2025 NEWS:

1/24/2025 - 2/2/25: NOIR CITY, the world's most popular film noir festival, will celebrate its 22nd anniversary January 24 through February 2, 2025, at Oakland's historic Grand Lake Theatre – right down the street from Walden Pond Books. During the festival, be sure to stop by the Walden Pond Books merchandize tables at the theatre where we'll be displaying and selling our choicest noir books – new, used, and rare. We hope to see you there!

2024 NEWS:

12/18/2024: Walden Pond Books will be offering a choice selection of books from our noir collection - new, used, and rare - at the Noir City screening of Who Killed Santa Claus? (L'Assassinat du père Noël), a 1941 French mystery, at the Grand Lake Theatre on Wednesday, December 20. Host Eddie Muller will be signing copies of his books at our display tables on the theatre's mezzanine. Tickets are now on sale. We hope to see you there!

11/1/2024: We're adding an extra hour a day to our schedule starting Friday, November 1. We will be open 10:00 am until 8:00 pm, Sunday through Thursday, and 10:00 am until 9:00 pm on Friday and Saturday.

8/1/2024: We'll be taking our annual break in August from buying and trading books and will resume again on Thursday, September 5. Be sure to check our buying schedule and guidelines for more details.

5/26/2024: Local author Carvell Wallace will be signing copies of his new book, ANOTHER WORD FOR LOVE at Walden Pond Books on Sunday, May 26 @ 12:30 pm. An award-winning author and podcaster, Carvell Wallace has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Esquire, GQ, and was the parenting advice columnist for Slate Magazine. An acclaimed journalist who has built his career on writing unforgettable profiles, Carvell Wallace now turns the focus on himself, examining his own life and excavating layers of his own history - growing up Black and queer in America, becoming a partner and parent, and raising two teenagers in what feels like a collapsing world.

1/19/2024 - 1/28/24: NOIR CITY, the world's most popular film noir festival, will celebrate its 21st anniversary January 19 through January 28, 2024, at Oakland's historic Grand Lake Theatre – right down the street from Walden Pond Books. During the festival, be sure to stop by the Walden Pond Books merchandize tables at the theatre where we'll be displaying and selling our choicest noir books – new, used, and rare. We hope to see you there!

2023 NEWS:

12/20/2023: Walden Pond Books will be offering a choice selection of books from our noir collection - new, used, and rare - at the Noir City screening of the 1949 film noir classic COVER UP at the Grand Lake Theatre on Wednesday, December 20. Starting at 6:30 pm, host Eddie Muller will be signing copies of his books at our display tables on the theatre's mezzanine. We hope to see you there!

11/30/2023: We're taking our holiday season break in December from buying and trading books and will resume again in January. Be sure to check our buying schedule and guidelines for more details.

9/23/2023 & 9/24/23: Our 50th Anniversary Sale: EVERYTHING in the store (except records) is 20% off all weekend!

9/1/2023: After our August break, we will resume buying and trading books on Friday, September 1, 2023. Check our buying schedule and guidelines for more details.

7/7/2023: Walden Pond Books has won the Oakland Magazine "Best of Oakland" poll for "Best Bookstore".

6/28/2023: Walden Pond Books has won the East Bay Express "Best of the East Bay" poll for "Best Bookstore: Used".

5/20/23: AUTHOR EVENT! Andrew Alden will be signing copies of his new book DEEP OAKLAND on Saturday, May 20 at the Walden Pond Books booth at the Farmers Market in Splash Pad Park. The author will speak about his book and his adventures as a Bay Area geologist. The event (with special musical guest, David Gans) starts at 10:00 am. We hope to see you there!

5/2/23: AUTHOR EVENT! DEEP OAKLAND by Andrew Alden goes on sale Tuesday, May 2. Andrew Alden will be signing books at the store from 11:00 a.m. until noon. We hope to see you there!

1/27/2023 - 1/29/23: Walden Pond Books will be displaying and selling a choice selection of noir books - new, used, and rare - at the most popular film noir festival in the world: the Noir City Film Festival at the Grand Lake Theatre, Friday through Sunday, January 27 - 29.

1/20/2023 - 1/22/23: Walden Pond Books will be displaying and selling a choice selection of noir books - new, used, and rare - at the most popular film noir festival in the world: the Noir City Film Festival at the Grand Lake Theatre, Friday through Sunday, January 20 - 22.

1/5/2023: After our holiday break, we will resume buying and trading books on Thursday, January 5, 2023. Check our buying schedule and guidelines for more details.

1/1/2023: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2022 NEWS:

12/13/2022: Walden Pond Books will be offering a choice selection of noir books - new, used, and rare - at the Noir City Xmas screening of I, the Jury at the Grand Lake Theatre on Tuesday, December 13. We hope to see you there!

11/25/2022 through 11/27/2022: These are the last three days of the year that Walden Pond Books will be buying and trading books and records. Check our buying schedule and guidelines for more details.

11/24/2022: Walden Pond Books will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 24.

11/14/2022: Our website has undergone an overhaul. The upgraded design is less cluttered and more mobile-phone friendly.

10/12/2022: Walden Pond Books will be closed for electrical repairs on Wednesday, October 12.

10/12/2022: Shipping is FREE for all purchases on Bookshop today (Wednesday)!

10/11/2022: Shipping is FREE for all purchases on Bookshop today (Tuesday)!

