LAGUNA BEACH : Bookstore Plans Move, Expansion

Fahrenheit 451, once a tiny but intellectually energetic enterprise known as the hippie bookstore, is expected to move to a splashy new home on Forest Avenue this summer.

This will be the second transformation of the business since owner Dorothy Ibsen took the reins in 1988.

Fahrenheit 451 opened 25 years ago with a cement floor, peeling paint, no heat and about $500 worth of books. Although the business had a string of owners, the ambience didn’t change much until Ibsen took over and then computerized the bookstore in 1989.

Keeping the original store open as a used-book outlet, Ibsen opened a new Fahrenheit 451 across the street, a trendy establishment where customers could sit at tables and sip cappuccino or listen to live music or poetry readings.

Now, Ibsen said, she will further expand the business by moving to Forest Avenue near Coast Highway--the former home of Marriner’s Stationers Booksellers & Furniture--where she can triple the floor space and add a restaurant. The change will help the store remain economically viable, she said.

“We’re a mom-and-pop bookstore and we can’t compete with the (Crown Books) and (B) Daltons of the world,” she said. “This will make it possible for us to do that.”

Ibsen said the additional space is needed partly because they have reached “gridlock” at the current location.

“We get so many people in here that we can’t move,” she said.

The city initially resisted the move, concerned mainly that the emphasis of the business would shift from books to food. However, after limiting the amount of floor space that can be used for food service, the Laguna Beach Planning Commission approved the plan earlier this month on a 3-2 vote.

Ibsen said Wednesday that she plans to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner at the bookstore, along with high tea in the afternoon and supper until midnight.

The City Council must still endorse an agreement that would allow the business to pay $24,000 to the city in lieu of providing parking spaces.

Meanwhile, the used book store that launched Fahrenheit 451 is still serving an important purpose, Ibsen said.

“Its main function is keeping the space over there so Crown Books doesn’t go in there and open as a competitor,” she said.