KIDS BOOK A RIDE STORYOPOLIS LIKE LITERARY AMUSEMENT PARK, COMBINING TEXTS WITH STUFFED ANIMALS, ARTWORK.Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer STUDIO CITY - Storyopolis looks like a bookstore but feels more like a carnival crammed into 6,000 square feet. Children run through the aisles, pulling out books to read. Parents tote reading material by the armload, following their energetic charges. Owner Matthew Abramowitz just sits back and marvels. In an age where kids seem like they're born with a remote control in one hand and a video game controller in the other, these children actually seem excited about reading books. As the kids gather to one side of the room for a reading of Shel Silverstein's ``Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out,'' a din breaks out to rival a motocross motocross Form of motorcycle racing in which cyclists compete on a closed course marked out over natural or simulated rough terrain. Courses vary widely but must be 1.5–5 km (1–3 mi) in length, with steep inclines, hairpin turns, and mud. rally. ``I live for story time,'' said the 40-year-old Abramowitz. ``When you read a good book, it should take you away to a new place, a new world. That's way better than a kid saying, I got the highest score in a shooting game.'' He's owned the store for two years, buying it when it was a Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. icon on Robertson Boulevard Robertson Boulevard is a street in Los Angeles. The northern part of the street in West Hollywood is a trendy tree-lined shopping district. Robertson is best known as a recent celebrity hangout. . But after a recent move to Ventura Boulevard Ventura Boulevard is one of the primary east-west thouroughfares in the San Fernando Valley; as it was originally a part of the El Camino Real (the trail between Spanish missions), Ventura Boulevard is the oldest route in the San Fernando Valley. It was also U.S. from the tony shopping district, his business has boomed and he's eyeing worldwide expansion. Within two years, he plans to add a New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of location, followed eventually by spots in London and possibly Tokyo or Sydney, Australia. It's not quite like a regular bookstore as it combines illustrated texts, chapter books, stuffed animals and millions of dollars worth of children's artwork. Parents with considerable means can plaster their kids' walls with $650 Tim Burton prints or the works of Mary GrandPre, who illustrates the Harry Potter novels. A painting by Gennady Spirin, who does the graphics work for Madonna's books, runs a cool $3,000. While the Beverly Hills store, once owned by Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen (born January 21, 1953 in Seattle, Washington) is an American entrepreneur. With Bill Gates, he formed Microsoft. , was a hot spot for celebrities, Abramowitz has a humbler target in mind with his new shop: regular moms and dads. ``They're very kid-friendly - they can grab things off the shelf and look at them,'' said Kimberly Perry, a physician from West Hollywood West Hollywood A community of southern California northeast of Beverly Hills. It is mainly residential. Population: 36,600. , as her 14-month-old daughter Ella did just that. ``She'll pick things up and just won't put them down. That means so much more than me getting a book for her.'' With that in mind, most parents will likely want to keep their kids out of the antiquarian an·ti·quar·i·an n. One who studies, collects, or deals in antiquities. adj. 1. Of or relating to antiquarians or to the study or collecting of antiquities. 2. Dealing in or having to do with old or rare books. section. Entombed Entombed, or entomb, may refer to:
reaches and departs from Oz in circus balloon. [Children’s Lit.: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz] See : Ballooning Wizard of Oz false wizard takes up residence in Emerald City. [Am. Lit. .'' For the more regular fare, parents enthusiastically unleash their young ones on the rows and rows of volumes. Mark Meismer, a 32-year-old professional dancer from Lake Balboa, brings his daughter Ryan at least once a week. ``You've got to start when they're little, so they'll love it later on,'' he said, as 13-month-old Ryan played in the Curious George section. ``A book is something they'll have forever. It's not something that goes in and out of style or a toy to get bored with.'' Brent Hopkins, (818) 713-3738 brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 3 photos, map Photo: (1 -- color) Matthew Abramowitz recently moved Storyopolis from Beverly Hills to Studio City and is now looking at expanding. (2 -- color) Kimberly Perry, 33, and her daughter Ella, 1, drove from West Hollywood to visit the new Storyopolis in Studio City. (3) A young boy makes the rounds Wednesday at Storyopolis in Studio City, which was recently moved from Beverly Hills. Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer Map: Storyopolis, 12348 Ventura Blvd. Daily News |
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