The story at this gallery/bookstore is one of sadness

If every picture tells a story, then the “look back” photos on the Facebook page of the Every Picture Tells a Story gallery and bookstore speak volumes.

There’s Laura Numeroff, author of “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and dozens of other children’s books, grinning next to Eric Carle, the eminent creator of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” There’s Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man and the X-Men, and Ray Harryhausen, stop-motion animation wizard.

Every Picture Tells a Story closed earlier this month, after 23 years of selling original art from children’s books, fantasy literature and Marvel Comics to the likes of Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg, Judd Apatow, Jon Favreau and plenty of just plain folks.

Lois Sarkisian and Lee Cohen, the married co-owners, say having a bricks-and-mortar location that is open seven days a week, eight or nine hours a day is no longer practical or economical. They plan to use social media, traveling shows and house calls to reach their customers.

To children who delighted in the melding of art and literature — and to the adults who could feel like children again within the gallery’s cozy confines — the shuttering of the corner shop on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica marks a sad ending indeed.

No more whimsical author events with caterpillar cakes concocted of green-frosted cupcakes. No more browsing the classic illustrations of Maurice Sendak (“Where the Wild Things Are”), Hilary Knight (“Eloise”) and Garth Williams (“Charlotte’s Web” and “Stuart Little”).

The interior walls of the shop are now empty, devoid of the brightly hued posters, cartoons and paintings that once hung in abundance. Instead, farewells and thank-yous to patrons, artists and authors — handwritten on the gallery’s windows in pastel yellows, pinks, blues and greens — provide splashes of color. A poster on the now-locked door reads: “Thank you for being art collectors, educated readers, enthusiastic patrons and our friends for over two decades.”

“It’s very, very tragic,” said Cheryl Maddux, a McDonald’s franchise owner whose home in Santa Maria is filled with artwork bought from Sarkisian and Cohen. “They have an extreme love for what they do and have touched so many people’s lives.”

One life touched was that of David Shannon, author and illustrator of the “No, David!” series of eponymous books about a potato-headed, pointy-toothed dickens.

“My collaboration with Lee and Lois made a huge impact on my career as an illustrator,” said Shannon, who initially illustrated other authors’ books. Years ago, Sarkisian introduced him to an editor at Scholastic’s Blue Sky Press, who encouraged him to write his own stories.

Many publishers, authors and illustrators credit Every Picture Tells a Story with helping to create a specialty market and sparking more interest in illustrated books.

Before the 1980s, children’s books took a back seat in the publishing world. That changed with the baby boom and the increase in dual-income families. Sarkisian, an interior designer, had prominent clients from the entertainment industry who wanted art for their children’s rooms.

“We began to call some of the artists and found that a lot of the art was either given away, thrown away or hidden away,” Cohen said. “It was not treated with the respect that we thought it deserved.”

Sarkisian and a partner, Abbie Phillips, began representing artists including Chris Van Allsburg, author of “The Polar Express,” and Don and Audrey Wood, who teamed on “The Napping House” and “King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub.”

They had their first show in 1988 at a gallery in Studio City and opened Every Picture Tells a Story the next year on La Brea Avenue. The business quickly outgrew the space, and the gallery moved to Beverly Boulevard near Fairfax Avenue. Phillips left the business soon after. About 10 years ago, Sarkisian and Cohen, a writer and filmmaker, relocated to the Westside to be closer to their entertainment industry clients.

“There are differences in the ways people shop and buy these days,” Cohen said. “ … Now we’ve got to try to be a little bit smarter in how we talk to people and where we talk to people and where we do shows and how we do exhibits.”

?martha.groves@latimes.com