The Ripped Bodice has to be one of Los Angeles’s most hidden gems. It is a unique bookstore whose inventory is almost exclusively romance books, and it has an even better story. The Culver City store was founded almost seven years ago by sisters Bea and Leah Koch. What started as a Kickstarter campaign that there could be a successful specialty bookstore became a reality based on a “dream and a love for romance books.”
“It started as an idea that has blossomed into this brand, but it is more than a brand, it is more than a bookstore. It has this following of people who are unapologetically happy about reading romance,” says Ripped Bodice manager Taylor Capizola, who sat down with Her Campus at UCLA and told us all about the amazing store.
Capizola is 28 years old and has worked at The Ripped Bodice since September 2021, “which is crazy because I feel like it’s been more time but also less” she tells HC. Capizola’s journey to working at The Ripped Bodice is really a novel-worthy story itself and can only be described as fate.
She stumbled upon the store via a friend when living in Washington D.C. At the time, she was working in global health doing communications and events. Her friend had visited L.A. for a work conference, and they mentioned how there was a romance book store. Capizola remembers thinking, “‘Amazing, this is exactly what we like!’ We would get together on the weekends and talk about the trashy good romances that we had read. And we used to talk about how it was so not D.C. of us to consume this type of stuff, and were like ‘we can’t talk about this with anybody else, but we can talk about it with each other.’” Capizola later visited L.A. for 24 hours but had forgotten about the store. She then moved to L.A .during COVID, “on a whim kind of, I just knew it was calling to me, I wasn’t sure how.” When her friend came to visit, they visited the store, and Capizola learned that it was only seven minutes from her home!
“While I was living in D.C., all I wanted to do, all I would talk about is ‘I want to work in a bookstore.’ Since I was a kid, it’s all I wanted to do,” Capizola told HC. That dream finally came true when she quit her global health job after experiencing burn out, and “2 months later […], I was super bored, and I was like ‘I want to do something, maybe I can finally work in a bookstore. Now, I have enough work experience, I probably could get hired somewhere.’ I had no social media, I wasn’t on Instagram. On a whim, I decided to look at the store’s website. It was the only bookstore I looked at, and they had posted a job posting 48 hours before.” Capizola applied and was hired, and just a few months later was promoted to manager, and she couldn’t imagine working anywhere else.
Capizola’s extreme love for The Ripped Bodice is easily justified. The store is women and queer-owned, and it creates a work environment very few can say they have experienced. When talking about her work environment, the manager said “it could bring [happy] tears to my eyes.” While everyone understands The Ripped Bodice is a workplace, it does not stop them from forming deep connections: “I care deeply about every single one of the staff here, what their lives look like, their hopes, their dreams, and their fears and everything in between. If they need to take a mental health day, take the time you need. How can we best help you? How can we make sure that the time that you spend here is the best that it can be for you?”
There is no dread when she goes into her job, and she credits that to the business being women and queer-owned. She explains to HC “These are two marginalized identities, people who have suffered in workplaces in the past, and because of these experiences of being a woman in the workplace, a queer person in the workplace….I’m queer, the majority of staff is queer, all the staff is female. It’s this really empowering and incredible environment where it feels like you are being heard and listened to. People are synthesizing what you are saying, and they care, with the whole presumption of course there is a job to do and a bookstore to run and whatever else, but everything is framed in an empowering way. It’s okay to make mistakes, and it’s okay if you need to call out sick, and it’s okay if it’s because you get your period, and you’re in excruciating pain.” It’s surreal to Capizola that “the most stressful day that I have here is the least stressful day that I had when I was working a desk, 9-5 job”
Of course, there are just as many reasons to love The Ripped Bodice as a customer. The staff has dedicated themselves to making The Ripped Bodice not just a store, but an experience. The store carries out four book clubs: a general romance book club that will cover the whole spectrum of the romance genre including graphic novels, YA, queer, fantasy, old Books, new books, etc, a fantasy romance book club that just finished Legendborn by Tracy Deonn and is now reading A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, “Focus on the Craft” which is a book club led by a creative writing professor and looks at books in terms of formula and how it works as a romance novel (such as viewing 3rd act break up, the meet-cute, etc), and their newest book club, the historical romance book club.
