowing Arcana to offer a sampling of these to our customers. Amazingly, eb agreed, but under one condition – that in any announcement we made regarding his work, we would promise to include a few of his theories. With that, here are just two of the many amazing breakthroughs contained on the backs of these tiles:

#1 – King Tut’s headdress is not depicting a religious relic made of fine fabric and gold like experts claim - instead it is just a golden imitation of a function specific sun-blocking hat worn by Egyptian workers of the day, and is easily made using a single bent fan palm leaf.

#2 – Having discovered that the Ancient Egyptian’s used the same surveying tools that we still use today (including glass lenses, transits, water levels and tripods – all of which eb has found depicted on the hieroglyphs), eb rationalized that the ancient Egyptian surveyors might have also used the same hand signals to communicate over long distances as well. Below eb compares modern surveying hand signals with the unexplained stilted posturing found everywhere in ancient Egyptian art.

Besides being presented on the backs of the tiles, these theories, along with many others, are also included in eb’s hand-assembled “Nobel Prize Application” pamphlet, which goes even deeper into his groundbreaking findings. All twelve tiles from eb’s “Mother’s Kitchen Floor Collection” will be on display – and for sale - at Arcana from April 3rd through May 2nd, 2021. The tiles are priced at $112.35 each, and the “Nobel Prize Application” pamphlets $5.00 while supplies last.

We believe that it is a only matter of time until eb’s genius is finally recognized!

Events Posted Apr 03, 2021

Remote Book Signing for > THE SPANISH STYLE HOUSE

On Thursday, February 8th, 5:00-6:30 PM, join photographer Melba Levick and author Ruben G. Mendoza for the launch of The Spanish Style House: From Enchanted Andalusia To The California Dream published by Rizzoli, presented by The Ruskin Art Club. Purchase here!

”Luminous new photography showcases contemporary and historic homes in the beloved Spanish Style in Southern California, while offering, as well, a rare look at the original inspirations to the style born in Andalusia, Spain. This presentation will include photographs of the Ruskin Art Club’s historic 1922 clubhouse designed by Frank Meline (now a private residence), and review a host of 12th through 18th century palatial Spanish estates, and their Andalusian expressions in southern California for the period spanning the 1920s through the present.”

This will be an online discussion celebrating the book’s launch with photographer Melba Levick and writer Rubén G. Mendoza moderated by Dr. William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West. Both authors will be signing copies especially for Arcana on August 9th that will begin shipping Tuesday, April 13th. Order your signed copy here!

Join the Ruskin Art Club discussion April 8th at 5:00 PM by clicking here.

Events Posted Feb 23, 2021

Printed Matter's Virtual Art Book Fair 2021!

PRINTED MATTER VIRTUAL ART BOOK FAIR 2021
February 24—28, 2021
Free and open to the public
 
The Printed Matter Art Book Fair has gone virtual! While we will miss seeing your faces at MoCA this year, we are excited to be participating in this exciting new platform.

The PMVABF kicks off on Wednesday, 2/24, with an opening program which starts at 4:00 PM EST.

 

Visit pmvabf.org to see the full lineup of performances/events and exhibitors.


If you've missed the fair and would like to see some of thes things we offered, you can see them on our website here.
 
Please note that our site is in no way comprehensively reflective of our stock, it only represents about 2% of the books we have, so if you’re looking for something in particular, let us know and we’ll search our shelves and boxes for you!
 
And if you live in or near Los Angeles, visit us in person for hundreds of thousands of treasures and a book fair all year long! 
 
We're open Tuesday through Sunday, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
Events Posted Feb 03, 2021

Lorcan O’Herlihy + Frances Anderton discuss Architecture is a Social Act

On Thursday, February 18th from 6:30 to 7:30PM, please join Lorcan O’Herlihy, FAIA, and Frances Anderton for a livestream discussion about LOHA’s latest monograph Architecture Is a Social Act. The event is organized by the Helms Bakery District.
 
Lorcan and Frances will talk about his work, and how he navigates tight budgets and stakeholder needs to integrate common space.
 
He will also share insights into 410 Rossmore, his latest Los Angeles project, where he will add five new floors of co-living space to the 90-year-old apartment building in Hancock Park.
 
The virtual event is FREE - Please register here. Once you register, a Zoom link will be emailed prior to the event date.
 
To purchase a signed copy of the book, click here!
 
 

 

 

Events Posted Nov 10, 2020

JOIN US SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22nd AT 1:00 PM (PST) FOR AN ONLINE EVENT TO CELEBRATE THE PUBLICATION OF JEFF GOLD'S "SITTIN' IN: JAZZ CLUBS OF THE 1940s AND 1950s"!

 
 
One of our oldest and dearest friends is esteemed music historian, archivist, collector, and author Jeff Gold. Jeff and I worked together for six years at the legendary Rhino Records store on Westwood Boulevard in the seventies, and our paths have been intertwined ever since. It is an Arcana tradition that each time Jeff releases a new - and fabulous - book, he is gracious enough to have his Los Angeles publication party take place at our shop. Given that we are living in a different, more cautious world just now, in lieu of a book signing, we are collaborating with Harper Design Books to present a discussion between Jeff and Mark Ruffin of SiriusXM's  "Real Jazz" on the subject of his hot-off-the-press "Sittin' In: Jazz Clubs of the 1940s and 1950s."
 
