A Change of Hobbit

A Change of Hobbit (1972–1991) was one of the first science fiction, fantasy and horror bookstores established, and was a significant part of science fiction fandom generally and in Southern California particularly.[1][2]

The name references the hobbits from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. Owner Sherry Gottlieb offered the use of her name to colleagues in Berkeley, who then established The Other Change of Hobbit bookstore in 1974; that store continues to operate in the Bay Area.[3]

The Change of Hobbit bookstore hosted numerous events, including, famously, Harlan Ellison in its front window, writing a story in public view, over the course of a week.[4] The store was also a mainstay on author tours, as Anne Rice noted: "Authors around the world have dreamed of going to the Hobbit for signings. What's a West Coast tour if you can't visit Sherry?"[1] The store was also notable for Gottlieb's pet boa constrictor, "Wrinklesnakeskin".[1]

Gottlieb first opened the store in Westwood, moved it to Westwood Boulevard, and then to Lincoln Boulevard in Santa Monica. In 1989, Gottlieb moved the store to its final location on 2nd Street in Santa Monica.[1]


Notes
  1. Duke Helfand, "For Science Fiction Fans, Old Habit Dies Hard : Change of Hobbit Devotees Are Already Mourning Bookstore Demise", Los Angeles Times, Feb. 10, 1991.
  2. Sherry Gottlieb, "Escape Velocity: A History of A Change of Hobbit Bookstore" (draft memoir, last visited March 31, 2014).
  3. Bullock, Ken (August 10, 2010). "The Other Change of Hobbit is Living in South Berkeley". The Berkeley Daily Planet.
  4. Harlan Ellison, Strange Wine.



gollark: Apparently whoever is doing the projectile thing is making a simple vaguely coilgun-type thing. I have no idea if it will actually work as they explained it.
gollark: Does it doing combustion count as *on* fire?
gollark: There would be significant legal issues and also quite likely damage to the box.
gollark: Maybe you would be better off using quantum field theory. Except that doesn't have gravity/general relativity, only special relativity, so you should work out how to unify those?
gollark: We can just say in the technical and artistic merit video that "the robot's projectile trajectory handling maths has relativistic corrections in it and would thus be equipped to fire projectiles near the speed of light, if we actually needed that, had a way to accelerate things that fast, could do so without destroying everything, did not have interactions with the air to worry about, and could safely ignore quantum effects".
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