A Clean Well Lighted Place

[Drunk Monk]

I can think of no single place that occupies such high esteem in DOOM as ACWLP. Two of us worked there. One of us married someone who worked there. It could be said that the founding five DOOM members really started there.


From today's Chronicle

Well-Lighted dims
With declining business, haven for book lovers goes up for sale
Heidi Benson, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, May 5, 2006

One of the most popular independent bookstores in San Francisco is up for sale.

A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, in Opera Plaza, has served as a cultural hub and a haven for book lovers for a generation.

Now, after years of declining sales, owner Neal Sofman hopes to pass the baton.

"My long-term partners want out, and I don't have the capital to buy them out," Sofman said Thursday.

"I'm talking to a couple of different interested parties."

Sofman founded the store in 1975 in Cupertino, opening a second store in Larkspur (now closed) in 1978.

The Opera Plaza location, which opened in 1982, has been called a blessing and a curse.

At 601 Van Ness, the store is near City Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, the War Memorial Opera House and Hayes Valley restaurants.

But foot traffic is sparse.

"Business has not been as robust as it once was," said Sofman. He cites exorbitant meters on Van Ness (6 minutes for a quarter) as one customer deterrent.

"It has been a special place for all of us," said Sydney Goldstein, founder and director of City Arts & Lectures, which has relied on A Clean Well-Lighted Place to sell books at Arts & Lectures events.

"They have been the book vendor for us -- from Stephen Colbert to John Updike to Joan Didion -- going back more than 20 years," said Goldstein.

Goldstein added that "Neal has people who have worked for him for 10, 17 and 22 years -- loyal people dedicated to books and to the kind of customers who care about books."

Last month, Sofman sold the store's domain name -- <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bookstore.com">www.bookstore.com</a><!-- w --> -- for an undisclosed sum. How the proceeds will be used remains to be seen.

A representative of the landlord had no official comment about the hoped-for sale.

"This has happened very quickly," said Kereen Stoll of Urban Pacific Properties, which manages the property for Opera Plaza Limited Partnership.

"My relationship with the landlord is good," Sofman said, "but it's time for me to move on."

Sofman is in the process of developing a new, smaller store -- called Bookstore West Portal (at 80 West Portal) -- which will open sometime this month.

"It's a small neighborhood store, totally different from A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books," Sofman said Thursday.

"I raised the money with other investors as a separate proposition," he explained. "They are different companies. I'm the only common denominator."

Meanwhile, as Sofman seeks a buyer for A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, the lineup for author readings remains impressive.

"This is our busy season -- we have six writers a week," said events coordinator Wendy Sheanin.

"There are four local writers giving readings -- plus people like Gay Talese and Edmund White -- this week alone."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...01&sc=1000

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I switched to that mail order place. Moving to Los Angeles probably didn't help. But I'm sure with my book of the day club, I could have kept them going.

The perfect combination of retailer for me is the bookstore-movie theater-Chili's. Have two out of the three with ACLWP and the Oaks was cool, though.

Maybe PPFY and Susie should buy it for old time's sake?

[Drunk Monk]

I mourned when ACWLP Cupertino closed. I was only at Larkspur a few times, so it didn't bother me. I'll be sad if SF closes. Then the only real independent bookstores left will be Moe's and Cody's...

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

What's the diff? They both begin with S.

Please see HK about my rapidly diminishing typing skills and cognitive processes

[Drunk Monk]

You'd have done better just to do a lot of drugs instead of inhale all those industrial substances.

Now I have no problem forgetting the names of your sig 0, especially cuklafran or whatever you named that dog of yours...

[Drunk Monk]

Famed bookstore's last chapter -- Cody's on Telegraph to close
Steve Rubenstein, Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Cody's Books, the venerable independent bookstore that has served generations of UC Berkeley students, has announced that it will close its flagship store on the south side of campus because of declining sales and competition from chain stores and the Internet.

The store, on Telegraph Avenue, will close its doors on July 10 after 43 years.

"We have lost over $1 million attempting to keep the store open,'' said owner Andy Ross. "As a family business, we cannot continue to afford these ruinous losses.''

Ross said the store had been losing money for 15 years and that pressure from chain stores and the Internet had contributed to an "economic concentration in bookselling'' that was forcing out independent stores like Cody's.

"We leave Telegraph with great sadness but with a sense of honor that we have served our customers and community with distinction,'' Ross said.

Cody's two other, smaller stores -- on Fourth Street in Berkeley and on Stockton Street in San Francisco -- will remain open.

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said he was "saddened but not surprised'' by the closure.

"It's a terrible blow for us,'' Bates said. "Cody's is an institution. But they've been struggling for years. It's just part of the changing times we live in. With the Internet and all the other innovations, these (stores) have all taken a hit.''

Bates said he suspected that older book buyers felt more at ease shopping at Cody's store on trendy Fourth Street.

"It's more upscale and more comfortable,'' Bates said. "Telegraph Avenue is a great place, but some people don't want to go there.''

For decades, the store was a friendly retreat on tumultuous Telegraph Avenue, where extended browsing was encouraged and authors frequently dropped by to discuss and sign their latest works.

