Rare Books LA at Union Station: Interview with the Vampire

Rare Books LA takes over Los Angeles Union Station on Saturday, October 3 and Sunday, October 4, and this year the whole fair has fangs. The 2026 edition marks the 50th anniversary of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, the 1976 novel that turned a brooding New Orleans vampire into a bestseller and, decades later, a TV series. If you want things to do in Los Angeles that don't involve a screen, an afternoon among first editions inside a 1939 train station is a strong pick.

What's at the fair

More than 50 exhibitors are coming in from London, New York and plenty of places in between, with support from AbeBooks. They set up in the station's historic Ticket Concourse, the grand old hall where travelers used to line up for train tickets. Expect antiquarian books, maps, fine prints and book arts, plus the loose paper ephemera that collectors happily spend an hour flipping through.

You don't need a collector's budget to enjoy it. Fair director Jodi Tolan says the stock covers a wide range of price points and genres, so a paperback-sized find is as likely as a museum piece. Plenty of people come just to look, and that's fine too.

The vampire exhibit and talks

A special display of vampire books and memorabilia runs all weekend. The oldest item is The Vampyre, John William Polidori's story from 1819, which beat Dracula to print by almost 80 years. Next to it sits a first edition of Interview with the Vampire. The piece people will probably photograph most is "Memnoch Anne," a Chinese-style wedding gown made entirely in black that Rice wore to special appearances.

Christopher Rice, the author's son and a novelist in his own right, headlines an afternoon talk with Eric Shaw Quinn, a close friend of Anne Rice. They'll talk about how she shaped their own fiction and the writers who came after her. The program also has a talk on the women behind scandalous memoirs and the Book Lovers Confessional, an open mic where readers make the case for overlooked works in print. The full speaker schedule is on the Rare Books LA website.

Tickets and the blood drive

Eventbrite lists tickets from $23.18 to $108.55, with no refunds. One option is a fundraiser ticket bundled with a special 50th anniversary edition of the novel from Alfred A. Knopf, and the proceeds go to the Library Foundation of Los Angeles.

There's another way in. On Friday, October 2, the fair is running a blood drive with the American Red Cross and the Mozaic at Union Station Apartments, and donors get free weekend admission. Registration details are on the fair's website.

Hours and getting there

When: Saturday, October 3, 10 AM to 6 PM, and Sunday, October 4, 10 AM to 4 PM Where: Los Angeles Union Station, 800 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles Tickets: $23.18 - $108.55 on Eventbrite

Sunday opens an hour earlier than it has in past years. This is about as transit-friendly as an event in this city gets, and the fair is partnering with Metro to push that. Metrolink and Amtrak trains pull into the same station, and the Metro A, B and D Lines all stop there too. The station has paid parking if you drive, but a train ride suits the theme better.

It's one of the stranger and more rewarding LA events this weekend, and a good excuse to actually look at the station's interior instead of rushing through it to a platform. Browse more events in Downtown LA or the full arts and culture calendar for other Things Happening In Los Angeles this fall.