My Chicago Bookstore Tour Unmasked:” Visits 3,4, and 5 — It Could Have Been 6 and 7.

Chicago in many ways is my adopted hometown. I first became acquainted with the Windy City in 1985 as a bright-eyed 20-year old Ohio State undergrad, doing my HR internship at Evanston Hospital. Later I lived in the Chicago metro area from 1992-2000 and anointed it my home. 

Fast forward to my recent trip to the area for the next iteration of my “Great Books, Great Minds Global Bookstore Tour.” Amid cloudy weather and persistent rain, I meandered far and wide to capture Chicago’s bookstore culture. 

I started my trek in the North Shore city of Evanston, where I relived memories of my time there as an aspiring HR professional. As good fortune would have it, I was allowed to stay right on the Northwestern University campus, a gorgeous environment nestled along Lake Michigan. 

Strolling around Evanston’s center-city area, I was reminded of my love for books back in 1985. Over the course of my three-month internship stay, I purchased a ton of books — so many that I had to return most of them due to limited luggage space for my trip back to Columbus. 

In 2000, I house sat for some friends in Evanston who had migrated to Florida for a respite from Chicago’s brutal winter season. On January 1st, 2001 with my 1999 Honda Accord filled to the gills, I began my drive out West to live, landing in the town of Carson City, Nevada. 

Before I get into the Evanston bookstores I visited, I want to mention something that I found. The behemoth Barnes and Noble flagship store located in the epicenter of downtown Evanston had shuttered its doors earlier this year and closed. It was a reminder that despite its corporate status and size, the little independent bookstores still hold sway among many of today’s readers. 

So my first visit was to Bookends and Beginnings, a locally own bookstore situated along an alleyway off of Sherman Avenue, the main arterial flowing through Evanston. I walked in and was immediately greeted by a bookseller who noted that things had been going remarkably well since the reopening. 

The place had a nice historical feel for it that seemed ideal for book browsing. I spent about 1-hour there before deciding to purchase Candacy Taylor’s book Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America

Before departing I had the opportunity to chat briefly with the bookstore owner Nina Barrett, who purchased the store a number of years ago from a man in frail health. Stay tuned for a deeper history of this bookstore as Nina has agreed to let me interview her for a feature piece in the coming weeks. 

My next visit on Friday, September 11th was to Amaranth Books which has been serving the readers of Evanston out of the same storefront for over 20 years. It’s your quintessential used bookstore, described by one Yelp reviewer as “beautifully maintained without a speck of dust in the place.”

One of the gifts of these types of stores is that you can often discover hidden book gems that you are unlikely to find in a traditional bookstore. And as a bonus, most of the books I looked at were priced at a bargain rate of $5.00 to $15.00.

At this store, I selected John Mercer Langston and the Fight for Black Freedom by William Cheek and Aimee Lee Cheek. It was a reference to the Black History of Oberlin, Ohio is what attracted me to grab it. The owner rang me up from $6.00 and some change. When I handed him $10.00 he panicked. Knowing that look (the pandemic has created a nationwide cash shortage which has been problematic for retainers needing to create change), I told him to keep the entire $10.00, prompting him to look at me with eyes glassed over and say, “Thank You!” 

As I left the store, my first thought was — “he just reopened so how is he going to survive by charging such a pittance for the books he sells. In any event, I hope my $10.00 helped. 

On Saturday, I shifted environs and headed down to Chicago’s Hyde Park area for two nights. This Chicago neighborhood and intellectual enclave boast the University of Chicago, a globally recognized academic institution. It is also the neighborhood where Barack Obama cut his teeth as an activist and member of Congress before becoming U.S. President. 

Sadly, two of the bookstores I was seeking to visit in the area were closed due to covid. (Hey, Google, you said that they were open). The first was 57th Street Books, an icon of the University of Chicago area that I was so jazzed to have the opportunity to visit. Oh well.

The other was Portland’s infamous Powell Books location in Hyde Park. 

Feeling a bit dispirited, I began my stroll back towards my Airbnb, hoping to get lunch along the way. Love and behold, I found a black-owned storefront along 53rd Street called the Silverroom that had a nice display of books visible through the store window. 

I walked in and was greeted by a soulful sista who was rhythmically dancing to the store’s background music. “Anything I can help you with,” she cheerfully asked as I made a beeline to the featured book section. ‘I’m good,” I responded while pulling several books off the shelf.

It was there where I purchased two books to round out my trip. 

The Meaning of Soul: Black Music and Resilience Since The 1960s by Emily l. Lordi

Every Nation Has Its Dish: Black Bodies and Black Food In Twentieth-Century America by Jennifer Jenson Wallach

Overall, it was well worth the trek here from Denver. The highlight of the trip? Actually it was having dinner with a friend in the area who I hadn’t seen in nearly 20 years. He’s in the process of writing a cookbook for diabetics so stay tuned.