A two-story bookstore with a hidden speakeasy, a glowing book-tree and a dragon sculpture made entirely of books is on track to open near the intersection of Melrose and Fairfax avenues in mid-2027. Genres Book Society is the brainchild of actor and producer Clare Grant and hospitality and fandom-marketing veteran Karissa Marston, who are building what they describe as part bookstore and part immersive playground for fantasy and science-fiction readers.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the venue will house a two-story tree with glowing books growing out of its branches, modular bookshelves arranged over a floor etched with book quotes in the shape of a tree, and a mascot named Lore — a dragon built from books. The two-story space is designed to contain multiple themed rooms where visitors can gather, hide away or eventually host events, the paper reports.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the speakeasy is planned as a secluded cafe and bar with its own themed spaces. The founders have also discussed the possibility of using it for immersive theater, alongside its role as a place to sit and read.
Two Founders, One Shared Vision
Grant told the Los Angeles Times that she began imagining the project after missing a friends’ fantasy-reading cabin retreat. Marston said a visit to Paris helped shape her vision for the Los Angeles shop.
That Paris shop, known formally as Shakespeare and Company, is an independent English-language bookshop on the banks of the Seine opposite Notre-Dame, opened by George Whitman in 1951 and described on its own site as having been built like a novel, with each room constructed like a chapter. It has served as a meeting place for writers and readers in Paris for more than 70 years, and added an adjacent café in October 2015 that the Guardian described as sharing the bookstore's eccentric charm in a lighter, more modern space.
The founders developed a plan for a bookstore with a hidden speakeasy, drawing on Marston’s hospitality and fandom-marketing experience. The Los Angeles Times reports that they hope to welcome fantasy and science-fiction authors and host events ranging from signings to baby showers and theatrical performances. They also envision the shop serving visitors who want to browse quietly, not only those attending an event.
A Dream-Inspired Bar and a Design Team From Disney
The Los Angeles Times reports that the founders drew on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream while developing the bar concept, and that they want bartenders to offer book recommendations as well as cocktails. Gensler is designing the project. Ann Morrow Johnson, who leads the firm’s entertainment and experiences division and previously worked creatively for Walt Disney Imagineering, told the paper the design is intended to draw visitors into story worlds.
Johnson told the Los Angeles Times that theatrical, highly scenic spaces can draw people away from their phones and create moments of delight. The Gensler Research Institute’s 2025 immersive-industry report says 73% of surveyed audience members were willing to travel to experiences that piqued their interest. That stated preference does not establish demand for the proposed bookstore.
Part of a Bigger Bookstore-Bar Wave
Genres Book Society reflects a broader local pattern of heavily designed, fantastical thematic spaces, and it's arriving amid a national surge in bookstore bars that pair reading with drinking. As SFGate has reported, digital fatigue and a desire for human connection have fueled much of that trend, and pairing books with beverages gives operators a way to offset the famously thin profit margins on selling books with the better margins typical of a bar.
What the Bookstore Trend Can—and Can’t—Show
The broader history of independent bookselling offers context, but not a count of bookstore bars. Publishers Weekly, citing American Booksellers Association membership data, reported that independent bookstores had 1,651 locations in 2009, down from 7,000 in 1995, before later describing a rebound. In West Hollywood, Visit West Hollywood says Book Soup, founded in 1975, became known for author events—a local example of a bookstore serving as a gathering place, but not an immersive bookstore-bar model.
There are also regulatory steps for the bar component. Los Angeles City Planning says establishments selling alcohol need City authorization and a California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control license. That general requirement does not establish whether Genres Book Society has applied for or received either approval.
Similar hybrids have popped up nationwide, including Book Club Bar in New York's East Village, Riffraff Bookstore and Bar in Providence, and Bar Epilogue tucked inside New Orleans' Garden District Book Shop, according to Time Out. In the Bay Area, Book Society opened in Berkeley's Elmwood neighborhood in early December 2024, joining local outfits like Clio's and North Light in Oakland, Golden Sardine in San Francisco, and Bad Animal in Santa Cruz, SFGate notes. Whether Genres Book Society can capture that same mix of literary charm and nightlife appeal at Melrose and Fairfax won't be clear until the doors open in 2027.
