Ubik Café Librería takes its name from the Philip K. Dick novel — the one in which reality is a commercial product applied from an aerosol can. The bookshop is in Ruzafa, the creative district south of Valencia's old city that accumulated galleries, independent cafés, and design studios in the years after the 2008 financial crisis and the neighbourhood's corresponding drop in rents. The ground floor is café and performance space; the walls are shelved with a selection that runs to Spanish and Valencian literature, translated fiction, essays, and a serious art section. The programming includes evening readings, conversations, and music events — the kind of calendar that makes the bookshop an address rather than simply a shop. The café makes the stay natural; the stock rewards more time than most visits allow. In a neighbourhood that has become progressively more commercialised, Ubik maintains the character of the Ruzafa that drew people there in the first place.
Ruzafa, Valencia, Spain