THE WORD : Catering to the Literati

While cafes and reading go hand in hand, the emporia dispensing the two are often not even in the same neighborhood. Bridging that gap between book and bean is the Lonesome Traveler, a.k.a. Janice Porter-Moffitt, who pilots her van full of books all over the county and beyond, setting up tables outside coffeehouses (as well as fairs and festivals) and offering books--at a cut rate--to the literature-starved, albeit caffeine-revved, masses.

“I’ve done outside events for other bookstores for a number of years and I thought, well, I could do this on my own,” says Porter-Moffitt, who, despite going into business for herself, keeps a part-time gig at A Different Light bookstore in West Hollywood. “I want to give people a product I definitely believe in.”

Her traveling mix, 300 or so volumes, certainly has cafe appeal--literature (yes, Bukowski, Kerouac and Miller), gay and lesbian, multicultural anthologies, psychology/self-help, travel and children’s--but she doesn’t scrimp on the airport trash-reads either. Used prices vary and new books are $2 off cover. And if there’s something you don’t see, Porter-Moffitt says she’ll order it for full price and, yes, bring it to your door.

For now, her bookstore-on-the-fly can be found at the Onyx/Sequel Cafe in Los Feliz, the Buzz in Silverlake, Who’s on Third in West Hollywood and the Haven Coffeehouse in Pomona.

“This is perfect for our clientele,” says John Leech, owner of the tres boheme Onyx/Sequel. “We used to have a store just down the block but it closed, and it’s going to be a long time before we see those kinds of books in this area, unless she brings them.”