What a way to start the morning!

My husband woke me up with a cup of coffee and  delivered the grim news.

"Good thing I didn't drop you off at that book signing at Cody's yesterday.  They're closed."

"What?"  I was groggy, still in the grip of one of those early morning dreams.

I hoped maybe I'd misunderstood.  Like a temporary problem, maybe a fire.

But no.  Front page story in the SF Chronicle.  Closed for good.  Berkeley's landmark bookstore.

I had hopes for the new (and remaining) store in downtown Berkeley.  It just opened in April.  Cody's has had a rough time.  The flagship store on Telegraph closed, then the branch in SF, then the fancy store on 4th Street, after the rents tripled.

 I actually welcomed the new location.  It was easier for me to get to (right by a BART stop) and I thought it might help revitalize Berkeley's sagging downtown, valiantly trying to re-emerge as an Arts District.

I wasn't living in Berkeley during the early years of Cody's, and I've only read about the time the store was fire-bombed, probably for daring to sell Rushdie's The Satanic Verses.  But it still felt like an icon to me.   As a soon-to-be-published author, I dreamed of having a book signing for "Accordion Dreams" there.  I'd even dropped off a letter and the publisher's catalog.  I guess it won't be happening now.  

RIP. 

Here is the link to the Chronicle story (sure wish I could figure out how to do links!)

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/22/BAH711DDT0.DTL