'A Different Light' bookstore to close

The gay-oriented West Hollywood store announced this week that it's closing soon after nearly thirty years, citing in part the loss of foot traffic from all the construction work to redesign Santa Monica Boulevard, including wider sidewalks in a bid to increase pedestrian traffic. "[The city] came in and ripped all the sidewalks out and foot traffic and parking disappeared from West Hollywood for a year or 18 months and it never came back," owner Bill Barker told Instinct Magazine. He set no date for the actual closure. A San Francisco store will remain open.