While today is a celebration of all my friends who are finally graduating Berkeley, there’s also a tinge of sadness. Cody’s Books, my all-time favorite bookstore is closing its flagship store on Telegraph Ave. on July 10.
While my local favorite bookstore growing up was Dutton’s in Brentwood (Los Angeles), Cody’s was always my real favorite. It was the bookstore of choice of my grandparents, longtime Berkeley kids since 1921. Many a birthday/holiday present has been bought at Cody’s — between me and other members of my family, we’ve probably spent thousands of dollars there over the years. It’s always been one of my favorite spots on Telegraph Ave. — I’ve always felt they had a better selection than Moe’s or Shakespeare & Co.
I know the struggles of an independent bookstore. I used to work at one, La Cité French Books in West Los Angeles. I worked there for nine months, leaving about six months before it finally went under in the spring of 2001. It’s rough, and I’m sure that Andy Ross, the owner of Cody’s, struggled long and hard before deciding to close the store. The Chronicle article (linked above) says the store had been losing money for 15 years. That’s a hell of a twilight.
So if there’s a bookstore that you love, that you’d be absolutely crushed if it didn’t exist anymore, then go spend some money there.
I’m talking about Stacey’s in San Francisco, Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., Corner Bookstore in New York, Dutton’s Books in Los Angeles, and Prairie Lights in Iowa City.
There’s only a small number of them left.
