News item from a year ago this month: “First, Amazon killed traditional bookstores. Then, the retail giant decided to open its own brick-and-mortar stores. Now, the Amazon Books initiative is dead. In a strange, meta saga, Amazon Books, the online retailer’s physical store experiment exploded like an unpunctured potato in the microwave. On March 2, the company confirmed that it’s closing all 68 of its physical bookstores and pop-ups in a major crash into the concrete from its dive into bookstore locations. Also falling under the ax is Amazon’s “4-star” experiment — a store that sells toys, household goods, and other items with high customer ratings.”
Great story, TC. Brings back memories of how we get off on the career we follow and one of the half-dozen fears I have, this one being that libraries you and I knew will go the way of hobby shops, book stores, and other niche means to get caught up in something magical. My career in research (behaviors and attitudes of gifted college students and the remainder in disability and rehabilitation research) and policy started in the open-stacks at the University of Illinois when I was working on my doctoral dissertation. As an aural learner, I didn't learn to read until my senior year in college, bought my first book when I was admitted to graduate school, and learned to read for comprehension as I was writing my proposal for dissertation research. To my amazement, there was so much more available and worth reading than listening to others who I considered smart or well educated. In my college days, one looked up a reference in a card catalogue, submitted your the to a librarian, and if it was in, checked it out for anywhere between a couple of hours and maybe 3-5 days. To my amazement, graduate students were allowed to go into the library stacks, pick out, and most important for me, read anything and everything one might find in the nearness of the Dewey Decimal System reference number of the book or journal I went to get. To my professors amazement, I came to be learned and able because I stood or sat on the floors of the libraries, thumbing through and gathering stuff somewhat related with greater depth than were I to only rely upon books and research that fit with current thought on my research. I read, thought about, and began the downward spiral that involves buying books by the yard, rather than with a keen sense of what must be read. I remain positively proud to have been confused by what I once knew when faced with related ideas and links to theory and fiction and can't stop learning now from reading and writing in this 8th decade. So, onto my fear. Universities digitalized their collections and while inter-library loan is an amazing opportunity, now, I still find myself standing (or sitting on the floor) at my local library or in the stacks at the university where I retired, thumbing and reading stuff I didn't know. Soon, I fear, the cost of having chairs and tables and having to check out and in books will go the way of the local bookstore and the Borders of my adult world. Another aural learner will miss the opportunity to thumb through and absorb seemingly unrelated writing and get somewhere they would never have expected in their head or in their career.
Wow. what a great post. I didn't have the reading deficiency, but I definitely educated myself during the 12 years of Publick Misedumacation in the stacks every other Saturday at the Denver Public Library, wandering around and reading whatever interested me in science fiction, history, aviation, etc.
Wow, a good friend that I thought was just uninterested in reading/school, turned out to have a serious learning disability with a horrific birth history. He was very bright, reading just not his thing. Could take apart and reassemble anything with a motor. Since school was not hard for me, I had no clue til I worked at high school and met others with different strengths and weaknesses
as somebody who considered himself a sort of social outcast, I spent every moment in the local public libraries I possibly could. when I'd read everything I wanted to read in the kids' section, I sought (and of course received) "permission" to take out books from the "adult" section, where I discovered the Reference section and historical novels in the fiction aisles.
the magic in a library, of course, isn't so much in finding the title you've searched out in the card catalog, but in the discoveries you make among the other books close-by.
now that libraries tend to have fewer and fewer physical books, I fear that this is an experience people just won't have. I feel sorry for them. and I have no idea what the final result is going to be, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna SUCK.
my best friend is an accomplished linguist and when I complain to him about the abominations I see and hear perpetrated on some of my favorite English words, he nods sagely and says "languages always change." my answer, which has become standard, is "yeah, and a lot of the time, they DEVOLVE." he doesn't disagree, and one piece of proof is that whenever someone on television uses the "I should have went" construction (increasingly common), we cringe in perfect simultaneity.
I have some real respect for John McWhorter (who is nothing like as "Conservative" as he's portrayed as being), but I saw him recently talk about how Shakespeare should be performed in everyday English if most people are going to find the plays amusing; his other option is that people PREPARE for seeing a play by Shakespeare. obviously, the latter point of view is correct. but what's the big fucking deal? so...you PREPARE. I've taken to watching a lot of Shakespeare on tv with closed captions, and I think it's probably the best way. but why is this considered so undesirable, this need to prepare? I don't get it. or, if I do, I prefer not to dwell on it.
so yeah, I get all of it.
and my social outcast status was the result of a stammer which itself is just the flagship symptom of my own neurodiversity. I can't skate either. that I learned to ride a bicycle still amazes me.
I agree 109% but I know two people who do the “I have went” thing (they were never on television, can’t imagine) and they are not ignoramuses. One skipped eighth grade years ago because she was so smart, the other was just so blatantly learning disabled. One loved school and learning, the other not so much. Still I cringe but dare not do more. As to Shakespeare being performed in everyday English, spare me. I prefer not to be so “amused.” Just requires more than a nanosecond second of attention…
I’m going to comment on two other losses... first, record stores. You could go and listen to a variety of records. It is how I discovered both The Moody Blues and Blood, Sweat and Tears. An album was an experience beyond the auditory; cover/sleeve art was an experience in and of itself.
Second: brick and mortar music stores. With all the instruments, not just guitars and drums. I remember “Pureacures” local music store, and listening to an accordion, a lute, and a trumpet being played in 3 different “sound rooms”. I was just there to buy a marching lyre and walked out with the lyre, 2 music books, and Bob Dylan style Harmonica holder.
