A Guide To The Best of Southern California : SHOPTALK : Books to Travel By

THESE DAYS, Adrian Kalvinskas isn’t traveling much, but he’s learning a lot about the world. As owner of Distant Lands--A Traveler’s Bookstore, Kalvinskas gets a lot of off-the-wall questions about a lot of off-the-wall places. “It’s a real education,” he says.

The small, comfortable shop invites intense browsing. In addition to maps, 4,500 travel titles and a wide selection of travel videos, Kalvinskas stocks an extensive armchair-travel section. “It’s less dry to take an armchair adventure than to read a guidebook,” he believes. “Travel literature gives a better idea of people and place.”

Kalvinskas grew up in the Pasadena area and, after following his own wanderlust, decided to become involved in the evolution of Old Pasadena. “It’s a lot of fun,” he says of running such a bookstore. “Ninety-nine percent of the time people come in happy because they’re excited about traveling.”

Distant Lands--A Traveler’s Bookstore, 62 S. Raymond Ave., Old Pasadena; (818) 449-3220.