Saturday, August 31, 2013

The City: John K. King Used & Rare Books

So while Nick and I were finishing up our shopping at Eastern Market early this afternoon (spent less than $20 again by the way! WOO!) We decided to make a pit stop to a place that we've been meaning to visit since we moved down here. We drive past it almost every time we head into downtown Detroit, and have always meant to make time for a trip. 


John K. King Used and Rare Books
(you can check out their website here)




Finally today we figured we'd stop in and check it out. What we found was even more impressive than anything I could have imagined! Harper wasn't in the best mood for a leisurely stroll through all four floors (!!!) of books, so we only made it up to the second. 

This store was originally established in Dearborn, Michigan in 1965. It moved from there to the Michigan Theatre in 1971.  This location has been open since 1983, which is when John King purchased the four story abandoned factory building which is now home to an estimated 1 million books. 



When you walk in, you actually receive a directory. Essentially a map, with different categories of books and where they are located. It would be really beneficial if you were looking for something specific. However, because we were just taking a look around, we just decided to walk about and see what we could find on our own. 



Nick, of course, found the section dedicated to cookbooks. We thought it was pretty awesome that they even had "Vegetarian & Vegan" specifically on the sign. Gotta love it! 

I was wearing Harper in our front pack, so I didn't do too much actual looking. Just kind of bounced around trying to keep her from fussing too much. I did manage to snap quite a few pictures even with her flailing about on my chest.
  


 Nick also found the home improvement section. Even though you can find anything you need to know on good ol' Google now-a-days, it is still nice to have something tangible to turn to. 






Nick found this amazing kitchen remodeling book. It's full of lovely dated kitchen design ideas. Seriously, we were pretty impressed. 



I mean, really? This book explains why a lot of kitchens are being remodeled. (Also, down in the bottom corner of the book, there is totally a cabbage patch doll and it creeped me out while I was doing a little editing! Ha!)  

Of course we had to take a family photo, selfie-style.


I stood in the corner and took a picture straight down the aisle so that I could try and capture just how gigantic this place is. It is a vast sea of books. You can barely see the opposite wall in the photo above!

I'm excited about having such a great place to find old books for projects so close to home. Also, they have a selection of maps of Detroit that are dated around the 1800's. I can't wait to set up a time to go take a look at those. Pretty sure that there is a home for one in our future family room. 


It was definitely a great way to spend some time on a Saturday afternoon.

If you haven't been, you should definitely check it out.  

If you have visited, feel free to share your experience in the comments section!

XOX Sam 

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