A Day in Oakmont - Books, a Movie, and Dinner

With no holiday obligations before us yesterday, Marilyn and I took a drive out to the little town of Oakmont yesterday afternoon, and had ourselves a delightful little Christmas Season adventure.

The first stop was the Mystery Lovers Bookshop.

This is a nationally known independent bookstore specializing in mystery titles that has been in business for over twenty years in Oakmont.  It has recently come under new ownership when founders Richard and Mary Alice Gorman opted to retire and sold the store to Laurie Stephens.  I had a chat with Ms. Stephens and some of her staff and they are enthused and promise to continue, and even improve upon, the store and the service that the Gormans had delivered for so long.

In talking with them, I was made aware of an interesting pattern that is developing in their business.  Years ago, it was the introduction of big-box chain bookstores like Waldens, Borders, and Barnes and Noble that began to put small independent book stores out of business.  Within the last five to ten years, on-line booksellers, Amazon being the biggest, has begun to put the big chains out of business, and, ironically, it is the vanishing of the Borders' of the world that is allowing the independents, such as Mystery Lovers, to make a modest comeback of sorts.

You can check them out at www.mysterylovers.com 

After Marilyn also visited some other specialty ships in Oakmont, we headed down the street to the Oaks Theater to see the new movie, "Hitchcock".

The movie, which starred Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock and Helen Mirren and his wife, Alma, was pretty good.  It centers on the period of Hitch's life when he made "Psycho", and tells a pretty good story, and, as you might expect, both Hopkins and Mirren are terrific.  However, it was really neat to attend a movie at the Oaks (it was our first time there).  The Oaks is an old, independent neighborhood theater with a large auditorium and a single, giant screen.  It has resisted the trend to break itself up into a multi-screen theater.  I can't remember the last time I saw a movie in such a place.  It was very cool experience.

After the movie, we watched a bride and groom and their wedding party being photographed on the streets (they had to be FREEZING), had a great dinner at the Chelsea Grille, and concluded by visiting the famous Oakmont Bakery.

A nice little community with a thriving business district with (Luke Ravenstahl take note) free, yes, FREE, on street parking.

Think about a visit to Oakmont some time.  It's more than just the Country Club!