QUICK TAKES - Feb. 28, 2009

After almost 30 years as the preeminent gay, lesbian and transgendered bookstore in Los Angeles, a Different Light in West Hollywood will be closing its doors this spring.

As far back as 2000, manager Brad Craft warned that the bookstore, which he called “the intellectual focus of our community,” was struggling. This week, owner Bill Barker told Instinct magazine that business had been further impaired by construction on Santa Monica Boulevard and a fire that closed the bar next door. “And now the economy is very, very serious,” he said.

Barker said he had no intentions of shuttering the Different Light outlet in San Francisco.

-- Carolyn Kellogg