Libros Schmibros: Lending Library & Bookshop

I wish I lived closer to this little lending library so I could become a regular! Nice selection of English and Spanish language books in good condition.
NOTE: Libros Schmibros is now a lending library, not a bookstore anymore!
PARKING — super easy!
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– Street parking is available, though you may have to walk around the block
– Store is located in Mariachi Plaza, next to a convenience store
– Accessible via Metro (Mariachi Plaza/​Boyle Height Station). It’s two steps from the station exit!
ATMOSPHERE — 4 stars
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– $ 5/​year gets you the most basic membership: check out 3 books at a time and even pick one free book to take home!
– no indoor seating or anything; but buy a ice cream from next store and sit outside! This is LA, after all!

Community book store with an interesting book rent scheme that would make happy any good reader of Boyle Heights and anywhere in the Gold Line. The book selection is very good and unpretentious.

An excellent little lending library. Wonderful staff, and I love the location. It’s pretty much free to borrow books.
Their selection is mostly random, and lacking in some genres. Also, it’s not the finest place to relax inside: they have no air-​conditioning and there are few chairs. Better to sit in the plaza.

Very likely the most intelligently and meticulously curated used bookstore in the world. One of Los Angeles’s secret treasures.

Great lending library and used bookshop for the Boyle Heights community!!!
Part of the great cultural renaissance in and around the Mariachi Plaza area of Boyle Heights!!!
All you need to do is leave your email address and you can borrow a book for three days or so. If you want to buy the book you can donate $ 1 or half the cover price of the book! I am not much of a reader anymore, so I donated some of my unused books to Libros Schmibros. I was attended by Cuahtemoc who is a volunteer here at Libros Schmibros. It made me feel very good to see his enthusiasm when he saw the books I donated. It reminded me of myself when I was at UC Santa Barbara and when I was still in love with books. He was very nice to let us in even though they were closed and check out the space and tell us a little bit about it. Libros Schmibros also sets up literary events for the Boyle Heights community and anyone who would like to take part of it. Do yourself a favor and check out places here like Libros Schmibros, Casa 0101 (a great theater where you can catch great plays), and Primera Taza (a coffee house and a space for local art).

Great place, could not be better! Drove there from Huntington Beach, and it was well worth it, if only for the atmosphere.

This is a wonderful used bookstore /​community library. We discovered this gem during the CicLAvia event during our bike ride form DTLA to Mariachi Square in East LA. Libros Schmibros is a forward thinking used bookstore /​community library, visitors can either borrow any books in the store FREE for 3 days (imagine how powerful this concept store will help the community) or you can purchase any books at a fair market used book price and your purchase proceed will help fund more books for the community library. I am a huge fan of books and anyone that has a heart as big as Mr. David Kipen for starting such an ambitious project like Libros Schmibros to help the community… then I feel I, an angeleno has an obligation to help support such a wonderful community endeavor. If we all do our parts to contribute to this much needed cause… hopefully, this kind of used bookstore /​community library will flourish and become a catalyst for change across America.

they have moved. now located at mariachi plaza which is a stop on the goldline; very convenient. been here a couple of times and have not been disappointed. can’t wait to go back to browse and pick up a used history book or classic work of literature.

I loved this place! Its small and tucked away far from the Valley or downtown Hollywood, but the proprietor clearly has very high standards for the books he sells so you’ll only find the very best stuff here. There’s no combing through junk novels to find something special; here everything I laid eyes on I had heard of and desperately wanted to read. And best of all they have wonderful flexibility when it comes to prices for students and young people so I walked out with a whole stack of classics. Seemed very amenable to book swaps, but you had better bring good stuff or they won’t be interested.