Thursday, February 7, 2013

Piccolo's Story




THE STORY OF PICCOLO'S BOOKSTORE

A young man as unique as his name, born in Compton, raised in Long Beach with a passion to read, diagnosed with dyslexia discovered his mission: promote literacy and provide affordable education to all who have desire


Piccolo began to sell used books for $1. A bookstore created for those seeking knowledge and spiritual healing. To fulfill the desires of the customers who came from far and wide, Piccolo opened four $1 book stores. But more needed to be done. Piccolo created The Gift Of Knowledge. Piccolo personally gives away 1,000 to 60,000 books every week. 

Free books are given directly to

  • Children
  • Teachers
  • Schools
  • Orphanages
  • Churches
  • Medical Centers and
  • Libraries

Piccolo’s helps organizations raise money with book drives. In the last two years Piccolo donated more than 1.5 million books. Books have been donated throughout:

  • Los Angeles
  • Inglewood
  • Long Beach
  • Detroit
  • Mexico
  • Haiti
  • Jamaica
  • Africa
  • The Philippines 
  • and more


Piccolo is recognized by the community for his tireless dedication to educating the world. 

But Piccolo’s is more than books, with a burning passion to give more, Piccolo teamed with the Alumni of Inner City Cultural Center, the first multicultural arts institute in the country. 

Also Piccolo and IC2 presents free and low cost community theater offering acting classes, seminars, open mic spoken word, modeling, networking, storytelling and more with the purpose to spread the message of knowledge, love and truth to the youth. We encourage and motivate the youth to open their minds, expand their horizons, share the joys and pains of life and make plans for a better tomorrow. Teamed with you, every book you purchase allows Piccolo to donate a book to a child.

Piccolo's Books Needs a New Home.  But we need your help go to http://bit.ly/VHAvPF see how you can help!


Every child deserves an education. Help us help the children. Help us help the world.

A Special Thanks to
All of our staff
Volunteers and supporters
James Burks
Breeze Vincinz
And the Cultural Affairs Department of The City of Los Angeles
Build Plus
Black Chamber of Commerce
Hollywood Chapter
Publicity4You.com
Retro Ruby
Gift of Giving
Black Butterfly Productions
El Mercado
Flo Jo Elementary School
Grap Street Elementary School
Watta Historical Train Station
USC
The Kierrah Foundation
Poets Jazz House

Music by Siedah Garret
“Such A One”
All right reserved

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Piccolo's Books Makes Education Affordable Worldwide

Piccolo's Gift of Knowledge Program provides free Books to any teacher, school or library in need Worldwide; all they need to do is ask and Every Book in the store is only $1; all 24,000 sqare feet.

Every Week Piccolo gives away from 1,000 to 60,000 books...for FREE!  Piccolo Lewis is committed to promoting literacy and getting books to the public. In the last two years, he has donated more than 450,000 books to schools in Los Angeles, Long Beach & Compton, Detroit, Africa, Haiti, Jamaica, the Philippians and Mexico.

Piccolo's Books Needs a New Home.  We can not afford to move; We do not want to move! We have no options but to move...our lease is up.

It is our intention to move into a bigger and better space where we can continually provide a Community Theatre space and Books for $1.  We need moving cost & fees to find a big beautiful building like the one we have now; except Better and Volunteers during moving day would be a GREAT asset as well.

The new store will provid FREE entertainment and activities for the community. Free Acting Classes; $10 Sewing Classes; Free Open Mic; Free Jazz Sunday's; Story Telling for the Children; Small Business Workshops sponsored by the Hollywood Chapter of the Chamber of Commerce; a Poetry Contest for the Youth; Writing Workshops; Jewelry Making Classes;  Healthcare Seminars and Space for Community Threatre.

