Mystery Pier — Local services in West Hollywood

Never in my life have I been spoken to so rudely or disrespectfully.

During my first visit to Mystery Pier, I was careful to read and abide by their signage, which indicated not to open any books. I picked up a book and was accosted by the owner Harvey. He reprimanded me and asked if I read the signs, saying I was not allowed to open books. I calmly explained I had no intention of removing the plastic or opening the book - I merely wanted to look at the cover & back to decide if I was going to purchase it. He repeated that I could not open the book. At this point, I wondered if perhaps “do not open the books” meant “no touching” so I placed the book back where I found it.

Harvey snatched up the book, asked me if I had been to the store before, and stated they show the books to customers. I said I’d love to have him show me the book. He briefly turned the book and then set it down. I asked how much it was and was told $150 (which I was considering) when he continued in a condescending tone “Everything here ranges from $100 to $100,000” and promptly walked away dismissing us.

My boyfriend and I were left flabbergasted, wondering what had just happened. Was he trying to say that we couldn’t afford the book or did not deserve to be there? Since when did touching a book equate to opening it? And why would a business have such bad customer service when we had been nothing but calm & polite?

I sincerely hope Harvey was just having a bad day and took it out on us. But this encounter hurt my feelings and I immediately left the store, no longer wanting to support a business run...

I’m very late leaving this review... However, I had to make sure I followed through with my promise. This place is a gem!! I was in town visiting a friend and we stumbled across it in July. I can only equate leaving the busy city street, walking through the passageway and finding a beautiful garden and cottage to walking through the wardrobe and finding Narnia! Instead of Turkish delight and animals, we were greeted by the kindest older gentleman whom ran the shop. He shared so many stories, showed us treasures like the original printings of Tolkien and Steinbeck! We felt like guests in his home. I highly recommend visiting if you love books, history, and great experiences. And although I’m not a celebrity, he let me take a picture with him. It made my trip extra special! I hope to visit...

Extremely rude staff. I guess they prefer to keep the store empty, so they should just turn it into a museum. We were first told to put on a mask, we didn’t have one so we were going to leave. My boyfriend noticed they actually had masks, so we asked if we could take one. Before even reaching to give us masks, the person there asked if we are looking for anything in particular, to which I said we just discovered this place and wanted to browse, since it seemed interesting. He then told us we can’t be in here with food, we had a small to go box from our breakfast. Clearly he didn’t want us in there lol. What’s the point of “protecting” all this history, if it’s not going to be shared with the younger generations. He can keep his books to...