Fundraising to save Burbank's horror bookstore Dark Delicacies

Burbank's amazing quarter-century institution Dark Delicacies is a horror book-, memoribilia- and clothing-store that is a community hub for genre creators, hosting a wonderful stream of events, signings, and even an annual chance to get your photo took with Krampus at a Christmas open-house.

It's also a potential casualty of the skyrocketing rents in Magnolia Park, where greedy landlords are throwing out the neighborhood's unique indie tenants as fast as they can in the hopes of luring in multinational corporations to open stores that can already be found in every mall and that will destroy any reason for people to come to the neighborhood in the first place.

I live a five-minute walk from Dark Delicacies and they've hosted events and fulfilled signed-book orders for me in the past. They're great, community-minded people, and due to a rent-hike, they're moving to a space around the corner (it could be worse -- until they found the new space, they were going to shut down altogether).

But having run a shoestring, passion business for so many years, they lack the funds to pay for the move, so they're hoping their supporters in the neighborhood will kick in for a GoFundMe where they're hoping to raise $20,000. They're at $3,400 right now and I just kicked in $100.

One of our greatest joys has been giving back, by sponsoring and hosting numerous charity events for both our two and four-legged friends. We are very proud of the “people of horror,” whose support and generosity have helped so many.

We knew we would never become rich running the store, and that was okay. We just wanted to be able to do something we loved and be a part of the community we cherished.

Unfortunately, like so many other places, the landscape in Burbank is changing. Rents have skyrocketed, and many of the unique stores that put the area on the map have been forced to move or close their doors altogether. This little neck of the woods is so beloved, a Save Magnolia Park campaign and video were created.

With our lease up in May, Sue and I thought it was the end of our brick and mortar store. We resigned ourselves to the fact that we would be forced to close, just shy of our 25th anniversary. We were heartbroken.

Then, a store front around the corner became available. A possible new location, coupled with all the people who wrote and stopped by asking us to stay in business, made Sue and I realize we weren’t ready to go quietly into the night.

Dark Delicacies Relocation Fundraiser [Del Howison/GoFundMe]