We are trying to save our children with an Education and Art. Here is a small list of schools and institutes we donated FREE books to in the past several months...
  • African Student Union; CSULB; Long Beach, CA
  • C.O.R.E.
  • Chuco's Justice Center
  • Congress of Racial Equality of California
  • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School
  • First 5 LA
  • Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary School
  • Frank del Olmo Elementary School; Los Angeles, CA
  • Grape Street Elementary School; Watts, CA
  • HealthCare Partners Medical Group; Long Beach, CA
  • Holly J. Mitchell; Assembly Member; 47th District; Christmas in July
  • Holy Trinity Catholic Church
  • Igra School Library; Granada Hills, CA
  • John W. Mack Elementary School; Los Angeles, CA
  • Los Angeles Police Department Southeast Area; National Night Out
  • Miramonte Elementary School; Los Angeles, CA
  • New Bethel Baptist Church
  • Para Los Ninos School
  • Rosecrans Elementary School
  • SHIELDS for Families; Los Angeles, CA
  • St. Mary Health Center
  • The Gift of Giving; Kenya, Africa
  • Toddler Tech
  • Totally Free Ministries; Westchester, CA
  • Umma Community Clinic; Los Angeles, CA
  • USC's Civic Engagement Book Drive
  • Washington Elementary School; Compton, CA
  • West Adams Elementary School; Los Angeles, CA
  • Worksource
  • YWCA
Our Services have been honored and recognized by Karen Bass, Congress woman; LAPD Southeast Division; Ethiopian Historical Society; Bill Rosendahl, 11th District Council Member and Mayor Antonio R. Villarigosa.

Last month we donated 25,000 books, toys and food to the city of Watts; and 12,000 Free books to East L.A. in our Annual Holiday Give-Away. We have an on-going contest for Every K-6 grade teacher in Los Angeles County... Come pick up 25 free books and enter to win 100 books... Last month every teacher who entered won 100 Free books for their class room!

Last week a teacher at Angeles Mesa Elementary School said they didn't have access to their library because they had no Librarian... Piccolo gave her 5000 books free of charge.

Please help us save our Bookstore and our Children...

In Kenya with the Help of “The Gift of Giving” Piccolo’s Books will open it’s 1st International Bookstore; teaching the local community how to run and operate their own business.  Adjacent to the bookstore The Gift of Giving is building a local Library for the community; and Piccolo is donating 100,000 books to assure Education is Free & Available to all.  http://www.giftofgivingproject.com/

LETTERS FROM OUR SUPPORTERS

Wallenstein said:  Please know that Piccolo's bookstore provides a valuable, incredible resource to our community--not only in providing one of the rare second-hand bookstores in Los Angeles (let alone BOOKSTORES in general), but also because of the generosity of the owners of this bookstore.

It may astonish you to know that they are nearly single-handedly providing many of our low income schools and their hard working teachers with books for the classroom.

In fact, just the other day, my husband and I were in the bookstore, awaiting a movie, and we overheard two teachers pulling books, lamenting the budget woes that caused them to buy books for their classroom with their own money. About three minutes later, it became apparent to us that we weren't the only ones to overhear the conversation, as a man quietly made his way to the counter, pointed out the teachers, and gave forty dollars to the cashier, saying "this is to go to those two teachers to help them buy books for their students". We then added more money, as we, too, lament the budget cuts that have so badly affected our state.

In the end, a well-educated population who loves to read become city planners, mayors, teachers, scientists, you name it.

Denton Said:  The book store provides one of the greatest treasures on the west side- books, thousands of them, for extremely reasonable prices. My girlfriend, myself, and even my mother shop there all the time, obtaining wonderful new knowledge and amazing new stories that are simply not available elsewhere.

Removing this store would be an unwise decision, as it would eliminate accessible knowledge and a location that promotes reading to both children, young adults, and those more of my age - which is needed in a time of computers, iPads, and iPhones.

There is simply not a price you can put on a bookstore that promotes reading, re-selling books, and even gives new authors an opportunity to sell their work.

I can't tell you how many times my girlfriend and I stop at piccolos either before or after dinner or a movie - it is a unique and wonderful store that needs to stay. It provides a unique mix that provides something of interest for both the youthful and the professional; for the young, the not so young, and those who wish to be young at heart.

One can never replace the knowledge, stories, and entertainment that a simple book can provide.

Please tell some friends. Your support helps children WORLDWIDE.


Thank you,

Tuesday Conner
Piccolo's Books