A Manhattan Bookstore Closes

More than a year ago, Shakespeare & Company's store, on Broadway near 105th Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side, was closed a short time after it opened for business. I learned it was closing from an article in the weekly newspaper, The Spirit. I later went to the store to buy a couple of mystery paperbacks at a significant discount.

I think the store could have been saved if the owners had focused exclusively on LGBTQ books and merchandise (like posters, rainbow flags, key chains, and slogan buttons).

In a city with a sizable LGBTQ population, and no bookstore catering to it, I refuse to believe such a bookstore would not have been able to thrive, even in harsh economic times. LGBTQ bars seem to stay afloat no matter what.

Aside from selling books and LGBTQ-related merchandise, the store could have been used for book readings, book signings, lectures, film screenings, game nights, special events, etc. The store needed owners who could think outside the box and experiment with different ways to attract a loyal clientele.

The location, in a very busy section of town, would have been a perfect refuge for LGBTQ bibliophiles, in an area convenient to public transportation, public parks, restaurants, supermarkets, and smaller shops.

Gay And Lesbian Audiobooks

Ron Hall of Seattle [in 1996] launched the first audiobook publishing company in the United States to specialize in gay and lesbian fiction.

The Hall Closet Book Company, thus far, has published only two mystery titles, available for sale or 30-day rental (with an option to buy): Fadeout, Joseph Hansen's first book in the Dave Brandstetter series and Hallowed Murder by Ellen Hart, from her Jane Lawless series.

Among the five books Hall Closet plans to bring out on audiotape this year are The Gifts of the Body by Rebecca Brown (a March release) and Blackbird by the African-American novelist Larry Duplechan.

All of the audiobooks, which Hall calls "dramatic reads" because the readers provide each character with his or her own voice, are unabridged. In a Seattle newspaper interview, Hall, a former bookstore manager, stated that he prefers offering books this way so that "the listener gets every word the author wrote, all the subplots and character developments, settings, and motives. It's a much richer experience."

Unfortunately, none of the tapes were made available for review in this column.

Note: This article was originally published in the Manhattan Spirit newspaper on March 15, 1996 as part of its monthly Manhattan Pride lesbian and gay supplement.