Old Capitol Books — Local services in Monterey

Fantastic place. Meets every criteria of a classic hard-core intellectuals' bookstore. Includes initial cantankerousness, followed by quick witted banter, huge knowledge of books and history, and helpful kind service. I wish I had more time in there because there is an incredible depth of selection. I was just a tourist, having been to Cannery Row the night before, and finding it antithetical to Steinbeck. In this bookstore I found a bit of Steinbeck-like irony. I say this tongue-in-cheek, but its all positive: I was nearly greeted with the phrase, "We don't have Cannery Row right now. We have what we have!" This was almost a challenge. A bit of conversation followed and we learned our ancestors were historic enemies, and there were connections to Percey B. Shelley right here! An apology for not having Cannery Row ensued including directions to a store that probably did have a copy, and I bought two Steinbeck books, low and behold! One of the books was a two-book anthology contained Of Mice and Men AND Cannery Row! A beautiful 1947 edition discarded by none other than the Pacific Grove Public Library....

Showed up on a Sunday because THE WEBSITE said it was open. We arrived and it was closed with a sign on the door saying it was only open Saturday 12-6. There was someone inside so I knocked and asked if they were open, as some places will let people in if they are there anyway. She said that, no, they were indeed closed and pointed to the sign with the Saturday-only sign. Above that sign was another sign saying “please help save Old Capitol books”. It was asking for donations. It seems like if you have people at your store who want to buy something from you and you really need the money, it might be a good idea to let them in. It doesn’t seem like their heart is in it. Found a much better bookstore walking distance away called THE ROSE BOOKS AND OBSCURITIES. Very pretty bookstore with a friendly owner. A very cool selection of used books, some very beautiful copies of fiction and non-fiction books. Reasonably priced. Do yourself a favor and go...

If you are driving around the coast and make a stop in Monterey and you find yourself wanting a John Steinbeck read to complete the trip…. Then you should stop by here. They have a great book selection, all types of books. We enjoyed our time there. We spent around an hr or so to check the books they have available. I will definitely be coming back to complete my search.

They also have one of the best selections I’ve seen on critical race studies.

Found an amazing book to gift my mom...