Hello Smarty, It's Your Weekly Wag!

Thomas Stockmann Weighs in on Bookstore Apocalypse. Plus: Halloween Streams, Armando Iannucci, a Final Toast to Maggie Smith, and More...

Dear Wags,

In time for the High Holidays, we have a tale about two things that never go together: Brentwood and Hamas. You may know this story if you live west of the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles. Even if you don’t, it may sum up what bedevils our civilization.

The other day, a woman wandered into Diesel, the independent bookstore in the Brentwood Country Mart. The Mart is a beloved shopping center that’s been around since 1948 (here’s where hacks dump a list of celebrity patrons). It’s somehow both fancy and a laidback community hub. Or at least it was.