A tour. I stand between Dwight Way and Haste Street on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. In front of me is the stately Moe’s, 4 floors of quality used books (plus some new and remainders), heavy on the academic titles. Top of the trade. To the right on the corner of Haste is the best and oldest new bookstore in town, Cody’s. How could Moe’s exist without Cody’s? Books have to be new before they can be used. Cody’s closes its doors July 10, so we will soon find out.
Up Haste from Cody’s, just below People’s Park, is the former site of my family’s bookstore, Up Haste, in what is now the banquet room of Mario’s La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant. Down Haste, at Shattuck, was Pellucidar (used books and remainders) which later begat Pendragon and Pegasus, where I started my first bookstore job in 1988.
In front of Cody’s, on weekends, the 25 cent pocket books man spreads his wares. Currently he features some of the former stock of Book Zoo, see below, as well as books salvaged from the dumpster behind Half Price Books on Shattuck and from the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library Free cart (the Free cart is one more block up and to the left, down Channing Way. Cross the street to the mall entrance and follow the signs, it’s closed Sundays and Mondays. Revolution Books, the Maoist bookstore that used to be our neighbor at Up Haste, is in the mall too.) Sometimes there are other book purveyors on the sidewalk between Cody’s and Moe’s, with dollar books, probably turned away from the Moe’s buying counter, propped up against the wall of Cody’s magazine section.
Looking south from Moe’s, across the street on the corner of Dwight, is Shakespeare & Co: used bookstore, smaller, darker, messier, a cut below. Long history there: Moe was one of the original partners. Round the corner to the right down Dwight way is another used bookstore, Cartesian Books, on the former site of the Moe’s art annex (More Moe’s, now on the 4th floor. Sells the pricey antiquarian stuff). Next to Cartesian in the 80s was a foreign language bookstore. Next to Moe’s, for more than 30 years, was Shambhala, a new bookstore specializing in spirituality and eastern philosophy. It went out of business at the end of 2003. Across Telegraph from Moe’s is Café Mediterranean, which has seen better days, but is still a place to spot the odd poet (usually Julia Vinograd) or Moe’s old-timer -- maybe one of those diehard 3rd floor browsers, resting from his labors across the street. Browsing is hard work.
A block south on Telegraph, when I was in high school, a chain store, Crown Books, made a brief appearance; on the other side of Telegraph was the original hole-in-the wall Half Price Books outlet (another chain, out of Texas.)
One more block south on the Ave is the funny little mall that's home to Fondue Fred and until recently Book Zoo, my favorite hopeless case used bookstore (more on that later). Chris K, one-time Moe’s shelver, Flea Market bookseller and book scout, also had a storefront in that mall for a year or so in the late 90s, more on him, too.
These are only a few of the local stations that books and their agents pass through. To study their complicated itineraries you have to travel way beyond Telegraph Ave, but it’s useful to have a starting place and this is mine: six blocks from where I grew up, south of the university, east of San Francisco, west of People’s Park.
Up Haste from Cody’s, just below People’s Park, is the former site of my family’s bookstore, Up Haste, in what is now the banquet room of Mario’s La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant. Down Haste, at Shattuck, was Pellucidar (used books and remainders) which later begat Pendragon and Pegasus, where I started my first bookstore job in 1988.
In front of Cody’s, on weekends, the 25 cent pocket books man spreads his wares. Currently he features some of the former stock of Book Zoo, see below, as well as books salvaged from the dumpster behind Half Price Books on Shattuck and from the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library Free cart (the Free cart is one more block up and to the left, down Channing Way. Cross the street to the mall entrance and follow the signs, it’s closed Sundays and Mondays. Revolution Books, the Maoist bookstore that used to be our neighbor at Up Haste, is in the mall too.) Sometimes there are other book purveyors on the sidewalk between Cody’s and Moe’s, with dollar books, probably turned away from the Moe’s buying counter, propped up against the wall of Cody’s magazine section.
Looking south from Moe’s, across the street on the corner of Dwight, is Shakespeare & Co: used bookstore, smaller, darker, messier, a cut below. Long history there: Moe was one of the original partners. Round the corner to the right down Dwight way is another used bookstore, Cartesian Books, on the former site of the Moe’s art annex (More Moe’s, now on the 4th floor. Sells the pricey antiquarian stuff). Next to Cartesian in the 80s was a foreign language bookstore. Next to Moe’s, for more than 30 years, was Shambhala, a new bookstore specializing in spirituality and eastern philosophy. It went out of business at the end of 2003. Across Telegraph from Moe’s is Café Mediterranean, which has seen better days, but is still a place to spot the odd poet (usually Julia Vinograd) or Moe’s old-timer -- maybe one of those diehard 3rd floor browsers, resting from his labors across the street. Browsing is hard work.
A block south on Telegraph, when I was in high school, a chain store, Crown Books, made a brief appearance; on the other side of Telegraph was the original hole-in-the wall Half Price Books outlet (another chain, out of Texas.)
One more block south on the Ave is the funny little mall that's home to Fondue Fred and until recently Book Zoo, my favorite hopeless case used bookstore (more on that later). Chris K, one-time Moe’s shelver, Flea Market bookseller and book scout, also had a storefront in that mall for a year or so in the late 90s, more on him, too. These are only a few of the local stations that books and their agents pass through. To study their complicated itineraries you have to travel way beyond Telegraph Ave, but it’s useful to have a starting place and this is mine: six blocks from where I grew up, south of the university, east of San Francisco, west of People’s Park.
posted by Blue Librarian at 6:34 PM
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