April 4, 2011
Okay, it’s Sunday and time to visit an independent business in New York and buy something. My way of encouraging everyone to try and shop as local as you can and tell the chains to go fuck themselves. As I’ve said in the past my two favorite kinds of stores are record and book shops, so I’m kind of juggling them back and forth. Maybe next week I’ll find a different kind of shop to go to, but this week it’s back to a book store, The St. Mark’s Bookshop in the East Village.
It's about a ten minute walk over there. It's a little chilly out, but not freezing, maybe spring is finally on the way.
Ugh.
Downtown, where the neon lights are...
Pretty. Downtown.
And here we are, St. Mark's Books, let's check it out.
Lots of books in here and this is just the front of the store!
Jed was behind the counter and said it was fine to take photos in the store. A nice guy!
Here's some of the newer releases. I keep meaning to buy that Sarah Silverman book. Maybe that'll be tonight's purchase.
More books! Let's go check out some titles, shall we?
Quite a scary bear and we all know that Otto spelled backwards is Otto. I think that's called a padiddle when that happens, but don't quote me on that.
When I saw the title of the book, I thought the author had to be Jimmy Kimmel, but once again I'm wrong.
This one goes out to Tim "Clacky" Clack all the way to the land down under! Cheers, mate!
This is a poster of a postcard book you can buy up front. It's real photos of Theater signs done up in haiku three line style. Hilarious, maybe I'll buy that.
Speaking of postcards, there's a couple of racks of them in the back.
Two bookends at the end of the aisle.
And there's magazines in here too. They sold fishwrap in here back when I was publishing it.
Speaking of fishwrap, check it out, a food fanzine called, Put A Egg On It. Very cool, you don't see that many fanzines these days.
A shot of Jed in action behind the counter. They're doing a brisk business in here tonight and that's good to see.
Here's a display of some specialty books. Hey, speaking of fanzines, check out the book on the lower right hand side!
It's a huge book on the history of fanzines. It made the transition from St. Mark's Bookstore to...
My coffee table. Okay, I gotta go start reading and see if fishwrap is mentioned anywhere in here. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
In Their Own Words (Taken from their website)
St. Mark's Bookshop was established in 1977 on New York City's Lower East Side, a community of students, academics, artists, and other discerning readers. Our specialties include Cultural Theory, Graphic Design, Poetry & Small Press Publishing, Film Studies, and Foreign & Domestic Periodicals and Journals. We are open Monday through Saturday from 10 am to Midnight, Sundays 11 am to Midnight.
Located at 31 Third Avenue between 8th and 9th Streets, we are convenient to the 6 Train at Astor Place and the N/R Trains at Broadway and 8th Street. Our neighborhood is home to New York University, The Cooper Union, and such cultural institutions as P.S. 122 and St. Mark's Church in the Bowery, which offer theatre, dance performances and poetry readings. There are also many vintage clothing stores, designer boutiques, import shops, antique stores, and new & used record stores in the area, as well as dozens of cafes, restaurants and bars.
St. Mark's Bookshop
31 Third Ave. (Near 9th St.)
212-260-7853
Further reading: facecrack page, Indie Bound, Ludlow Press and New York magazine.
Five Books On My Bookshelf
Your Vigor For Life Appalls Me—Robert Crumb Letters: 1958-1977
Now Dig This—The Unspeakable Writings of Terry Southern
Misfit by Jonathan Yardley
Balsamic Dreams by Joe Queenan
High On Rebellion by Yvone Sewall-Ruskin
This rock ‘n’ roll has got to stop,
Junior’s head is hard as rock.
34 Comments
Reader Comments (34)
Another great stop Daddio!
My Dad (and Mom) would have had a Field Day in that Bookstore.
I see Pee Wee on the coffee table, probably a collectors item now. I wonder how far this bookstore is from Holiday Cocktail on St Marks. A good old dive bar after the store visit would of been really cool.
I remember this place being smaller, maybe I'm shrinking. Good to see Jedin Business.
Cool Beard
Fuck.
Nice bookstore!!!
And Jed looks like Ian Anderson, from Jethro Tull, in the old days!!! hahahah..
@"Boris:" A perfect store for a field day!
@Al: It's close by, I'd have stopped in, but I was dying to read the fanzine book.
@Tom Waits: You are shrinking, the curse of being in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Shame.
@csp: ??
@Gui_Stecher: He does look a little like Ian Anderson, I forgot all about that guy till now!
The Haiku on 42nd street book looks worth owning. Great old beatles song Marty, haven't heard that one in ages!
Cool bookstore! I think it's great you're doing this every Sunday. So were you listed in the fanzine book?
Ahahahhaha! "Mocking Jay" really SHOULD be the title of a book and authored by Jimmy Kimmel!
