Meeting the Minds: Convening Consciousness and Culture at Eso Won Books (2014)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Like a good book, a good bookstore's lifeblood is its stories--stacks and stacks of them. Stitch together those stray, day-to-day anecdotes with a clever plot, vivid recurring characters and some unexpected twists, and you just might have something solid, something with real longevity. As the tale of brick-and-mortar retail goes, Eso Won Books' ongoing story is about as twisty as a plot can get. In its 25 years in the trade, despite a wildly inclement business climate rocked by urban unrest, earthquakes, industry shifts, multiple re-locations and recessions, the Southwest Los Angeles bookstore remains a community hub in the heart of Leimert Park. While its long roster of visiting authors: Toni Morrison, John Edgar Wideman, Octavia Butler, and Walter Mosley among them, offers a snapshot and time capsule of African American letters, it isn't only marquee names that hold great import the bookselling life. As any bookseller would attest, there is an encyclopedia of other crucial factors at play that make a shop not just a stop, but an essential destination. If they're moved to, Eso Won's co-proprietors, James Fugate and Tom Hamilton, might run down a list of the shifting series of players who find their way inside the store on any given day: the regulars who wander in talk politics; the neighbors who pop by perhaps get the 411 on the Metro project be built just down the boulevard. There too are local merchants who may race in make quick change, or even the intermittent drifter who might peek inside the doorway looking borrow a spoon. Many, they both know, are just in the habit of ducking in eavesdrop on a spiky on-going conversation, that can often ricochet from African folklore international film breaking news. And too, there's a loyal, core stream of customers who still stop by discuss, order and buy books--for which both Fugate and Hamilton are deeply grateful. In an ever-shifting bookselling landscape, creative survival has been crucial Eso Won's longevity; much of that has come from providing a range of titles, along with a deep knowledge in both the stock itself and their customers' range of interests. The idea though isn't just ring up a sale and pass back the change; it is engage and cultivate relationships. And while people far and wide know that both men speak their minds and don't suffer fools, Hamilton and Fugate see their role simply and clearly. People need a place come, says Hamilton, one that feels like their own. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Wandering into Eso Won, in the middle of a quiet block on Degnan Avenue, in the middle of a quiet afternoon, often feels like entering a story midway. This overcast winter's afternoon (March 2014) is no different: Both Hamilton and Fugate trade off behind the counter--handselling, as it's called in the trade--talking about books they've read, connecting a customer something new. Both are avid readers--the deep diving sort--with their varying passions and expertise. You have be, says Hamilton, finishing up a transaction of special-order titles, to do this right, you have read books and talk about the books. Scattered around the store, browsers hover over stacks of sale books--jazz, history, fine art, African Studies, biographies, general interest titles that peaked high on newspaper bestseller lists. A man in the corner thumbs through recent arrivals, chanting the name Keith Sweat over and over under his breath. Another customer inquiries about a book she's special ordered, but instead of just paying and moving on the next errand, she pulls up a chair listen in the conversation. Over tucked-away speakers bebop soars, and floating against the wall behind the front counter hangs a brilliantly-hued quilt featuring jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding, handmade by a local artist Ramsess. Next the register a smiling President Obama bobble head vigorously nods with the cash drawer's vibration, as if he's offering his own personal thank you for your business. …