In a regal redwood grove along the Big Sur coast lies a place “where nothing happens,” according to its proprietors. The highway traffic noise disappears, the filtered sunlight takes on the quality of stained glass, and the earthy smell of the forest is enough to cleanse your mind of digital and other distractions. This quiet altar of wisdom and irreverence serves as a bookstore and art hub focused on promoting the works of author Henry Miller, who lived in Big Sur between 1944 and 1962. The library hosts events throughout the year, but especially from May to October, including concerts, lectures, and book signings. The annual Big Sur International Short Film Screening Series occurs outside, in the redwood amphitheater. In the winter, the library takes on the aura of a writer’s retreat, when time stretches endlessly forward and you can spend hours browsing books, nursing a cup of coffee, and watching the light and shadows change the landscape outside the windows. Unlike a library, there’s no borrowing here, but what you walk away with may just be richer than any physical possession.
Henry Miller Memorial Library
Serena Renner
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Henry Miller Memorial Library, Big Sur
In a regal redwood grove along the Big Sur coast lies a place “where nothing happens,” according to its proprietors. The highway traffic noise disappears, the filtered sunlight takes on the quality of stained glass, and the earthy smell of the forest is enough to cleanse your mind of digital and other distractions. This quiet altar of wisdom and irreverence serves as a bookstore and art hub focused on promoting the works of author Henry Miller, who lived in Big Sur between 1944 and 1962. The library hosts events throughout the year, but especially from May to October, including concerts, lectures, and book signings. The annual Big Sur International Short Film Screening Series occurs outside, in the redwood amphitheater. In the winter, the library takes on the aura of a writer’s retreat, when time stretches endlessly forward and you can spend hours browsing books, nursing a cup of coffee, and watching the light and shadows change the landscape outside the windows. Unlike a library, there’s no borrowing here, but what you walk away with may just be richer than any physical possession.
Henry Miller's typewriter
I seem to have a thing about old typewriters, perhaps because I actually remember using some of them back in the day. This one is at the Henry Miller Memorial Library (although I put “museum” on the photo). It doesn’t look like it still works!
A small library by the ocean
A place for book lovers, cultural rebels and alike. Outside, among redwoods, they put up nice concerts during the warmer months.
Henry Miller Library, Big Sur, California
The Library is a living proof that the beauty of life is not in the assets but in the atmosphere. It was hard to leave. Books, vinyls, posters, wood, Henry. And Anais. I suspected myself that I was looking for Anais, not for Henry. There are concerts and movies at the pleasant outdoor amphytheatre and there are the scent of the redwoods and the fulfilled promise of the Pacific Ocean to indulge in.