Yes - record stores, where I found both Joan Baez and Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs and numerous others. Never was in a music store but it's obvious they are also Old Curiosity Shops.
I miss record stores too. I remember going into a booth and listening to my favorite music, the Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Baez, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield land the list goes on. Then purchasing my favorites. Of course I remember the death of the 8track, then the cassette and now the CD. My 2018 Honda CRV car was totaled in my recent accident and I had a CD player. I finally got it settled and I just purchased a new Honda CRV Hybrid. No CD PLAYER. I’m such a dinosaur. But totally streaming music. I will adapt.
I've actually been in one of those music stores where you can go into one of those little rooms and play records. it was in Louisiana in 1956.
if I started talking about the time I spent in record stores, beginning with complete opera recordings at the age of 12 or so, I'd be here all night...
...and of course, the best thing in REALLY good record stores was that they were staffed with some VERY knowledgeable people, who were full of great advice.
We actually have a record store here called Cosmic Vinyl. Love that name ! They have Elvis, Pink Floyd, Blood, Sweat and Tears +++My yoga teacher’s boyfriend is an owner, and music nut, and told me turntables are in ! Who knew…probably everyone but me 😂
We also have an awesome bookstore, Hello Again Books! Love that name,too. Opened in 2020 amidst Covid, woman-owned, LGBTQ+-owned small business and motto is community, diversity, creativity. They. Are.Thriving. And so immersed in the community with events, book clubs, family-friendly stuff +++. And of course, the Banned Book Table. 😉
💙 that both exist and thrive in my coastal( red) Fl community…They’re not giving up !
I think I could start a record store if I emptied my attic. Luckily we have a used book AND album store in town eager to trade. It doesn't have that original Borders ambience, but great memories because it was our favorite community haunt - the grocery.
That is so cool Kathy! I want to help anyway I can to help you thrive and keep De Satan at bay. If you have website I can contribute to please let me know
Thank you, Karen. It’s wonderful to feel your support as it’s so unsettling here in Fl. My (adopted) Rep Anna Eskamani is pretty much the only legislator strongly calling out DeSantis’s bull@#$&. She is fierce and you know these male bullies hate a strong woman! Also, she takes NO corporate donations. https://annaforflorida.com/
I hope all of us continue to call out DeSantis. I’ve gone way out of my comfort zone but it’s been ok.We plan to stay in Florida and do whatever we can to fight Florida fascism as my (thank goodness like-minded) family is here.
Thanks again for starting my day with a supportive note.😎
Ally, just looking in the windows of music stores was a treat. I heard music while looking at the instruments -- different varieties of guitars got me moving, too.
This really fun video came across my feed about a month ago…of Neil Young in a record shop in LA in probably the early 70’s. It’s a trip back in time watching it. I found it magical.
...and I really loved that famous one on the water in (I think) Hermosa? or was it closer to Redondo? or farther north? it had several rooms, some art (I think for sale) and boasted that it had been a Kerouac hangout? I was there in '96 or '97 and I know it closed a few years later. it was right near a famously excellent coffee place...
I have maybe spent three days in the beach cities in all the years i have lived here. it might have been the Lighthouse, a club Kerouac did frequent. Back in the 60s in SF, I met Neal Cassady, about a month before he got killed by the train in Mexico when he passed out on the tracks.
I owned a tiny bookstore in the 90’s before Amazon and Barnes and Noble came to town, both contributed to my downfall just short of 10 years, oh well. But I have to say that it does my heart good to know that Amazon’s brick and mortar crashed!
retiring and opening a little bookstore was my dream for many, many years. when I was in Aspen in 1965, I was having a terrible time and then stumbled into a store called "Quadrant Books and Gallery" owned by a Boston Jew named Ivan Abrams. being him seemed like paradise, and for years after, people would come back from Aspen vacations telling me that Ivan sent regards. and THAT'S where my bookstore fantasy started.
god knows I have enough books and CDs here to open a store and then some. the choice, however, is...uhh...idiosyncratic.
And I also have enough books, CD’s, etc. to open another one, just because I don’t want to again, that didn’t prevent me from buying more lol, but I do try to use the library, at least occasionally!
Wonderful. I used to go to the automobile magazine shop in Burbank, that also had model cars. Ran into Jay Leno there many times on Saturday mornings. One time he drove up in his steam powered car. A genuine thrill, because of course they had to leave it running at the curb.
The Aviation and Auto Bookstore on Magnolia. Yes! (and they divided it in half so the twain didn't often meet)
Interestingly, with the Burbank House of Hobbies just up Alameda Avenue from the old NBC Studios, Jay used to come up there in the afternoons when he was on break from The Tonight Show. He's also a modeler (does beautiful motorcycle models, he brought a couple in). Nobody treated him like Jay Leno, they acted like he was what he was, another modeler. Which was why he came in. One time a bunch of us got invited to go to The Garage up at the Burbank Airport. Spent a whole Saturday there. Geek Heaven!
there was this small comedy club in Hermosa where Jay was required contractually to perform (once a week, I believe) even after he'd been doing the Tonight Show for years. somebody remind me what it was called...
Thank you for this magical post - You nailed it! Book stores and hobby stores are for browsing and dreaming and playing - not checking off an item on your shopping list. I love to browse at Barnes and Noble, Micheal's, and JoAnn. Oh - and Dick Blick and Utrecht for art supplies I didn't know I needed. I used to like going to the mall (many years ago when they were much more diversified) for this very reason.
I'm ABSOLUTELY sure that's why they went. I'm putting teenagers aside, because they just want to hang out and meet up with friends, which is a completely respectable reason if you're a teenager.
