A small park built in 2004 to accompany an expansion of this thriving independent bookstore and its new Spiral Press Café. The stonewalls and gardens follow the length of the public parking and visually guide customers to the bookstore’s front entrance. The eclectic stonework utilizes diverse materials, including blasted ledge, concrete and even a hidden mirror, and functions to divide garden spaces and paths. Danby marble blocks provide seating for conversation, picnics, or a quiet coffee, and a group of four marble wedges creates an abstract play area for children. Intimate plantings, emphasizing texture, diversity, and fragrance, accompany lichen-weathered boulders and are set amongst a series of triangular perennial beds, offering relief from the surrounding asphalt parking lot. Together, the stonework and gardens are designed to interrupt busy schedules and entice visitors and locals alike to linger.
