Avant-garde lit? It’s all in the Family

THE often-parroted line is that indie bookstores are DOA in the 21st century, fallen victim to the formidable onslaught of Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and continued reader apathy. And the statistics on the ground would seem to confirm that thesis, considering the recent closures of Angeleno institutions such as Dutton’s North Hollywood, the blink-and-you-missed-it Dutton’s Beverly Hills and the possible uprooting of the Brentwood Dutton’s store.

But don’t tell that to the crowd of twentysomethings gathered at Family, a recently opened independent book, record and clothing store on Fairfax Avenue, where a capacity crowd spills out onto the street on an unseasonably hot Sunday evening. At the moment, they’re listening to a reading/slide show presentation of Ian Svenonius’ new book, “The Psychic Soviet.” But the week before, the store hosted a wake for the shuttered cult magazine Arthur. And the week before that, hundreds flocked to the Family launch party for a set by local indie-rock royalty Lavender Diamond.

If you look closely, you can see the fledgling beginnings of a new Los Angeles scene, one removed from the hipster enclaves of Silver Lake and Echo Park and including this unorthodox bookstore, the brainchild of cartoonist Sammy Harkham and his wife, Tahli, along with their friend and partner, writer-journalist David Kramer.

“It’s a real counterculture of what’s happening in L.A. right now,” said Harkham, a co-owner of the recently revitalized Silent Movie Theatre. “Interesting things are happening between the Arthur connection and the bands. A real scene is emerging and coming together. This place is working as the hub. People can see and feel our aesthetic.”

Indeed, the store’s aesthetic reflects the owners’ left-field sensibilities. A new Dave Eggers book lies next to an obscure 7-inch noise-rock record, next to a Daniel Clowes graphic novel, next to a DVD of the 1983 comedy, “The Man With Two Brains.” Stuff there one week will be gone the next, as Family’s owners don’t do reorders and are obsessed with making sure that the bookstore isn’t stagnant.

As for the “counterculture” crowd, it consists of a mishmash of various underground scenes: noise rockers, antiwar kids, bearded and bespectacled Eastside males, arty Bohemian girls in black leggings and striped shirts -- and even the occasional senior citizen strolling in off the street after chomping on stuffed cabbage at Canter’s. The address might say Fairfax Avenue, but the vibe is more Parisian Left Bank.

According to the owners, the store has been bustling so far; the throngs who pack into the store during special events certainly are an encouraging sign. Yet the owners maintain that when they conceived Family, their only goal was to create a space that would make their 14-year-old selves proud.

“I never tried to have a do-it-yourself aesthetic. We just wanted to get the most awesome stuff around, the stuff that people don’t see,” Kramer said. “We told people we were going to sell obscure experimental European literature, and people told us that we must be crazy because no one reads in L.A. People here don’t get enough credit. People are into the weirdest, strangest stuff that we sell.”

One of the store’s patrons, Alex Klein, agreed: “The selection here is just impeccable. When I walk in here, it feels like I’m at a farmers market in France, knowing that every apple and every avocado has been hand-selected personally. L.A. has needed a place like this for a long time.”

The owners aim to nurture the scene by hosting events several times a month -- next is a signing by psychedelic comics guru Kim Deitch. Additionally, using San Francisco’s City Lights as an inspiration, Family plans to go into publishing later this year, initially focusing on high-end art books.

Understandably, many in Los Angeles’ underground scene seem galvanized by this new bookstore with avant-garde leanings. In particular, Jay Babcock, the publisher and editor of (the now-revived) Arthur, gushed effusively about Family’s potential: “Family is the most exciting commercial space in L.A. I get a feeling when I walk in here that I have walked into the best curated bohemian library I’ve ever been to. It feels like home. It’s ground zero for a new Edenism.”

weekend@latimes.com

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Family

Where: 436 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles

When: Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays

Info: (323) 782-9221; www.familylosangeles.com