I love this post TC. There is a great shop just across the Columbia from Hood River named Antiques and Oddities. I can spend hours in there. And then of course Powells Books in Portland where I would bring a sleeping bag and toothbrush if they would let me stay there as long as I would like to.
Wow, you just described my love affair with old hardware stores. My dad had a tool shed (in the 50’s) that had “stuff,” and he worked for a while at an old hardware store, which we visited on occasion. I discovered that I could use things for other than their intended use. What a “wow” discovery for a young curious female (my bros were years younger). I occasionally roam Lowe’s or Home Depot. They can’t hold a candle. I still do this at my advanced age, and my daughter often said “what made you think of that.” Ask that 10-year-old…. the power of curiosity starts early
My dad had a plumbing/heating business & our garage was his shop. Lots & lots of really interesting stuff & watching him cut pipe? He went from manual to a pipe cutting "machine" at some point - lots easier. When I went back to work (after divorce) I worked in a hardware store for quite a while - woman run store!! Learned how to cut & flare copper tubing & more about plumbing fixtures etc. Lots of great "stuff"! Its a shame I didnt pay more attention when I watched my dad.
I also love old hardware stores, mostly because my father (who inherited his machinist father's handiness) used them all the time. there were always those older guys who'd look at something closely, nod, disappear into the back of the store and return with the perfect item.
when I first moved here in 1988, it was much more of an old mom-and-pop-store neighborhood, and we had a big old hardware store, where the owner's family also worked (including their wonderful Wheaten Terrier, who became a good friend of our dogs. there was also a large-ish Russian deli, run by an immigrant Russian couple who never seemed to have any business but our, but which stocked some superb items like Pick Salami from Hungary. slowly (then not-so-slowly) they all vanished, making way for money laundries to support the cocaine trade. last twenty years or so, the mom-and-pop stores have returned, although they're selling different things.
in 1988, there were these superb old '50s restaurants. now, they're expensive steak/sports bar-type places. we have kept our one famous steakhouse, which is apparently known in very high quarters (El Chivito D'Oro), and which was a required stop for showbiz types driving out to their places on Long Island.
but no more hardware stores of any kind. and good luck finding anything like one of those old-time hardware experts in places like Home Depot (which is a right-wing cash machine anyway).
I seem to remember there being a small hardware store on Main St in the village I grew up in, there was a small "dept." store - kind of a tiny version of a 5 & dime, my granddad's newspaper office, an actual butcher shop (great cuts of meat) drugstore, grocery store (owned by a local family) - probably forgetting some.
The hardware store where I worked was at a little stripmall at that time - of course thats no longer there, now its the local post office.
You are so right about curiosity shops. There is a place near here that sells broken lots, overstocks, closeouts, etc. I told the owner he should call it the Museum of Contemporary Stuff because there are so many oddball and useful things to discover, and the inventory is always changing, everything from hardware, electronics, tools, rare batteries, strange books and toys, and on and on. The owner enjoys his own buying even more than the selling because he too is amazed at the finds. I call him whenever I suddenly need something hard to find like a third hand for watch repair, a spare phone charger, engine paint, or some stove burner liners. I've met several teachers there buying unusual things for school projects.
Now thats the kind of store that appeals to me. Most of the small little "antiquey" or crafty places are kind of like what you would find at Etsys etc. - not true thrift stores. But then, when you really think about it, too many people just throw things away - whether they could be fixed or used for parts - then buy new. I completely disagree with the whole maga crap & what those people look back fondly at (segregation, treatment of women etc etc) the way that anything that doesnt please people or satisfy their wants or just may not function the way they want - just gets thrown away. Take a look at our landfills presently or the warehouses of supposed recyclables.
I guess I sort of meandered away from the subject a bit!!
Yeah, the dirty little secret of recycling is plastic cannot be recycled - too many different qualities, none of which "mix and match" so they get stored because politicians don't want to admit they're not saving the planet with their recycling bins.
Always reminds me of WALL-e (the movie). I guess it was supposed to be funny - but the bottom line was far from it. All that garbage etc & no more room for people! And now we talk about moving on to another planet because we are presently destroying this one. Have to say any other species that remains will happily wave good bye & good riddance.
And sometimes you run into magic in what people write. Well done TC, thanks. Magic is the reason I go to Freddie's Market for things I can't get at the chain supermarkets and for the butcher who not only knows where his meat comes from, but how it was raised.
Ah a real butcher! The late Mario who escaped the iron curtain with the clothes on his back and a some money in his pocket, eventually found work with a great butcher in Hudson County, NJ. His soccer skills provided entre to a wounderful community and the butcher whose shop he eventually bought! The endearing trait of Mario and all ‘real’ butchers was that the weight of meat declared by the customer was ‘only a suggestion’!
I learned a lot about meat and customer relations from the also late Buster, an Italian meatcutter and sausage maker whose shop on The Hill set the standard for quality. Two of his knives are in regular use in my kitchen and one has passed on to my goddaughter ensuring its use for another generation.
I had a little boy like that. He also loved the old Radio Shack back when it was actually parts in bins for building things instead of things already built, on shelves. Thrift shops can be wonderful if they aren't too heavily curated. Repair/restore and reuse!
Now I want you to write this as a script for a movie. Perhaps the ten year old rides to the store all knees and elbows and finds an old man there who also sees the "buy me" signs no one else can see... who invites him to a model builder's club and (astonishingly) his mother finally agrees to take him, oldsters and youngster connect... by the end of the movie the little boy, standing in the shop with his back to the viewer, next to an older man, turns and you discover the little boy has become the man, accompanied by his son, and the son is enthusiastically inviting another youngster to their next meeting. I realize only deft treatment of the characters would keep it from being trite but you've already hit the note!
