The Battery Books & Music

I accidentally happened on to this gem of a local, used book, music, and vintage clothing store, and I am truly thrilled that I did!
It was very inviting, and every thing I wanted this type of store to be... and more. The atmosphere, rows upon rows of shelves, piles of eclectic wonders, bins of my favorite albums, all combined to reminded me of a store Harry Potter might have found on Diagon alley.
Amazing and impressive stock, warm and welcoming atmosphere, and the stores proprietors, Rich West and Laurie Lai, are incredibly knowledgeable about their individual passions, and make great suggestions I end up going home with.
Each time I go there I leave with an arm load of new treasures, and still have money in my pocket. How cool is that?
What more could I ask for? How about their live music nights and cultural events, held right there in the store. Or their proximity to a wonderful coffee house and healthy restaurants where I can sip, eat, and dive into my new found, favorite reads.
I highly recommend this place, even if you have to drive a bit to get there. It's well worth one's time to seek out and explore.
I'll see you there! ( :

Nice store and guy working there. It is small and doesn't have the best selection of books, and I didn't find anything like what I was looking for there, but I still give the store five stars because it was neat, clean, organized and the books were in very good condition. A well done store. They even had a free junk box in front of the store with books and magazines. That is a nice touch.

I found The Battery on Yelp! after a frustrating visit to one of my (previously) favorite bookstores. While The Battery is much smaller than my previous used book haunt, it has an excellent selection of books covering a wide range of subject matter. They also have a pretty decent vinyl section as well. The staff are fantastic! Very friendly and always helpful. If you are like to take public transport its right off of the Metro Goldline train at Mission in an incredibly cool section of South Pasadena. The Battery also features live music on certain weekends. I highly recommend you visit this cool store and excellent people.

I love used bookstores! After moving to Alhambra a couple months ago I finally got the chance to find a nice used bookstore in the area. I loved the home-y feeling and the great collection. The best part about walking into a used bookstore is the hidden gems: I came in wanting to look for a copy of Stephen King's Carrie but came out with a couple other mysteries. Definitely going to make this a regular spot for me. Oh and the staff is really helpful and nice too!

Awesome place. The woman working the register was super helpful. Prices are extremely reasonable. I can't wait to read my books

I like the piles of books and crammed aisles, however the guy that runs this book store has a serious attitude problem. I won't go here again because of it. He's seriously rude and snide. Absolutely no reason for it.

I saw the great reviews for this place and thought it would be a good place for my books. I called to ask if they bought books and the man told us yes, but the buyer would be there at 2:30. My sisters and I then had to haul about 100lbs worth of books all the way to So. Pasadena, only to find out that the buyer was not there and won't be there until 5pm. Needless to say, we left and probably will never come back.

a pretty cute (and packed) book shop, for the most part. i totally think that this place is in violation of a fire code or something, because the walkways between bookshelves are kind of narrow, but that's beside the point. haha.

they have a pretty organized system of book sections, and they also have records in the back. there are children's books, cooking books, travel, language, history, etc. i was looking through some books, and it just seemed like a lot of the books were outdated. otherwise, it was pretty cute. you gotta have patience to look for what you want though!

This place should have at least a hundred 5 stars reviews by now, what's wrong with you people? ;) some folks need to stop using yelp if they are not contributing to it.. this place is amazing, awesome and very cool, all at the same time !! I mean you guys know how rare it is to find a decent book store these days? plus conveniently located in South Pas. I love it :)

Great atmosphere and the prices are the best!!! They also have vinyl records which just makes my day!!