A file photo of a book display at Vroman’s (Photo – vromans.com).
Spanning the L.A. metro area this weekend, the inaugural L.A. Indie Book Crawl brings readers to 13 independent bookstores, including Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena and Once Upon a Time in Montrose.
By Melanie Hooks
From Friday, July 24, through Sunday, July 26, all 13 participating stores will stamp event passports and offer rewards for every $10 spent. Participants who collect a stamp at all 13 locations will receive a grand prize tote bag and be entered into a drawing for $25 gift certificates to every store on the crawl.
Authors will appear at bookstores throughout the weekend, including local YA queer horror author Rebekah Faubion (Lost Girls of Hollow Lake, The Lovers), Taylor Jenkins Reid (Daisy Jones & The Six), and Suzanne and Max Lang (Grumpy Monkey, The Gruffalo).
A special picture book signing takes place Saturday at 11:00 am at Once Upon a Time, the children’s bookstore, with uncle-and-nephew team Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer celebrating their lushly illustrated picture book Pondering: A Story in Cinquains.
In addition to crawl activities, Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena is overlapping its annual Summer Sale with the crawl, beginning Saturday, July 25, and continuing through Friday, July 31. The sale, held upstairs in the Events Space, features discounts of up to 75% off, with additional markdowns taken at the register.
Full event details with store listings are available on the Indie Book Crawl website.
Note: As of press time, Vroman’s sister store, Book Soup (8818 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles), plans to reopen in time to participate this weekend, following a water main break that forced the store to close on Thursday, July 16.
The Los Angeles crawl was inspired by a similar event in San Diego that has grown steadily over the past five years. Organizers hope the new event will encourage readers to rediscover neighborhood independent bookstores as places to browse, connect, and explore.
L.A. Indie Book Crawl Friday, July 24 - Sunday, July 26, 2026 Location Thirteen stores (see map above) including: >Vroman's Bookstore 695 Colorado Blvd. Pasadena 91101 >Once Upon a Time 2207 Honolulu Ave. Montrose 91020 Rewards for every $10 spent.
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