Do I sound like my inner child is begging for more stories? Could be...
Ah yes, I spend time in JoAnns years & years & years ago when I was doing all that sewing & crocheting! We do have a Barnes & Nobles not too far away from me= super place. But I do my book delving at the library anymore. I already have too many books - all those John Sandfords, Dick Francis (older ones are still the best) Sue Grafton, also Dean Koontz, altho I have kind of moved on from his, plus several others. So if I run out of library books - have others to fall back on. Kind of like old friends.
Not a model person, but I do understand the whole magic thing.
I remember going into Woolworth’s and Sears and wandering around in the model kit aisles as a kid, just mentally drooling at the boxes and their seductive colorful artwork, trying to find THE model kit to buy and build with what little money I had on me. I miss having a real hobby shop to go through, now that it’s a desert out here on Oahu for us model kit bashers and kids that refused “to grow up” from stuff we used to do “when I was a kid!” (The reason that I always hear from the general public whenever I’m at one of our IPMS club displays…) Internet shopping and mail order are what feeds my addiction today and Burbank House of Hobbies is one of my go to places on eBay. But nothing can replace walking into a real hobby shop and scanning the kits, paints, books, and accessories to find the latest fix for my bad habit…damn, I envy you guys who can actually go into a real hobby shop…
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”– Albert Einstein
TC, what a great topic and great piece on the true magic present in the oasis you describe.
The folks who sustain these old fashioned businesses have never lost the intense feeling they had as children, for things, colors and shapes. They unabashedly revel in that feeling and hold the door open to childhhod and wonder for us. All we can do is be grateful such places exist, be grateful to their owners and support and recommend them as we can. (The feeling and imagery you invoked called to mind The Magic Shop, by H. G. Wells)
When a beloved diner, hardware store or funky old establishment of any kind closes, its like the unexpected death of an old friend. I feel like rending my garments and always wish that I or a like-minded group had the money to keep it running, just as it was. They’re irreplaceable. The character and feeling of each such labor of love developed over one or more lifetimes, and can’t be duplicated.
I don’t buy anything from Amazon or Walmart except as a last resort, but if I can find, on their sites, the company who makes the product or a small business who sells it, I’ll seek them out and buy the item from them.
I wish there were a link available to a short documentary I saw at a film festival in 2020 called, Lock Shop, by writer and filmmaker Cara Feinberg. It’s about a neighborhood locksmith shop in South Boston, run by the daughter of its founder, and what it means to both her and her neighborhood. It’s poignant. She’s older, has no one to whom she can pass the business on and knows it’ll will end when she passes or retires. It may still appear at local film festivals.
I worked in a variety of manufacturing environments, and then on my own as a carpenter and handyman. With machine oil, brick dust, sawdust and more in my blood, a long-standing dream of mine was to invent, manufacture and market a product of my own, made here in the US of A.
After lots false starts over the years, I finally came up with a homespun gadget that’s been fairly well received. From the get go, I wanted it to be sold only in independent retail venues - the type of businesses I wished to support. I wanted it to be a somewhat rare and delightful offering for their customers, something that never could be found on Amazon, in Walmart or any other big corporate chain.
This pursuit will never make me rich, but it’s satisfying. I doubt that my kids or anyone else would want to take it over.
I encourage everyone to support their unique local businesses and curiosity shops. A world without them would be pretty barren.
It’s a tool for cleaning out squash and pumpkins. Didn’t want to name or promote it here, as it wouldn’t be appropriate. I wanted to underscore my feeling for places like the hobby shop you wrote of and cherish. It’s my small way of attempting to give independent store owners a leg up in their battle with internet and retail giants. I don’t want such places to disappear.
I’ve never responded to ads that pop up recommending this or that based on my browsing or purchasing. I guess because I bought this or that once, I’m going to keep buying it forever. It was delightful to hear that Amazon’s brick & mortar bookstore venture has failed miserably and you nailed the reasons why. I didn’t mention it, but the stores I wholesale to are all brick & mortar. Nothing beats wandering around in them and running across something unexpected! Anticipation is high as soon as one enters their doors.
Great read, TC.... as a paean to the endangered joy of being able to wander through the "stacks" but also to the even deeper joy of reconnecting with long-time and like-minded friends
A million stars TC and a million more for this 'show and tell'. It is more than magical, it's the real McCoy. Thank you.
Compliments from Fern always go to the top of the list. Because they're not easy to get. :-)
TC, you flew me to the stars today.
Me too
I just Laughed Out Loud., knowing what you mean. but I think my own scorecard with Fern is pretty good.
and believe me, it is a tremendous source of pride.
