Email: jackie@acresofbooks.com
           
The facade is design in the Streamline Modern style. The building extends for one hundred and fifty feet back from Long Beach Blvd. We carry books on almost any subject and we also carry some antiquarain books though we don't considered our selves antiquarain bookdealers. We purchase most of our books from walk-in sellers, but we will also travel to a person's home to buy an entire library.

Mr. Bertrand Smith 1874-1965, the founder of Acres of Books, was an established book dealer in Cincinnati, Ohio, when he came out west to start a new bookshop at 140 Pacific Ave. in Long Beach in 1934. We moved to our current location at 240 Long Beach Blvd. in 1960. Mr. Smith went to England over the years on regular book buying trips. He became a familiar face in the many bookshops of London's Charing Cross Road and came home with wonderful treasures for the book lovers of Southern California.

     
             
LONG BEACH
HISTORIC LANDMARKS INFORMATION FROM LONG BEACH MUNICIPAL CODE 16.52.670 240 Long Beach Boulevard.
Pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 2.63 and with the recommendation of the planning commission, the city council designates the following building as an historical landmark in the City: A commercial structure at 240 Long Beach Boulevard. A. Location, description and reasons for designation. Located at 240 Long Beach Boulevard in the City of Long Beach, this commercial building was built in 1924 and has been in continuous commercial use in downtown Long Beach for over fifty years. Its Streamline Moderne facade, added in the 1930s, is an intact and typical period piece. Framed by curving piers with vertical accents, the facade exhibits the typical three horizontal lines and chevron moldings.
Mr. Smith in 1959 gave to the people of Long Beach a collection of rare books, some dating back to the 15th century. Included in the collection is a two volume facsimile of the Gutenberg Bible all of which is housed as part of the Loraine and Earl Burns Miller Special Collections Room at the main branch of the Long Beach Public Library
  
       
In 1990 Acres of Books was designated a cultural heritage landmark by the City of Long Beach. We are now in our third generation of family ownership and have grown to over 1 million books in stock, making us the largest used bookshop in California and a desination for book lovers from around the World.
      
             
     

The south pier rises in three curved steps to form a characteristic tower reminiscent of the contemporary "skyscrapers". The separation of the transom from the display windows below is typical of the original 1924 building. The facade, a classic Streamline Moderne design, is the result of post-earthquake repairs, representing the rebuilding of downtown Long Beach in the "modernistic" style of the 1930s.

As home to Acres of Books, it is an established and familiar feature on Long Beach Boulevard that has a regional attraction. Acres of Books is a unique and highly valued bookstore which has been in continuous operation as a family-run business for over fifty years. It is a mecca for bibliophiles, and is widely recognized as a unique cultural resource all over the region.

Bertrand Smith, who established Acres of Books in Long Beach in 1936, was a nationally recognized antiquarian book dealer. In 1959 he made a very generous and important gift to the City of Long Beach, donating more than two hundred and fifty rare and old editions to the Long Beach Public Library. These volumes are now kept in the Miller Room. As a philanthropist and benefactor to the City and its people, Mr. Smith was a person significant in the past.

Our Store as it appears today, has rows and rows of books on nearly every subject. Customers come to marvel at the thousands of titles available.

  
           
AS WE APPEAR TODAY