2017 Los Angeles Vintage Paperback Collectors Show

   According to the flyer I have beside me as I type this, the 38th annual gathering of the LA area paperback collectors convention was held today. This isn’t a con report per se, as Jon and I were there for only just over an hour this afternoon, and not very many of the photos I took with my phone turned out to be usable.

   But a couple did, and I thought I’d share them with you, along with a comment or two. The room was packed not only with dealers and their tables showing their wares, but at mid-afternoon the room was filled with would-be buyers, circulating the room, stooped over tables, and schmoozing with each other as they made the rounds one more time.

   My sense was that the show was perhaps double the size of the Manhattan-based shows that Gary Lovisi did for many years, up to a several years ago. A few tables had some pulps for sale, others had hardcovers or movie posters and other memorabilia, but the vast majority of the offerings were old paperbacks, all glossied up in crisp clear baggies. To me the prices asked were high. If I could get these prices, my basement, garage and storage areas would be emptied so fast it would make your head swim. Too bad all my collectibles are 3000 miles away, or I’d be sure to set up here next year.

   According to the flyer, over 60 authors and artists were set up to sign books and other items. While I was there, there may have been 20 or so sitting behind tables along one side of the room, and they all seemed pleased to be there.

   Nobody seemed to have name tags. I probably passed several people I know but have met only infrequently and didn’t recognize them. If you were there and didn’t see me, either, I apologize.

   I did talk to show organizer Tom Lesser for a short time. I haven’t been able to get to either a pulp or paperback show in quite a while, so it may have been a couple of years since I’ve seen him. If I’m not mistaken, he said they had over 500 people show up. I believe it. It was a big affair.

   Here’s a photo of Jonathan and my friend Paul Herman. Paul lives two towns over from me back in CT but he flew all the way to CA just to see us there. That’s Jon on the left.