Add me to the Fern groupie list!😇
Great story, TC. Brings back memories of how we get off on the career we follow and one of the half-dozen fears I have, this one being that libraries you and I knew will go the way of hobby shops, book stores, and other niche means to get caught up in something magical. My career in research (behaviors and attitudes of gifted college students and the remainder in disability and rehabilitation research) and policy started in the open-stacks at the University of Illinois when I was working on my doctoral dissertation. As an aural learner, I didn't learn to read until my senior year in college, bought my first book when I was admitted to graduate school, and learned to read for comprehension as I was writing my proposal for dissertation research. To my amazement, there was so much more available and worth reading than listening to others who I considered smart or well educated. In my college days, one looked up a reference in a card catalogue, submitted your the to a librarian, and if it was in, checked it out for anywhere between a couple of hours and maybe 3-5 days. To my amazement, graduate students were allowed to go into the library stacks, pick out, and most important for me, read anything and everything one might find in the nearness of the Dewey Decimal System reference number of the book or journal I went to get. To my professors amazement, I came to be learned and able because I stood or sat on the floors of the libraries, thumbing through and gathering stuff somewhat related with greater depth than were I to only rely upon books and research that fit with current thought on my research. I read, thought about, and began the downward spiral that involves buying books by the yard, rather than with a keen sense of what must be read. I remain positively proud to have been confused by what I once knew when faced with related ideas and links to theory and fiction and can't stop learning now from reading and writing in this 8th decade. So, onto my fear. Universities digitalized their collections and while inter-library loan is an amazing opportunity, now, I still find myself standing (or sitting on the floor) at my local library or in the stacks at the university where I retired, thumbing and reading stuff I didn't know. Soon, I fear, the cost of having chairs and tables and having to check out and in books will go the way of the local bookstore and the Borders of my adult world. Another aural learner will miss the opportunity to thumb through and absorb seemingly unrelated writing and get somewhere they would never have expected in their head or in their career.
Wow. what a great post. I didn't have the reading deficiency, but I definitely educated myself during the 12 years of Publick Misedumacation in the stacks every other Saturday at the Denver Public Library, wandering around and reading whatever interested me in science fiction, history, aviation, etc.
Addendum. I didn't know I couldn't read, because I knew or could recognize the answers and seemed sorta smart. We were fortunate.
Wow, a good friend that I thought was just uninterested in reading/school, turned out to have a serious learning disability with a horrific birth history. He was very bright, reading just not his thing. Could take apart and reassemble anything with a motor. Since school was not hard for me, I had no clue til I worked at high school and met others with different strengths and weaknesses
we were.
as somebody who considered himself a sort of social outcast, I spent every moment in the local public libraries I possibly could. when I'd read everything I wanted to read in the kids' section, I sought (and of course received) "permission" to take out books from the "adult" section, where I discovered the Reference section and historical novels in the fiction aisles.
the magic in a library, of course, isn't so much in finding the title you've searched out in the card catalog, but in the discoveries you make among the other books close-by.
now that libraries tend to have fewer and fewer physical books, I fear that this is an experience people just won't have. I feel sorry for them. and I have no idea what the final result is going to be, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna SUCK.
my best friend is an accomplished linguist and when I complain to him about the abominations I see and hear perpetrated on some of my favorite English words, he nods sagely and says "languages always change." my answer, which has become standard, is "yeah, and a lot of the time, they DEVOLVE." he doesn't disagree, and one piece of proof is that whenever someone on television uses the "I should have went" construction (increasingly common), we cringe in perfect simultaneity.
I have some real respect for John McWhorter (who is nothing like as "Conservative" as he's portrayed as being), but I saw him recently talk about how Shakespeare should be performed in everyday English if most people are going to find the plays amusing; his other option is that people PREPARE for seeing a play by Shakespeare. obviously, the latter point of view is correct. but what's the big fucking deal? so...you PREPARE. I've taken to watching a lot of Shakespeare on tv with closed captions, and I think it's probably the best way. but why is this considered so undesirable, this need to prepare? I don't get it. or, if I do, I prefer not to dwell on it.
so yeah, I get all of it.
and my social outcast status was the result of a stammer which itself is just the flagship symptom of my own neurodiversity. I can't skate either. that I learned to ride a bicycle still amazes me.
I agree 109% but I know two people who do the “I have went” thing (they were never on television, can’t imagine) and they are not ignoramuses. One skipped eighth grade years ago because she was so smart, the other was just so blatantly learning disabled. One loved school and learning, the other not so much. Still I cringe but dare not do more. As to Shakespeare being performed in everyday English, spare me. I prefer not to be so “amused.” Just requires more than a nanosecond second of attention…
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Damn the lot and louts.
Thank you for sharing, Fred. And how amazing what you accomplished…
You are kind.
She is kind but truthful
she is indeed.
I’m going to comment on two other losses... first, record stores. You could go and listen to a variety of records. It is how I discovered both The Moody Blues and Blood, Sweat and Tears. An album was an experience beyond the auditory; cover/sleeve art was an experience in and of itself.
Second: brick and mortar music stores. With all the instruments, not just guitars and drums. I remember “Pureacures” local music store, and listening to an accordion, a lute, and a trumpet being played in 3 different “sound rooms”. I was just there to buy a marching lyre and walked out with the lyre, 2 music books, and Bob Dylan style Harmonica holder.
Yes - record stores, where I found both Joan Baez and Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs and numerous others. Never was in a music store but it's obvious they are also Old Curiosity Shops.
I miss record stores too. I remember going into a booth and listening to my favorite music, the Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Baez, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield land the list goes on. Then purchasing my favorites. Of course I remember the death of the 8track, then the cassette and now the CD. My 2018 Honda CRV car was totaled in my recent accident and I had a CD player. I finally got it settled and I just purchased a new Honda CRV Hybrid. No CD PLAYER. I’m such a dinosaur. But totally streaming music. I will adapt.
I've actually been in one of those music stores where you can go into one of those little rooms and play records. it was in Louisiana in 1956.
if I started talking about the time I spent in record stores, beginning with complete opera recordings at the age of 12 or so, I'd be here all night...
...and of course, the best thing in REALLY good record stores was that they were staffed with some VERY knowledgeable people, who were full of great advice.
Same is true in all Old Curiosity Shops.
