Skylight Books joins Occupy actions for May Day

Skylight Books, the Los Feliz bookstore, is recognizing May Day as a rallying place -- and also by going on strike (but in a nice, everyone-is-in-on-it way).

Long known as International Workers Day, May 1 has become a day for rallies nationwide in support of the Occupy movement, which has been lying low since protests last year. One is taking place in downtown Los Angeles.

The bookstore will be closed from 2 to 5 p.m. in support of the Occupy movement.

On its website, the bookstore writes:

Gather! Strike! Sing!...

Skylight is your labor hall for the day. Need a place to rest? Bring a lunch and a friend and stop by to check out our displays on labor history. We’ll also have a full roster of events that are happening throughout the city, so come find out how you can participate.

The store reopens at 5 p.m. At 7:30 p.m., singer Ross Altman -- he's a "labor troubador" -- will teach those assembled  songs from decades of labor movements, going back to the strikes of 1912.

Generally, bookstores maintain a neutral political stance, but Skylight is loudly declaring a strong, leftist ideology. But it is still a bookseller: If you want Newt Gingrich's latest book, they'll be sure to get it for you.

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-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: A full house at Skylight Books for Slake in 2010; Mark Z. Danielewski reads. Credit: Carolyn Kellogg / Los Angeles Times