Gotham Book Mart
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Gotham Book Mart, in operation from 1920 to 2007, was a famous midtown Manhattan bookstore and cultural landmark. The business was located first in a small basement space on West 45th Street near the Theater District, it then moved to 51 West 47th Street, then spent many years at 41 West 47th Street within the Diamond District in Manhattan, New York City, before finally moving to 16 East 46th Street. Beyond merely selling books, the store virtually played as a literary salon, hosting meetings of the Finnegans Wake Society, the James Joyce Society, poetry and author readings, art exhibits, and more. It was known for its distinctive sign above the door which read, "Wise Men Fish Here" (sign created by artist John Held, Jr.). The store specialized in poetry, literature, books about theater, art, music and dance. It sold both new books as well as out-of-print and rare books.
Major authors & celebrities linked to the store
Many notable authors, celebrities, and major figures involved in publishing where customers of the store and friends with the owners and staff. The Nobel Prize committee in Stockholm was known to order copies of books from the Gotham when they were considering various authors for the prize.
Authors & celebrities who frequented and shopped at the store:
- Edward Albee
- Woody Allen
- W. H. Auden
- Warren Beatty
- Saul Bellow
- Alexander Calder
- Truman Capote
- Dick Cavett
- Charlie Chaplin
- Ina Claire
- Jean Cocteau
- Melora Creager
- E.E. Cummings
- Don DeLillo
- Theodore Dreiser
- Buckminster Fuller
- Allen Ginsberg (worked as a clerk at the Gotham)
- John Guare
- George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin
- Edward Gorey
- Martha Graham
- Lillian Hellman
- Katharine Hepburn
- LeRoi Jones (worked as a clerk at the Gotham)
- James Joyce
- Garson Kanin
- Alison Lurie
- Norman Mailer
- H. L. Mencken
- Arthur Miller
- Henry Moore
- Marianne Moore
- Christopher Morley
- Eugene O'Neill
- Anaïs Nin
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
- John Dos Passos
- George Plimpton
- Ezra Pound
- Man Ray
- Philip Roth
- J. D. Salinger
- Marian Seldes
- Dame Edith Sitwell
- Patti Smith
- Stephen Spender
- Gertrude Stein
- Roger W. Straus
- Dylan Thomas
- John Updike
- Rudolph Valentino
- Gore Vidal
- Jose Garcia Villa
- Andy Warhol
- Thornton Wilder
- Tennessee Williams (worked as clerk at the store, lasting less than a day)