We actually have a record store here called Cosmic Vinyl. Love that name ! They have Elvis, Pink Floyd, Blood, Sweat and Tears +++My yoga teacher’s boyfriend is an owner, and music nut, and told me turntables are in ! Who knew…probably everyone but me 😂
We also have an awesome bookstore, Hello Again Books! Love that name,too. Opened in 2020 amidst Covid, woman-owned, LGBTQ+-owned small business and motto is community, diversity, creativity. They. Are.Thriving. And so immersed in the community with events, book clubs, family-friendly stuff +++. And of course, the Banned Book Table. 😉
💙 that both exist and thrive in my coastal( red) Fl community…They’re not giving up !
Thanks for that very good news.
there REALLY are still some old Leftie Jews in Florida who can make a little noise, but that's all going to go away with "natural attrition."
SAD
I think I could start a record store if I emptied my attic. Luckily we have a used book AND album store in town eager to trade. It doesn't have that original Borders ambience, but great memories because it was our favorite community haunt - the grocery.
That is so cool Kathy! I want to help anyway I can to help you thrive and keep De Satan at bay. If you have website I can contribute to please let me know
Thank you, Karen. It’s wonderful to feel your support as it’s so unsettling here in Fl. My (adopted) Rep Anna Eskamani is pretty much the only legislator strongly calling out DeSantis’s bull@#$&. She is fierce and you know these male bullies hate a strong woman! Also, she takes NO corporate donations. https://annaforflorida.com/
I hope all of us continue to call out DeSantis. I’ve gone way out of my comfort zone but it’s been ok.We plan to stay in Florida and do whatever we can to fight Florida fascism as my (thank goodness like-minded) family is here.
Thanks again for starting my day with a supportive note.😎
Thank you for the link Kathy. She is very impressive. I will certainly donate to her, and continue to expose De Satan as the fascist he is.
Ally, just looking in the windows of music stores was a treat. I heard music while looking at the instruments -- different varieties of guitars got me moving, too.
This really fun video came across my feed about a month ago…of Neil Young in a record shop in LA in probably the early 70’s. It’s a trip back in time watching it. I found it magical.
https://youtu.be/N-3rFhXVrvI
Tower Records on Sunset.
what was the name of that really cool, old-fashioned little used bookstore right across Sunset from Tower?
Book soup.
thanks, Tom. I hate that feeling of the name of something being on the tip of my tongue but just out of reach...
I know that feeling well, which is why Mr. Google is such a close personal friend these days.
...and I really loved that famous one on the water in (I think) Hermosa? or was it closer to Redondo? or farther north? it had several rooms, some art (I think for sale) and boasted that it had been a Kerouac hangout? I was there in '96 or '97 and I know it closed a few years later. it was right near a famously excellent coffee place...
I have maybe spent three days in the beach cities in all the years i have lived here. it might have been the Lighthouse, a club Kerouac did frequent. Back in the 60s in SF, I met Neal Cassady, about a month before he got killed by the train in Mexico when he passed out on the tracks.
it's not the Lighthouse, but it's just around the corner, on the narrow street with actual traffic.
I didn't realize NC was hit by the train...I'd thought he just stopped breathing when he was stalled on the tracks.
Love it
I owned a tiny bookstore in the 90’s before Amazon and Barnes and Noble came to town, both contributed to my downfall just short of 10 years, oh well. But I have to say that it does my heart good to know that Amazon’s brick and mortar crashed!
retiring and opening a little bookstore was my dream for many, many years. when I was in Aspen in 1965, I was having a terrible time and then stumbled into a store called "Quadrant Books and Gallery" owned by a Boston Jew named Ivan Abrams. being him seemed like paradise, and for years after, people would come back from Aspen vacations telling me that Ivan sent regards. and THAT'S where my bookstore fantasy started.
god knows I have enough books and CDs here to open a store and then some. the choice, however, is...uhh...idiosyncratic.
And I also have enough books, CD’s, etc. to open another one, just because I don’t want to again, that didn’t prevent me from buying more lol, but I do try to use the library, at least occasionally!
I go to the library to buy more books at the library sales. :-)
me too!
Wonderful. I used to go to the automobile magazine shop in Burbank, that also had model cars. Ran into Jay Leno there many times on Saturday mornings. One time he drove up in his steam powered car. A genuine thrill, because of course they had to leave it running at the curb.
The Aviation and Auto Bookstore on Magnolia. Yes! (and they divided it in half so the twain didn't often meet)
Interestingly, with the Burbank House of Hobbies just up Alameda Avenue from the old NBC Studios, Jay used to come up there in the afternoons when he was on break from The Tonight Show. He's also a modeler (does beautiful motorcycle models, he brought a couple in). Nobody treated him like Jay Leno, they acted like he was what he was, another modeler. Which was why he came in. One time a bunch of us got invited to go to The Garage up at the Burbank Airport. Spent a whole Saturday there. Geek Heaven!
there was this small comedy club in Hermosa where Jay was required contractually to perform (once a week, I believe) even after he'd been doing the Tonight Show for years. somebody remind me what it was called...
Thank you for this magical post - You nailed it! Book stores and hobby stores are for browsing and dreaming and playing - not checking off an item on your shopping list. I love to browse at Barnes and Noble, Micheal's, and JoAnn. Oh - and Dick Blick and Utrecht for art supplies I didn't know I needed. I used to like going to the mall (many years ago when they were much more diversified) for this very reason.
I'm sure that's why most people went to the mall, whether they knew it or not.
I'm ABSOLUTELY sure that's why they went. I'm putting teenagers aside, because they just want to hang out and meet up with friends, which is a completely respectable reason if you're a teenager.
