Brooklyn’s Most Cluttered Bookstore

I don't know if I'm allowed to curse on here but the first impression was a holy it's like a cavern of books it's my first time in here I've gone by this place several times in the past seven or eight years I've never come in and tonight we had dinner across the street the door was open the lights are on and this place is definitely incredible it reminds me of my grandmother's basement what's up with this guy what it like what is this black hole of a hoarders nest I don't know I I don't know if I could work through that but whoever owns this clearly you know it works for them he does a compulsion obviously certainly not a neat freak I would imagine him to be a bit of a pack rat in my mind it's somebody who lives somewhere in the building and like never leaves that's what I wanted to me he seems nice eclectic man of the neighborhood he's always extremely helpful yeah it's just a person who knows that like the place that we find ourselves is in literature even if it were better organized it's kind of like well no it like let's just give them as much as we can possibly give them howdy vibe anything he knows where every book is this guy man search for meaning Victor all the way in the back but I might have a new one a new paperback I don't think I yeah how many books do I think are in here oh this is like a jelly bean jar question oh my god millions infinite there are an infinite amount of books in here just like high-stakes Jenga in here you don't have to worry about knocking anything over cuz it's gonna happen I did not do that I didn't touch a book sir I'm trying right now I didn't touch a book okay alright that's alright I'm attached to it yeah I love it and I hated it it's a lot of work it's a very difficult business yeah that's harder and harder to make ends meet I know when you're at a time to say I came here in 1985 then I met my second wife in about 1988 she helped a lot with the store she passed away in 2002 it was hard just to live not just to go on with the bookstore she was like the opposite of me because she was always straightening everything out now it's going to appoint me even she couldn't straighten it out it is just too much it is too much work I'm 69 years old I just can't go on doing it make a lot of money and kill yourself so I work over that I never told my pastor I think I'm an I wonder how John's doing a human so long still have seen so many more books than even a couple of years ago this is yeah amazing to me I found the bow game so oh you did yeah next May are gonna close the school Oh No yeah is it gonna be like good like a fresh drown or something and I heard that it's somebody the people who bought it owned a Victoria's Secret or something in Herald Square which is really sad I find it really sad I mean it's sad to lose things like this but mmm I feel like it's more of a responsibility on the next generation to make things like this happen we can't just expect them to like stick around forever you where do you see yourself going you could live at night as a bookstore where I wouldn't start another bookstore yeah perhaps eventually buy a small apartment but I'd like to stay in neighborhood because it's a wonderful neighborhood yeah it's fun and then it's very difficult to so I just decided to stop good for him I'm sad though for us you

Channel: The New Yorker

Views: 124,189

Rating: 4.9606013 out of 5

Keywords: new york, new york city, new yorker, nyc, bookstore, books

Id: IczIXVJPvdE

Length: 6min 52sec (412 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 17 2016