9/23/2022: Walden Pond Books will be handling sales of books and CDs at the Eckhart Tolle event at the Paramount Theatre. We hope to see you there!

9/1/2022: After our annual August break, we have resumed buying and trading books in September. Check our buying schedule and guidelines for more details.

8/1/2022: Walden Pond Books has won Oakland Magazine's "Best of Oakland" poll for "Best Oakland Bookstore".

7/15/2022: Walden Pond Books has won the East Bay Express "Best of the East Bay" polls for "Best Bookstore: Used" and "Best Bookstore: New".

7/8/2022: Our new Board Games web page is now LIVE!

1/2/2022: After our holiday break, we will resume buying and trading books on Thursday, January 6, 2022. Check our buying schedule and guidelines for more details.

1/1/2022: Please note that we still require our staff and customers to wear face masks while in the store.

2021 NEWS:

12/20/2021: Yes, we're open on Christmas Eve! We're staying open until 9:00 pm on Friday, December 24. We are closed on Christmas Day.

11/30/2021: We're taking our holiday season break in December from buying and trading books and will resume again in January. Be sure to check our buying schedule and guidelines for more details.

9/1/2021: After taking a break in August, we've resumed buying and trading books again. Be sure to check our buying schedule and guidelines for more details.

8/1/2021: We'll be taking a break in August from buying and trading books and will resume again on September 1. Be sure to check our buying schedule and guidelines for more details.

7/23/2021: We continue to require our customers to wear face masks and practice social distancing within the store. We will provide free face masks for those without them.

7/15/2021: The REVEAL of our recently restored vintage neon sign will be at sunset (8:30 pm) on Friday, July 23, 2021.
To celebrate, we're staying open late that night for our NEON FLASH SALE: all books sold after 8:00 pm on Friday, July 23 will be 20% OFF!

7/2/2021: Restoration of our vintage neon sign is almost complete. Stay tuned for an announcement of our "reveal" date!

7/1/2021: Beginning Friday, July 2, we'll be open an additional hour on Friday and Saturday nights. We'll now be open Sunday through Thursday from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, and Friday and Saturday from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm.

6/15/2021: Though new state regulations have relaxed COVID-19 restrictions, we still require that our customers continue wearing face masks while in the store.

2/24/2021: Readers of the East Bay Express have voted Walden Pond Books "Best Bookstore" for both new and used categories in the East Bay Express' annual "Best of the East Bay" awards.

2/1/2021: We will once again buy and trade books and records for cash and store credit beginning Thursday, February 4. General buying hours will be from noon to 5:00 pm, Thursday through Sunday. Be sure to check the Buying Schedule and Guidelines page for more details.

1/26/2021: Our customer occupancy has been slightly increased to fifteen customers at a time. As usual, face masks and social distancing are required.

2020 NEWS:

12/5/2020: Our customer occupancy has been reduced slightly to twelve customers at a time to comply with Alameda County's public health restrictions. As usual, face masks and social distancing are required.

11/22/2020: We are going to be open two hours longer. Beginning Tuesday, December 1, our store hours will be 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, seven days a week. As the holiday season progresses, we will consider staying open longer. Please check back for updates. Our customer occupancy will remain limited to fifteen customers at a time. Face masks and social distancing are required.

11/18/2020: Our doors remain open to the public. Our current customer occupancy is limited to fifteen customers at a time which is below the 25% capacity rate required of retail stores by Alameda County Public Health regulations. Face masks and social distancing are required.

9/30/2020: We are happy to announce that we're opening our doors to the public for the first time in over six months. Starting Thursday, October 1, we'll be open every day from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Customer occupancy is limited and face masks and social distancing are required. [Read our press release for more details.]

9/3/2020: For the safety of our staff and customers, we continue to limit our operations in response to the current public health emergency.
Accordingly, our doors remain closed to the public and we urge our customers to shop online or to phone in book orders (510-832-4438) for a safe, sanitized pickup at our front door.

5/18/2020: The Shelter in Place order for Alameda County has been amended to allow retail businesses to offer storefront pickup. We will continue to comply with all Public Health Department regulations.

4/29/2020: The Shelter in Place order for Alameda County has been extended through May 31, 2020.

4/21/2020: We reached our GoFundMe goal today! A heartfelt thank-you to all our supporters! (A message of gratitude from the owners and staff of Walden Pond Books) 4/11/20: As the COVID-19 pandemic impacts small businesses week after week, we're beginning to realize that Walden Pond Books may not survive this public health emergency. We've tried eveything we can think of to keep the bookstore running behind closed doors, but online sales and phone orders cover only a small fraction of our overhead. Our doors might have to close permanently. Our only option now is to turn to the community we've served for almost 50 years and ask for your help.


UPDATE 4/7/20: At long last you are now able to buy our books online directly from our website. Books featured here will eventually all link to our Bookshop page that enables vendors to immediately ship virtually any book in print directly to you. All online sales benefit Walden Pond Books just as if you were shopping in our brick-and-mortar store.

UPDATE 4/6/20: We've added Sunday to our phone-in schedule and are now taking phone orders SEVEN DAYS A WEEK! Except for sales over the phone for local curbside pickup, Walden Pond Books remains closed for the duration of the current public health emergency. Call 510-832-4438 between the hours of 10:00 am and 5:00 pm, seven days a week to arrange a safe and sanitized pickup at the store. Please practice social distancing, wash your hands constantly, and only leave your home if you absolutely have to. Stay SAFE!