I began selling books on the sidewalks of New York City in the Spring of 1990.When I was a sidewalk bookseller in NYC, sometimes I would get a 'real job' for awhile just to take a break. I didn't care if I quit or was fired. I would just go back to bookselling. I blew more money in two hours than any job could have paid me for a week of humiliation.
The Bookstore was aptly named - I could have called it something pretentious like Greenwich Village Bookshop, but that reputation had not yet been established. I removed the air conditioner that had been installed above the entrance and replaced it with a color TV facing the sidewalk on which I was playing VHS tapes of classic rock concerts, rock and roll films and occasionally, some horror flicks. Within the first three months since its opening, The Bookstore was becoming a neighborhood institution. It became the 'go to' place for musicians, potheads who needed a place to have a quick toke and generally, people with nothing better to do. Writers and small independent magazine publishers were coming in almost daily asking to have their works displayed and sold at the store. Someone suggested that I sell coffee for a dollar a cup. I bought all that was needed and set it up on the counter. That said someone drank free coffee all day and I never sold one cup. That idea was quickly scrapped.
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