Candelas Guitars East L.A.

Libros Schmibros has moved to Mariachi Plaza! Used bookstore, lending library and unofficial east side community center, Libros Schmibros is the creation of David Kipen, a prominent promoter of national projects to energize America's lazy reading habits. Stuffed with 7,000 books from his personal library and the collections of defunct Southern California bookstores, Libros Schmibros offers screenwriting workshops and a speakers series featuring local authors. With libraries closing across the country, the Hawaiian-shirted Kipen, self-proclaimed "first Jew in decades" to move back into Latino Boyle Heights, has made it his mission to interest his neighbors in the works of the T.S Elliot, Thomas Pynchon, Ray Bradbury, Dashiell Hammet, Dante, James Joyce and others. Drop by to pick up some bargains, or to donate books. They need books in Spanish, literary fiction, classics for high school readers and just because they have good taste, Charles Bukowski and Hunter S. Thompson.www.librosschmibros.wordpress.com

The guitarron-strumming skeleton on the side of the building tells you right away  this isn’t your typical guitar emporium where every customer’s cranking on the same punk-metal riffs to test the amps.  La Casa del Musico is a family-run Boyle Heights shop crammed with instruments and accessories for players across the stylistic spectrum.  They emphasize Latin instruments, including guitarrons, bajo sextos, Spanish guitars, trumpetas and accordions, but they have a nice selection of electric guitars and acoustic basses, too.  They carry CDs, and sheet music; this is the place to find the score of that Latin hit you’ve always dreamed of playing.  La Casa del Musico is a fun place to browse – the walls are collaged with photos of Mariachi groups past and present.