Discovered a while back that Texas Art Supply South of Houston was a magical place. Oh the stuff I didn’t know I needed.
I love this post TC. There is a great shop just across the Columbia from Hood River named Antiques and Oddities. I can spend hours in there. And then of course Powells Books in Portland where I would bring a sleeping bag and toothbrush if they would let me stay there as long as I would like to.
Powell's obviously has a spectacular selection, and I buy from them often.
Wow, you just described my love affair with old hardware stores. My dad had a tool shed (in the 50’s) that had “stuff,” and he worked for a while at an old hardware store, which we visited on occasion. I discovered that I could use things for other than their intended use. What a “wow” discovery for a young curious female (my bros were years younger). I occasionally roam Lowe’s or Home Depot. They can’t hold a candle. I still do this at my advanced age, and my daughter often said “what made you think of that.” Ask that 10-year-old…. the power of curiosity starts early
Yes it does.
My dad had a plumbing/heating business & our garage was his shop. Lots & lots of really interesting stuff & watching him cut pipe? He went from manual to a pipe cutting "machine" at some point - lots easier. When I went back to work (after divorce) I worked in a hardware store for quite a while - woman run store!! Learned how to cut & flare copper tubing & more about plumbing fixtures etc. Lots of great "stuff"! Its a shame I didnt pay more attention when I watched my dad.
Beg to differ! You may not have consciously paid attention, but his passion for plumbing lives in you!
If you are ever in Portland, Hippo Hardware is a great place to go
Thanks for the information, Karen - doubt I will make the trip but sounds like a really neat place.
I also love old hardware stores, mostly because my father (who inherited his machinist father's handiness) used them all the time. there were always those older guys who'd look at something closely, nod, disappear into the back of the store and return with the perfect item.
when I first moved here in 1988, it was much more of an old mom-and-pop-store neighborhood, and we had a big old hardware store, where the owner's family also worked (including their wonderful Wheaten Terrier, who became a good friend of our dogs. there was also a large-ish Russian deli, run by an immigrant Russian couple who never seemed to have any business but our, but which stocked some superb items like Pick Salami from Hungary. slowly (then not-so-slowly) they all vanished, making way for money laundries to support the cocaine trade. last twenty years or so, the mom-and-pop stores have returned, although they're selling different things.
in 1988, there were these superb old '50s restaurants. now, they're expensive steak/sports bar-type places. we have kept our one famous steakhouse, which is apparently known in very high quarters (El Chivito D'Oro), and which was a required stop for showbiz types driving out to their places on Long Island.
but no more hardware stores of any kind. and good luck finding anything like one of those old-time hardware experts in places like Home Depot (which is a right-wing cash machine anyway).
I seem to remember there being a small hardware store on Main St in the village I grew up in, there was a small "dept." store - kind of a tiny version of a 5 & dime, my granddad's newspaper office, an actual butcher shop (great cuts of meat) drugstore, grocery store (owned by a local family) - probably forgetting some.
The hardware store where I worked was at a little stripmall at that time - of course thats no longer there, now its the local post office.
It was a great place to grow up & very sheltered!
You are so right about curiosity shops. There is a place near here that sells broken lots, overstocks, closeouts, etc. I told the owner he should call it the Museum of Contemporary Stuff because there are so many oddball and useful things to discover, and the inventory is always changing, everything from hardware, electronics, tools, rare batteries, strange books and toys, and on and on. The owner enjoys his own buying even more than the selling because he too is amazed at the finds. I call him whenever I suddenly need something hard to find like a third hand for watch repair, a spare phone charger, engine paint, or some stove burner liners. I've met several teachers there buying unusual things for school projects.
Now thats the kind of store that appeals to me. Most of the small little "antiquey" or crafty places are kind of like what you would find at Etsys etc. - not true thrift stores. But then, when you really think about it, too many people just throw things away - whether they could be fixed or used for parts - then buy new. I completely disagree with the whole maga crap & what those people look back fondly at (segregation, treatment of women etc etc) the way that anything that doesnt please people or satisfy their wants or just may not function the way they want - just gets thrown away. Take a look at our landfills presently or the warehouses of supposed recyclables.
I guess I sort of meandered away from the subject a bit!!
Yeah, the dirty little secret of recycling is plastic cannot be recycled - too many different qualities, none of which "mix and match" so they get stored because politicians don't want to admit they're not saving the planet with their recycling bins.
Always reminds me of WALL-e (the movie). I guess it was supposed to be funny - but the bottom line was far from it. All that garbage etc & no more room for people! And now we talk about moving on to another planet because we are presently destroying this one. Have to say any other species that remains will happily wave good bye & good riddance.
The other species that survive our bullshit.
Yeah - the numbers of which are dropping every day - thanks to us.
One can always count on cockroaches…
So depressingly true
I'd swear you just described American Science and Surplus!
Oooooh - Judith - that sounds like fun!!
And sometimes you run into magic in what people write. Well done TC, thanks. Magic is the reason I go to Freddie's Market for things I can't get at the chain supermarkets and for the butcher who not only knows where his meat comes from, but how it was raised.
Ah a real butcher! The late Mario who escaped the iron curtain with the clothes on his back and a some money in his pocket, eventually found work with a great butcher in Hudson County, NJ. His soccer skills provided entre to a wounderful community and the butcher whose shop he eventually bought! The endearing trait of Mario and all ‘real’ butchers was that the weight of meat declared by the customer was ‘only a suggestion’!
I learned a lot about meat and customer relations from the also late Buster, an Italian meatcutter and sausage maker whose shop on The Hill set the standard for quality. Two of his knives are in regular use in my kitchen and one has passed on to my goddaughter ensuring its use for another generation.
