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March 7, 2012

Bookstore Tour: Housing Works Bookstore, New York

Posted by tbrmaureen

Housing Works Bookstore
Location: 126 Crosby Street, New York, NY 10012
Founded: The bookstore was founded 13 years ago; the Housing Works Foundation was founded in 1992 to benefit HIV/AIDS research.

Mood: There is a downtown, relaxed feel to the whole place. The store is basically one large room with a HUGE high ceiling and lots of wood panels. Many, if not all, of the books are used and the cafe area is ample, suggesting you are actually meant to hang out there and read. The patrons are a diverse, Lower East Side crowd. Soundtrack: Broken Social Scene and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

5 Things that Caught My Eye: 

  • The cafe serves coffee, sandwiches, etc, but also beer and wine. 
  • Besides the usual categories for books they have some special shelves in the middle of the floor with some more unusual headings: "The Thinker,"  "Uncorrected Proofs" and "LAUGH" as well as "Staff/ Volunteer Picks."
  • A huge metal and wood spiral staircase in the middle of the room leads to a second story (which is more like a ring of shelves around the top of the room) with more books and a collection of tables arranged in front of a huge window facing out onto the street.
  • They have a large music and DVD collection

I spoke to one of the volunteers at the checkout counter. He suggested three books for 20-Somethings:

  • ZONE 1 by Colson Whitehead
  • THE ADULTS by Alison Espach
  • LONESOME DOVE by Larry McMurtry

He also gave me these five fun-facts about the store:

  • The bookstore also serves as an event and concert space. They have hosted artists like Thom Yorke and The Black Keys
  • Their books are all received as donations, and they once scored a signed William Faulkner volume!
  • The Cafe serves Intelligentsia coffee. (Intelligentsia is a boutique coffee company popular on the West Coast).
  • Print is not dead
  • The cafe appeared in the final episode of Sex and the City. You know how Carrie Bradshaw was in "Paris" for her book singing? Well, that bookstore was actually Housing Works!

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