Bookstar in San Diego, California is no ordinary bookshop. The 1945 Point Loma Theater was rescued from the wrecking ball by the Barnes & Noble chain. The theaters adaptive reuse capitalized on the existing theaters circulation path including the recreation of the historic carpet, and was augmented by imagery drawn from the existing deco architecture, marine nature of San Diego and literary references.

The Loma is interesting in that it was designed by one of the most prominent theater architects on the West Coast,  S. Charles Lee, who designed everything from LA’s terra-cotta Tower Theatre (now home to an Apple store) to Hollywood’s historic Max Factor Building, which currently houses the Hollywood Museum.

Opened in 1945, the Loma was a Streamline Moderne single-screen. The building was later on the verge of demolition when then-Barnes & Noble subsidiary Bookstar stepped in to save it, transforming it into a bookstore in 1989.

Although the theater’s 1,188 seats are long gone, its former screen is said to be intact, and the one-time snack bar is now the store’s checkout counter. Even the theater’s stunning exterior signage—including the marquee and a neon blade sign that spells out “LOMA”—remains.

I have never been to San Diego, but Bookstar would be my first stop if I visited the city.