Craig Maxwell is a third-generation La Mesan. In 1935, his paternal grandfather bought the La Mesa Planing Mill — a lumber mill and cabinet shop where the old La Mesa police station stands today.
The Mill, established in 1896, remained in Craig's family for more than 60 years. Intimately familiar with his hometown, Craig counts as his passions  reading, writing — anything pertaining to books! — politics and time spent in the East County's mountains and deserts: hiking, running, cycling and taking in the beauty of nature. A graduate of the University of San Diego, Craig has worked a wide variety of jobs, including swinging a hammer on construction sites. He now owns and operates Maxwell's House of Books, a used bookstore in the heart of La Mesa Village, specializing in academic and scholarly titles. Also in 1935, his maternal grandfather, Vernon Wahrenbrock, founded Wahrenbrock's Book House – the flagship of San Diego's second-hand bookstores until its recent closure. Craig and his wife, Lynn, a graduate of Cal Lutheran, and former freelance editor, who now also works at Maxwell's house of Books, have been married more than 20 years.