The book is a visual history of jazz clubs during these crucial decades when some of the greatest names in in the genre - Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, and many others - were headlining acts across the country. In many of the clubs, black and white musicians played together and more significantly, people of all races gathered together to enjoy an evening’s entertainment. House photographers roamed the floor and for a dollar, took picture of patrons that were developed on site and could be taken home in a keepsake folder with the club’s name and logo.
 
"Sittin’ In" tells the story of the most popular club in these cities through striking images, first-hand anecdotes, true tales about the musicians who performed their unforgettable shows, notes on important music recorded live there, and more. All of this is supplemented by colorful club memorabilia, including posters, handbills, menus, branded matchbooks, and more. Inside you’ll also find exclusive, in-depth interviews conducted specifically for this book with the legendary Quincy Jones; legendary tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins; Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion critic Robin Givhan; artist, musician, and creative director of the Kennedy Center, Jason Moran; and Jazz critic Dan Morgenstern.
 
Gold surveys America’s jazz scene and its intersection with racism during segregation, focusing on three crucial regions: the East Coast (New York, Atlantic City, Boston, Washington, D.C.); the Midwest (Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City); and the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco). Its collection of ephemeral snapshots tells the story of an era that helped transform American life, beginning the move from traditional Dixieland jazz to bebop, from conservatism to the push for personal freedom.
 
Jeff Gold is a Grammy Award-winning music historian, archivist, author and internationally recognized expert who has consulted for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Museum of Pop Culture (EMP), and various record labels and cultural institutions. He has discovered a number of previously unknown tapes later released by major labels, including Bob Dylan at Brandeis University 1963 and unreleased performances by the Velvet Underground and The Stooges. He was a producer of the album Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix (with Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck) and worked on archival projects for Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead and Gram Parsons. His discovery of 149 previously unknown Dylan acetate recordings received extensive media attention including articles in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Gold has helped curate museum exhibitions including the Experience Music Project’s Beatlemania! and the traveling exhibit Bob Dylan’s American Journey. He appeared as an authenticator / appraiser on PBS’s History Detectives, VH1’s television show Rock Collectors, and is profiled in the books “Vinyl Junkies” by Brett Milano and “Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction To Its Own Past” by Simon Reynolds. Jeff is the author of Total Chaos: The Story of The Stooges / As Told by Iggy Pop, which was one of Rough Trade’s ‘Books of the Year’ and earned rave reviews in Rolling Stone, Mojo, Esquire and many other publications along with his 2012 book 101 Essential Rock Records: The Golden Age of Vinyl, From The Beatles to the Sex Pistols, one of eight books selected that year by Rolling Stone as “The year’s best reading material.” Gold owns the music memorabilia website Recordmecca and writes about topics of interest to collectors on its blog. Follow Jeff on Twitter at @recordmecca or on Instagram at @recordmecca.

 

 

Events Posted Nov 07, 2020

11/15/20 Jona Frank - Cherry Hill: A Childhood Reimagined Book Signing!

Please grab your mask and join Santa Monica's own Jona Frank at Rustic Canyon Park on Sunday, November 15th between 12:00 and 2:00 PM to celebrate the publication her fabulous new "Cherry Hill: A Childhood Reimagined" with CVT Soft Serve. If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a signed copy of this great new book - featured in the New York Times - place your order on our website here, drop in to the shop, email, or call us at 310-458-1499.
 
"Cherry Hill: A Childhood Reimagined" is a multimedia memoir of photographic artist Jona Frank’s upbringing in - and flight from - a stifling suburban household. Told in words and evocative photographs, Frank’s account of her childhood struggles with a repressive mother, mentally ill brother, and overwhelming expectations is leavened with episodes from her rich interior world.
 
Akin to a graphic novel, this hybrid of personal essay and photography breaks open the memoir format, detailing the life of a young artist as she spends her days dreaming of a friendship with Emily Dickinson, longing for Bruce Springsteen, and eschewing the rules of femininity. Frank employs a cinematic approach to construct vivid scenes from her youth. Using elaborately dressed sets, era-specific wardrobes, and multiple actors to portray herself as a child, Frank refashions her memories into vibrant tableaux. Strikingly, Frank cast Academy Award-winning actor Laura Dern in the role of her strict and complicated mother in a performance as bravura as her film and television work.
 
As Frank outgrows the confines of her environment and suffocating domestic life, discovering art and photography as the path to her personal fulfillment, she plots her ultimate escape. A unique photographic storytelling project reminiscent of such classics as "Fun Home" and "The Best We Could Do", "Cherry Hill" is an intimate self-portrait of what it takes to break free of convention and answer the question, “Who am I meant to be?”
 
"Jona Frank grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, the daughter of an accountant and homemaker. Her previous books include "High School" (2004), "Right: Portraits from the Evangelical Ivy League" (2008), and "The Modern Kids" (2016). Frank's photographs have appeared in print and online publications including Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and Mother Jones. Her films and photographs have been exhibited internationally and are held in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, SFMOMA, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others. She lives in Santa Monica, California, where she is beloved for her cherry pie."

 

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