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Two years ago Gotham Book Mart, a “literary landmark”, was saved from collapse by two anonymous do-gooders (which have been recently revealed as Leonard Lauder, the cosmetics billionaire, who shares an interest in antique postcards with Mr. Brown, and Edmondo Schwartz, a real estate developer) who pitched in at the last minute to arrange the purchase of a $5 million building to be the new home of the bookstore.
The issue is, after recieving this rather charitable gift, it only took Gotham Book Store about a year to stop paying rent. Now the owners of the building are trying to evict GBM and its owner Andreas Brown claiming that he owes more than $500,000 in rent, taxes, interest and other fees.
In papers filed during eviction proceedings in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Mr. Brown pleaded with Mr. Schwartz to give him a reprieve. “I am doing my utmost to save the Gotham Book Mart from closing, but I am a 73-year-old man who is recovering from his third hernia operation,” Mr. Brown said in an affidavit in April. He noted that fans of the Gotham have included Arthur Miller, John Updike, Tennessee Williams, Ezra Pound, J. D. Salinger, Katharine Hepburn and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, among others.
“It will be New York City’s loss as well if the Gotham Book Mart is evicted and effectively shut down,” he said.
Everytime a Gotham Book Mart dies, a Barnes & Noble gets its wings.
Again, Gotham Book Mart Finds Itself in Need of Rescue [NYT]
Photo courtesy of pheezy’s Flickr
—admin
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