Here you'll find
Latin
America’s biggest collection of used books in English
By John Pint
I’ve had opportunity to go hiking with archaelogists, geologists,
biologists and botanists and it’s always a special experience. Each
sees the landscape with eyes very different from mine, discovering
something new and surprising at every step and inevitably infecting me
with his or her enthusiasm and passion. Today I experienced that same
stimulation of excitement and wonder while wandering the shelves of La
Perla Bookstore with its owner, Gerry Smith.
In one room he showed me
his Culinary Arts section with some 300 books on cooking and food. In
the next room I found literature. “Here are some great books by Willa
Cather,” he said, “and over there I’ve got Upton Sinclair.” He handed
me one of the volumes by Sinclair. “Albert Einstein said If you really
want to understand the history of the first half of the 20th century,
read the Lanny Budd series by Upton Sinclair. These are the books to
read. I love them. I think I’ve read them five times.”
As you must have already guessed, the books in this shop did not land
on its shelves by accident, but were picked with understanding, care
and, I would say, with love. “This next section is Western Americana,”
Smith went on. “Most of these come from my personal collection.”
La Perla Books and Records is located on Pedro Moreno near Chapultepec.
The entrance is small and unassuming, but as you climb the stairs you
are greeted by the faces of Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills and Nash and
other rock legends. These posters and album covers make it clear that
La Perla is both a record and book store, reflecting the expertise and
preferences of its two owners, Gerry Smith and Ernesto “Bola” Domene.
While Smith fills his rooms with good books, Bola’s collections reflect
his expertise in Rock Music. “Bola was the drummer for Mexico’s hottest
rock band of the 1990’s, La Lupita,” Smith told me. He continues on
today as a member of the rock-pop band “Rostros Ocultos.” La Perla has
around 10,000 new and used disks for sale. Vinyl records are a
specialty, but they also sell CDs and even a few 8-tracks.
I wandered out to the store’s balcony overlooking Guadalajara’s Zona
Rosa and asked Gerry Smith to tell me a bit about himself.
“When I was in my twenties,” he said, “I turned into an avid reader.
Books became my great love and I’ve spent the last thirty-some years
reading. Wherever I lived, all the librarians knew me and whenever I
traveled, I’d stop at every bookstore I could find and any junk shop I
thought might have books. I’ve surely been in a thousand bookstores in
the US. And I also started buying books in those days. So I ended up
with a houseful of books and then I started filling my brother’s house
with them. And now, after about six years in Mexico, I ended up with
yet another house full of books. Inadvertently, I had become a book
expert, so I finally decided to open my own bookstore.”
Smith met Bola Domene, set up a six-foot bookcase at La Roma Records
(which later changed its name to La Perla) and for five years the
shelves of books have been expanding, until, today, he estimates he has
a minimum of 15,000 books. “I haven’t found a larger or better
collection of English used books anywhere else in Latin America,” Smith
was told by Clemente Orozco, a frequent book browser at La Perla and
grandson of Mexico’s famed muralist, José Clemente Orozco.
If you happen to be interested in Music and records as well as English
books, you will enjoy looking through Bola Domene’s collection. Besides
Rock he has Colombian, Bossa Nova, classical and much more. “Bola
really knows music,” says Smith. “He has a great collection that nobody
else can match.” To put it in Bola Domene’s own words, “Yes, there are
other places selling records in Guadalajara, but none of them have The
Passion for Music.”
If you have used books, bring them to La Perla. “Buy, sell and trade,”
says Smith, “that’s what we do. I pay cash on the barrelhead, but I’m
picky. I don’t want to fill my bookstore with junk. For every book I
put on my shelf, there are five or six that are not good enough. Those
kind of books might end up downstairs at the entrance, where we have
shelves filled with free books. In fact, I’ve given away thousands of
them...or they get picked up by a local guy for recycling.”
How much do books cost at La Perla? “The vast majority of my books,”
says Gerry Smith, “are between 70 and 200 pesos, but I also have a lot
of collectible books, like first edition Hemingways and Thurbers.”
Whether you are looking for rare books or just a good read, I think
you’ll discover that La Perla is truly a pearl without price. Currently
the bookstore’s Facebook and Web sites "English Books Guadalajara" are
undergoing major reconstruction. Send inquires to laperlabookstore
@ gmail.com (remove the spaces). La Perla is
located at Pedro Moreno 1530 on the second floor, Tel 33 1525
3015. It’s open Monday to Saturday from 11 AM to 9 PM and everyone
there speaks English. On top of that, they actually have a couple
parking spots in front!
Text
and Photos © 2018 by John & Susy Pint
HOME
|
