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September 01, 2005
Life : Kepler's RIP
Kepler's book store, the finest independent book store in Silicon Valley, unexpectedly closed its doors yesterday. Kepler's was where Jerry Garcia hung out before he had a band. It was where Joan Baez shopped for books in the 60's. Kepler's was to the 60's what City Lights was to the 50's and the beat generation.
But it was also much more than that.
Even when the hippies had all grown up and gotten high tech jobs, Kepler's remained everything that an independent book store was supposed to be. They kept pace with changes in the community, and stayed relevant, hosting book signings for everyone from Al Franken to Barbara Bush to Lauren Bacall to Salman Rushdie.
They were the place to go for books published by small publishers that would never get shelf space in a Borders or a Barnes and Noble. I don't think I ever managed to visit them without making a purchase of some book I never would have known about if I hadn't see it on their shelf.
Word is that the lease they signed at the peak of the dot-com boom killed them – that Clark Kepler (son of the founder, Roy) had been putting his own money into the operation to keep it afloat; but finally ran out.
Whatever the reason, they will be missed. I think it is a fitting tribute to the store that two days after Hurricane Katrina, news of Kepler's closing made the front page of the major newspaper here in silicon valley. It was that kind of store.
Posted by Steven at September 1, 2005 10:32 AM
Comments
Boo Hoo... no more British and French magazines to browse.)-:
Posted by: Anne at September 2, 2005 10:39 AM