What a wonderful bookstore, I could spend hour upon hour in there.
Thank you for letting us tag along Marty!
Lemmy makes another appearance! Thanks for the shout out, old boy!
I watched the Lemmy movie yesterday. It's a great doco...he's a borderline hoarder!
Did Fishwrap get a mention?
gosh i'm lost again...from one star—"don't buy this book"—to five star—"it's beautiful"—to echo clackster—did fishwrap make it?—oh yea we have not seen the MAD view of the last book purchase...shoulda had aread and re-read by now...once again the nightcap was truly a view into the past which could apply today...
The smallest bookstore still contains more ideas of worth than have been presented in the entire history of television.
~Andrew Ross
rr
@everyone: fishwrap did not make it...but I did see some familiar zines and names. A great book! Nice quote, rr, very fitting!
Ugg Boots!
I've just dusted out my ugg boots now that it's getting colder.
Strictly for indoor use only. Outdoor use of uggboots is very bogan.
And the beer lover's guide to Australia!
Brooksy!! How goes it, mate!?
I've never owned a pair of Ugg boots. I'm thinking of splashing out o a pair this winter. Agreed, the police should have the right to book people for wearing them outdoors.
All good Clacky. I'm on here every morning, but don't post so much anymore.
@Brooksy: Good to hear from you! What the fuck does "bogan" mean?
Hey! I can see the coasters I sent to you on your table :D !!!!
I didn't know what is a fanzine (Too young! Ha!) so I went to check my friend wikipedia and read that we had a very famous Rock Fanzine made in Toulouse in 1982 called "Nineteen" !! http://www.scopalto.com/fanzine/nineteen One is with Ramones cover youhou! I'm almost sure my friend Vincent has some of them, he was 21 in 1982 and probably collected some.
I love books, when I get depress, I buy a book and feel better ;) But I can't buy english books as often as I would, since we have only one english book store in Toulouse, so it's expensive, and almost all books are British literature... Pain in a ass to find American writers. I am a Dan Brown fan and I only found The lost symbol that I paid fucking 22€ (30$) what a scam!! And I'm looking for Deception Point in english, the french version came out in 2006 (so.... only 5 years after USA! grrrrrrr) and the translation sucks so bad that you feel like you missed a part of the story!!
Cool book store! They even get FIRE !!!!!!! :D
Zioum x 2...if you really want a book or three...let MAD know...we will do the best to get it to you...
rr
Wow that is quite the coffee table! Guessing its been awhile or never, that a child has been in your apt. Sorry, my first thought as the mother of a toddler. Looks like a great bookstore. Very cool that they carried fishwrap and would have been an awesome circle if the book mentioned fishwrap. Oh well.
Odd timing on your NightCap video. I just got the movie Nowhere Boy about a young John Lennon and when I saw the preview I thought that I had never seen pictures of them from back then and wasn't sure how accurate they were being because they looked a lot different. That video just gave me a whole bunch of pictures from that time. Awesome for me.
I read Misfit too. Fred Exley! Yay! Lions Head!
I like the lemmy sighting too!
@ZioumZioum: I'll check later tonight to see if your friends fanzine is in the book.
@kari: I just watched Nowhere Boy a couple weeks ago, it's a good movie. And the only child that's ever been in my apartment is me!
@smeems: Great book, Exley was quite the character! Looking forward to hanging out with you this Sunday!
The St. Marks Bookstore is one of my faves too!! Loved the tour. Thanks Marty.
Just got a new pair of UGG boots--grey ones. Wore them for the first time yesterday walking around the hood. They are the best..so comfy. Try to get them on sale where you can save at least 30% . I got mine at Footgear on 1st Avenue & St. Marks. The owner told me he is getting the new styles in and they are really cool.
@Melanie: Glad you enjoyed the tour!
Cool store and I've been meaning to buy that Sarah Silverman book too! By the way, I think I should be to the left of Pee Wee, shouldn't I? Time to look into airline tickets!
@Biff: That's your throne alright! I look forward to seeing you back in it!
Ugh, I hate Uggs.
A year after you posted this I have to say - from one Jetthead to another - that the coolest thing on your coffee table is the Joan Jett book. Did you get out to Coney Island to see her last summer ? Hope you did ! She's in South America now doing Lalapalooza with the Foo Fighters - she will be rockin' Chile today !
@Fat Al: Ugh, me too!
@Kat: I missed her at Coney Island, I didn't hear about it till after the fact and I'm still kicking myself for it!
Well lucky you - there is another chance to catch her at Coney Island next weekend ! Don't miss her this time - if the show is even half as great as it was last year, it will be awesome !!
@Kat: I went and the post will be up tomorrow at Tripping With Marty!
YAY! So glad you got out there to see Joanie - can't wait to hear all about it from your Tripping viewpoint !