Michael Jackson could barely go anywhere without attracting attention, but Los Angeles booksellers remembered seeing a completely different version of him. Beginning in the early 1980s, Michael regularly visited bookstores around the city, including the art and architecture specialist Hennessey + Ingalls. He would arrive with bodyguards, browse quietly and make little effort to remind anyone that one of the world’s biggest stars had just walked in.
Doug Dutton, whose family operated Dutton’s Books, remembered Michael arriving in huge sunglasses and barely speaking while he looked through the shelves. In later years Michael sometimes wore a surgical mask. Dutton said there was none of the attitude of “I’m Michael Jackson.” He simply wanted to look at books like any other customer.
Michael Jackson Quietly Shops for Books in 2008
The footage was filmed on New Year’s Eve 2008 as Michael left a Santa Monica bookstore after shopping in a mask and hat. The Los Angeles Times reported that his 2008 bookstore visits included Hennessey + Ingalls, where staff described him as a longtime and valued customer. Other Los Angeles booksellers later discovered that Michael had quietly been visiting many of their stores too.
And Michael was not just collecting expensive art books for display. Dave Dutton remembered that he particularly loved the poetry section, while his son Dirk said Ralph Waldo Emerson was a favorite. Michael’s longtime lawyer Bob Sanger later described conversations with him about writers, psychology, history and thinkers including Freud and Jung.
Michael Jackson’s Bodyguards Talk About His Love of Reading
His bodyguards saw the same habit up close. In an interview about Michael’s reading, they recalled that a trip to a bookstore rarely meant buying only one or two books. Sanger estimated that Michael’s personal collection eventually contained more than 10,000 volumes, with bookmarks and notes showing that many were actively being read rather than simply stored away.
Michael Jackson changed music through Off the Wall, Thriller, Bad, the Moonwalk and performances watched around the world. Yet when the crowds disappeared, one of his favorite escapes was surprisingly simple: walking through shelves of art, history, literature and poetry in search of something new to read. Watch the first video to see Michael on one of those quiet bookstore trips, then hear his bodyguards explain just how serious his love of books really was.