It was 50 years ago when Pat and Fred Cody opened a small bookstore on the north side of campus. In the early '60s, the store moved to its much larger, current location at Telegraph Avenue and Haste Street. The next year, it served as a first-aid station when anti-war protesters were teargassed and clubbed just outside its doors. In 1989, after a minor firebombing, the store announced that it would continue to sell Salman Rushdie's controversial "Satanic Verses'' -- a decision that Ross called "our finest hour.''

"Rushdie came to the store once, a surprise visit when he was still in hiding,'' Ross said. The author gave the bookstore five minutes' notice to announce that he was in the store and would sign books. "There's a hole above the information desk from the bombing. Someone scribbled 'Salman Rushdie memorial hole.' When Rushdie was here, he looked up and said, 'Some people get statues, others get holes.' "

Over the years, Cody's hosted appearances by Allen Ginsberg, Anais Nin and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. It also built a comprehensive section of computer and math books and a wide variety of new fiction, gay titles and academic critical studies.

Fred Cody died in 1983. Andy Ross bought the store from the Codys six years earlier.

"People in Berkeley are very conservative about some things," Ross said. "When I took over, they said, 'We don't want you to change a thing.' Of course, I have."

Ten years ago, when the store was honored with Cody's Day by the city of Berkeley for 40 years of service, Ross expressed fears about being squeezed by large chain stores.

"Many of our customers found other sources for their books -- particularly the scholarly and academic titles that have always been our specialty," Ross said.

At Cody's on Tuesday evening, the store appeared to be sparsely populated, and customers said they were saddened by the news.

Isaac Israel, who was sitting on a bench perusing physics books, said he was "very unhappy." Israel received his doctorate from UC Berkeley in 1994 and said he had bought about a quarter of his 2,500 books from the store. He said he stops by the store five times a week to browse. Down the block at equally venerated Moe's Books, bookseller Dave Yetter said sales have been down throughout the area. He blamed Berkeley city officials for neglecting Telegraph and instead focusing their efforts on other shopping corridors such as Shattuck Avenue in the downtown area.

"The Berkeley City Council left Telegraph to go to seed with a lack of upkeep and lack of interest," Yetter said.

Yetter said he feels for Ross.

"I understand, sort of, his dilemma," Yetter said. "After dark, nobody's here, nowhere."

Shawn Misaghi, who has operated a flower stand outside Cody's for 18 years, said the area can be unsafe and parking can be hard to find.

The Cody's announcement came a week after another large independent bookstore -- A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco -- went up for sale.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...01&sc=1000

Moe's is a used bookstore, so it doens't really count at an independant of the same caliber. Now I think that all that's left is Bookshop Santa Cruz. I doubt the revived Kepler's will survive the year...

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Although I did shop there during my brief stop at the Berkeley campus. Although HK and his bay of pirates was probably close enough to have some effect given where his new digs are located.

[Haggis Killer]

I hate seeing good bookstores go down. I have to admit, however, that I go to the Cody's on 4th street (during lunch) and if I really need something that takes me to downtown Berkeley, it's either Black Oak or Moe's. Or Dark Carnival.

That's just me, though.

[El Dingo]

Oh yeah - I remember! Before the internet I used to go to stores to buy books too!

Yay, Amazon!

[Drunk Monk]

...a pre-internet ED anymore...

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I remember Fidonet, does that count for anything?

When does ED get his implants so he can just be hardwired?

And if he is so savvy, why doesn't he post more?

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

With your @#*&! Frappa-fucking-chino!!!!! I heard about Cody's before I heard about ACWLP. I am very sad. For independent bookstores, there is not much left. Cody's at Union Square doesn't have the fiction section to match ACWLP or the Old Cody's. I'm good for SF/Fantasy with Borderland Books on Valencia Street (and there are a couple of small independents there as well, but a really good fiction section is hard to come by). Guess I better move to Portland.

[Haggis Killer]

I never worked at a bookstore, but I live it one. Well, practically. Without the selling part.

I gotta go with the Yeti here. I don't mind the online buying so much, but jeez - go through a real bookstore! I get most of my internet buys through abebooks. Advanced Book Exchange. It's a collection of independant boosellers, most of whom carry rare, hard to find titles.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.abebooks.com/">http://www.abebooks.com/</a><!-- m -->

Maybe not in a custom box with the company name on it, but I've never been disappointed.

[Drunk Monk]

Stacy talked to Frank and it didn't sound good. Her office is right down the street for Kepler's. The closest independant now is bookshop to me is Santa Cruz, where my old buddy Steve Yee (formerly of Books Inc, ACWLP (post-ppfy), Kepler's and Tiger Claw now works. I should cehck in with him to hear what the buzz is down there. How is City Lights doing?

There's nothing like the feel of a good independant bookstore. I could browse for days.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

but I have never found it to be very welcoming. Good fiction selection, though. Black Oaks SF has taken a severe turn for the mediocre (stick to the Berkeley original). I hope Shakespeare and Co. and Moe's are solid.

Dr. Bob and Co., what's in the south bay? Recycled Books? Phoenix Books? Chanticleer? I know Printer's Ink is gone and Books Inc, too.