BookWorks

Since 1980, BookWorks has anchored Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove, a few blocks from Lover's Point Beach. Roughly a dozen years ago, three women — Margot and her daughters — took over the shop, folding a coffee counter into the stacks and turning it into the combination bookstore and cafe it is today. The shelves hold more than 6,000 titles, weighted toward new releases, bestsellers, and children's literature, with a dedicated section on local history for browsers curious about the Monterey Peninsula. A case near the register stocks puzzles, puppets, games, and stationery alongside the books. The coffee bar pours Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Co.'s organic beans and steeps Rishi's organic loose-leaf teas, giving regulars a reason to linger past the new-arrivals table. BookWorks runs its own author series, "To the Lighthouse," bringing writers in for readings and discussion, and gives wall and counter space to work by local artists. The recognition has been consistent rather than occasional: readers have named it Best Bookstore in Pacific Grove in 2015 through 2018 and again every year from 2020 through 2025, plus a 2025 nod for best bookstore for new books. For a town of this size, that's a long, unbroken run of local loyalty — the kind that comes from a shop people actually return to, not just visit once.