San Diego’s downtown temporarily lost a landmark retail store when a fire tore through parts of 70-year-old Wahrenbrock’s Book House, at Broadway and Seventh Avenue on Friday, Feb. 17, around 2:19 p.m.
The fire reportedly started in a back room of the store, in which books, newspapers and other items were stacked to the ceiling. The fire was said to have been caused by a customer tossing a cigarette into a box of books. It was an incredible setback for the city’s foremost rare, used bookstore.
The San Diego Fire Department is currently investigating the fire and could only say that as of press time “It was found to be an arson fire, it’s still under investigation and there’s been no arrests at this time,” said San Diego Fire Department spokesman Kevin Johnson.
The interior of Wahrenbrock’s is a virtual maze of books and nooks, with the third floor holding rare editions. Books often overflowed into the aisles and stairways in stacks.
As for the extent of damage, at press time, manager Chuck Valverde couldn’t be sure. Valverde was working with insurance adjusters, assessing the value.
“It’s gonna be a while [before we know the extent of the damage]. We had both internal damage to the structure, and then we had inventory damage. The structure is no problem. We had a contractor walk through and we’re waiting for his report tomorrow, but what is taking time is the inventory. Smoke damage is a difficult thing to assess,” Valverde said.
Meanwhile, the loss was felt throughout the community. Fellow book dealers were saddened by the fire.
Dennis Wills, owner of D.G. Wills in La Jolla, compared the fire to that of the ancient library in Alexandria, Egypt.
“It could have been a lot worse “” people could have died of smoke inhalation, and while there were no fatalities, an act like this doesn’t just affect that business, it affects hundreds of thousands of the curious throughout the community who go into a sanctuary “” a bookstore has a sacred aspect to it because of all the knowledge in there,” he said.
He iterated the importance of the bookstore to San Diego.
“Wahrenbrock’s is the hub around which all the rest of us are the spokes “” it’s the center of book knowledge in this city. That’s a sacred place. So I was crestfallen, and very depressed, walking in there.”
He saw the damage for himself the following day, when he “took the boys a case of beer,” Wills said.
Meanwhile, Bill Burgett, another bookseller, said “Chuck Valverde has always been one of the focal points of the book community and someone that all of us respect. We really do miss the store being open for these few moments, but it’ll be open again, no doubt about it.
“As soon as I found out about it, which was that day, I drove right down there and gave support, what little of it I could do, and hung around, and you know, there wasn’t really much we could do at that moment,” Burgett said.