Off-Ramp ® is a lively weekly look at Southern California through the eyes and ears of radio veteran John Rabe. News, arts, home, life... covering everything that makes life here exciting, enjoyable, and interesting.

UPDATE 6/26/2015: And now they're sold out. Good work, folks!

UPDATE 6/25/2015: The warehouse manager just told me that they probably only have only fifty sets of bookends left. So if you want a set, order them now. -- John

This is a simple, cool idea. You can, literally* support* Ray Bradbury books with bookends made from the timbers of his demolished Cheviot Hills home, and support his legacy at the same time.

Listen to the Off-Ramp interview with Bradbury's biographer about Ray's red file

The ReUse People, a company that carefully tears down buildings to salvage and reuse the material, has turned 2x6's from the home into these rustic bookends.

After Ray's death in 2012 the house was sold to local architect, Thom Mayne, who ... planned to build a home on the property. A lot of buyers (most, I’m sorry to say) would simply have torn down the old Bradbury house, but ... his office asked TRP Regional Manager Arthur Renaud to submit a deconstruction bid. The contract was awarded to TRP, and the house was carefully taken apart by a TRP-certified deconstruction contractor in January, 2015. In addition to the vintage doors, windows, cabinetry, hardwood flooring, plumbing and electrical fixtures, TRP salvaged 10.7 tons of lumber for reuse. -- The ReUse People website

The bookends go for $88.50 per set, and are limited to 451 sets. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University.

*Pun intended.