If New York City moves ahead with a proposal to landmark the home of the Strand Book Store, it would be putting a "bureaucratic noose" around the business, says owner Nancy Bass Wyden. "The Strand survived through my dad and grandfather's very hard work," Wyden says, and now the city wants to "take a piece of it."
Opened by her grandfather, Benjamin Bass, in 1927, the Strand is New York City's last great bookstore—a four-story literary emporium crammed with 18 miles of merchandise stuffed into towering bookcases arranged along narrow passageways. It's the last survivor of the world-famous Booksellers Row, a commercial district comprised of about 40 secondhand dealers along Fourth Avenue below Union Square.
Written, shot, and edited by Jim Epstein. Hosted by Nick Gillespie. Additional camera by Kevin Alexander.
Music: Eubie Blake, "Charleston Rag" and "Chevy Chase"; Johnny Otis his Drums & his Orchestra, "Harlem Nocturne"; The Charlie Shavers Quintet, "Dizzy's Dilemma"; Sharkey & His Kings of Dixieland, "Peculiar Rag." Source: The Great 78 Project, Archive.org.