Pellucidar

Founded in 1969 by Matt Wyse—who began by selling remaindered titles out of the back of a station wagon—Pellucidar Fine Books opened at the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Haste Street in Berkeley, taking its name from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ hollow-earth fantasy world. The shop specialized in used, out-of-print, and remaindered books, art titles, and vinyl records. Pellucidar served as the foundational cornerstone for Wyse's regional East Bay bookselling network, which grew to include Pendragon Books on College Avenue in Oakland (opened 1970) and Pegasus Books on Solano Avenue. It also served as a training ground for prominent Northern California independent booksellers, including Diesel, A Bookstore co-founder John Evans and longtime Northern California Independent Booksellers Association president Amy Thomas (who was hired at Pellucidar in 1980 and took over ownership of the company in 1995). In 1983, the original downtown Pellucidar location was consolidated and relocated to Solano Avenue, where it permanently adopted the Pegasus Books name.