If book clubs are not your thing, don’t worry because there are plenty of other events to choose from. On the third Thursday of every month, there is “Romantic Comedy,” a stand up night! The store also consistently hosts author events from BookTok household names to authors who are just getting started. This past weekend, they hosted Tessa Bailey and in August, they will be welcoming Ali Hazelwood! They also host events for authors who are releasing their debut novels. Capizola explained they want to provide the opportunity to as many authors as possible, so their event calendar is always packed!
Everything about The Ripped Bodice screams community, and they have small and large touches you won’t find anywhere else. Aesthetic wise, the store is a book lovers dream with large displays of covers on the shelves, a large LGBTQ+ flag tapestry that hangs behind the merch wall and is also made of book covers, a stage with floral designs and pink chairs, a book mobile and even a wall that has has 3D design of open books reaching all the way to the ceiling. The merch is absolutely adorable from tote bags with feminine designs to candles that are literally named after novel tropes like “fake dating,” which smells like “sugary drinks and whipped cream,” and “meet cute” which smells like “coffee, muffins, and witty banter.” We can also not forget the iconic changing window displays that the owner Leah does herself. Right now, the theme is aquatic, and Capizola says when Leah puts her mind to something, nothing will stop her. Capizola remembers a time when she mentioned wanting to incorporate a giant pumpkin in the display, and on decoration day rolled in a giant pumpkin she painted, cut and designed herself.
There’s even a hair salon nestled in the back! The stylists are Erin and Amelia, and have become part of The Ripped Bodice culture and community. All the staff get their hair cut by them, sometimes on their break, and it’s not out of the ordinary to see a patron emerge from the salon with foils in their hair and shop for a book.
If you still need more convincing, the icing on the cake is how amazing and accepting the staff is. We asked Capizola what the most special thing about The Ripped Bodice is and she responded with, “it is undeniably a safe space […]. And I mean that in a way that it is a space that will welcome anybody, and I mean anybody, even people who will scoff at and say ‘oh there’s a whole store dedicated to romance, are you even successful? ‘ […] It is a place where you will be heard without judgment, and we will try our very very best to find you something that speaks to you, that gives you what you need, and provides you with the type of story that makes you feel comfortable and safe and heard. You won’t be judged if you are looking for a monster romance. You won’t be judged if you are looking for a mafia romance. You won’t be judged if you are looking for this or that or anything in between. There is nothing you could say that would throw any of us working here off our game, that would prevent us from bringing you this unique personalized experience that will bring you something you will end up loving.”
Capizola strongly believes that there can we a romance novel for everyone, and there is a reason it is the most successful genre: “Every piece of media that everyone consumes on a daily basis has romance in it, and I am willing to bet money on that fact. Even if it’s a procedural drama it has romance in it, even if it’s Succession it has romance in it, even if it’s x or y or z or anywhere in between, whether it’s books you read or anything else, odds are there’s going to be a love story in there. It is the one thing that is unapologetically happy, it provides people with escapism in a way that feels comfortable, it provides things for people that give them excitement.”
Capizola and the rest of The Ripped Bodice team are ready to give you the ultimate romance book shopping experience. If you need some starting help, Capizola recommends Tessa Bailey’s newest book, Secretly Yours for Galentine’s Day and the month of February. There’s a fun secret admirer element, and no one can write a spicy scene like Miss Bailey. “Not only a fun book to read, but a fun book to give your girlfriends to read too,” Capizola raves. If you aren’t interested in Secretly Yours, check out the other pieces in Bailey’s catalog because all her books are fun and recommendation worthy. Author wise, both Capizola and myself are obsessed with Ali Hazelwood because of her ability to write about adult topics and keep it fun and apologetic. Finally, Capizola’s favorite book of all time is Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven. There is a trigger warning as the male lead is sexually assaulted in the second chapter, but Capizola says it’s a great fantasy book that includes enemies to lovers (her fav trope) as it follows two characters who are damaged by an oppressive regime and need each other to heal.
From the empowering work environment to the beautiful aesthetic to the amazing staff, The Ripped Bodice is one of the reasons why Los Angeles is such a special city. It’s truly a gem, and if you aren’t a romance fan walking in, you will walk out as one (the staff will make sure of that). Pay them a visit with your girls this Galentine’s season, or any season at all. You definitely don’t need a reason!