I had a little boy like that. He also loved the old Radio Shack back when it was actually parts in bins for building things instead of things already built, on shelves. Thrift shops can be wonderful if they aren't too heavily curated. Repair/restore and reuse!
Now I want you to write this as a script for a movie. Perhaps the ten year old rides to the store all knees and elbows and finds an old man there who also sees the "buy me" signs no one else can see... who invites him to a model builder's club and (astonishingly) his mother finally agrees to take him, oldsters and youngster connect... by the end of the movie the little boy, standing in the shop with his back to the viewer, next to an older man, turns and you discover the little boy has become the man, accompanied by his son, and the son is enthusiastically inviting another youngster to their next meeting. I realize only deft treatment of the characters would keep it from being trite but you've already hit the note!
Do I sound like my inner child is begging for more stories? Could be...
I'm going to put up the script Ken and I wrote that came close.
Here is where I tried to write "Whoo! Win!" Wherever that pops up it will be just random, but cheerful! Comments online can be just mazes...
Ah yes, I spend time in JoAnns years & years & years ago when I was doing all that sewing & crocheting! We do have a Barnes & Nobles not too far away from me= super place. But I do my book delving at the library anymore. I already have too many books - all those John Sandfords, Dick Francis (older ones are still the best) Sue Grafton, also Dean Koontz, altho I have kind of moved on from his, plus several others. So if I run out of library books - have others to fall back on. Kind of like old friends.
Not a model person, but I do understand the whole magic thing.
SPENT time - sorry!
I remember going into Woolworth’s and Sears and wandering around in the model kit aisles as a kid, just mentally drooling at the boxes and their seductive colorful artwork, trying to find THE model kit to buy and build with what little money I had on me. I miss having a real hobby shop to go through, now that it’s a desert out here on Oahu for us model kit bashers and kids that refused “to grow up” from stuff we used to do “when I was a kid!” (The reason that I always hear from the general public whenever I’m at one of our IPMS club displays…) Internet shopping and mail order are what feeds my addiction today and Burbank House of Hobbies is one of my go to places on eBay. But nothing can replace walking into a real hobby shop and scanning the kits, paints, books, and accessories to find the latest fix for my bad habit…damn, I envy you guys who can actually go into a real hobby shop…
Business classes at VT in the late 1960's were dull. Thanks to TC I realize it was the magic of discovery that was missing.
Yes, 'the magic of discovery'.
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”– Albert Einstein
TC, what a great topic and great piece on the true magic present in the oasis you describe.
The folks who sustain these old fashioned businesses have never lost the intense feeling they had as children, for things, colors and shapes. They unabashedly revel in that feeling and hold the door open to childhhod and wonder for us. All we can do is be grateful such places exist, be grateful to their owners and support and recommend them as we can. (The feeling and imagery you invoked called to mind The Magic Shop, by H. G. Wells)
When a beloved diner, hardware store or funky old establishment of any kind closes, its like the unexpected death of an old friend. I feel like rending my garments and always wish that I or a like-minded group had the money to keep it running, just as it was. They’re irreplaceable. The character and feeling of each such labor of love developed over one or more lifetimes, and can’t be duplicated.
I don’t buy anything from Amazon or Walmart except as a last resort, but if I can find, on their sites, the company who makes the product or a small business who sells it, I’ll seek them out and buy the item from them.
I wish there were a link available to a short documentary I saw at a film festival in 2020 called, Lock Shop, by writer and filmmaker Cara Feinberg. It’s about a neighborhood locksmith shop in South Boston, run by the daughter of its founder, and what it means to both her and her neighborhood. It’s poignant. She’s older, has no one to whom she can pass the business on and knows it’ll will end when she passes or retires. It may still appear at local film festivals.
I worked in a variety of manufacturing environments, and then on my own as a carpenter and handyman. With machine oil, brick dust, sawdust and more in my blood, a long-standing dream of mine was to invent, manufacture and market a product of my own, made here in the US of A.
After lots false starts over the years, I finally came up with a homespun gadget that’s been fairly well received. From the get go, I wanted it to be sold only in independent retail venues - the type of businesses I wished to support. I wanted it to be a somewhat rare and delightful offering for their customers, something that never could be found on Amazon, in Walmart or any other big corporate chain.
This pursuit will never make me rich, but it’s satisfying. I doubt that my kids or anyone else would want to take it over.
I encourage everyone to support their unique local businesses and curiosity shops. A world without them would be pretty barren.
What's the "gadget"?
It’s a tool for cleaning out squash and pumpkins. Didn’t want to name or promote it here, as it wouldn’t be appropriate. I wanted to underscore my feeling for places like the hobby shop you wrote of and cherish. It’s my small way of attempting to give independent store owners a leg up in their battle with internet and retail giants. I don’t want such places to disappear.
I’ve never responded to ads that pop up recommending this or that based on my browsing or purchasing. I guess because I bought this or that once, I’m going to keep buying it forever. It was delightful to hear that Amazon’s brick & mortar bookstore venture has failed miserably and you nailed the reasons why. I didn’t mention it, but the stores I wholesale to are all brick & mortar. Nothing beats wandering around in them and running across something unexpected! Anticipation is high as soon as one enters their doors.
As a small family business person, thanks, Art, and readers, for your support for the 'little guy.' Yes, 'magic' is key. (And pricing).
Great read, TC.... as a paean to the endangered joy of being able to wander through the "stacks" but also to the even deeper joy of reconnecting with long-time and like-minded friends
yes to both