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Bill had been the manager of Gilbert’s Bookshop on Hollywood Blvd just east of Vine.\u00a0 The store was owned by Ed Gilbert, who was married to one of the daughters of Edgar Rice Burroughs.\u00a0 According to Bill Chase, Ed started in the book business by taking over the Satyr Bookshop on Vine.\u00a0 I am assuming that it occured when Stanley Rose moved to Hollywood Blvd.\u00a0 Possibly Rose split with his partner Gordon,\u00a0 I don’t know this for sure.\u00a0 The details of the transaction are unknown, but later Gilbert moved around the corner on to Hollywood Blvd., where he stayed for over 40 years.\u00a0 Bill Chase was manager for most of that time.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Wayne Braby<\/p>\n

A really colorful character, not mentioned in the LAist piece, was a guy named Larry Edmunds..\u00a0 He was evidently a partner of Stanley Rose.\u00a0 In the 1930s he developed a talent,\u00a0 possibly learned from Rose, to peddle books to the movie studio executives.\u00a0 The rumor that I picked up over the\u00a0 years was that the books that Edmunds flogged to the studios were, let’s say, of the more prurient type, not available in any bookstore.\u00a0 Edmunds was known eventually as “The\u00a0 Lothario of Hollywood Blvd.”, and a detailed piece about him was once published in an old issue of Los Angeles Magazine.<\/p>\n

The LAist article mentions the heavy drinking that went on around Rose’s Hollywood Blvd. store.\u00a0 Larry Edmunds, a young man at the time, was also a big boozer, which led to his horrible demise.\u00a0 He was also described as a good looking young man who was really popular with the many movie studio secretaries who he met while visiting the studios.\u00a0 The rumors were that he also had flings with some of the wives of\u00a0 the studio executives.\u00a0 \u00a0At some point Edmunds had a falling out with Rose,\u00a0 or was cast loose when Rose\u00a0 closed his store.\u00a0 \u00a0Edmunds was on his own, and opened his own shop on Cahuenga Blvd., just south of Hollywood Blvd.\u00a0 I think the whole building he\u00a0 was in was torn down or remodled and like many of the landmarks of old Hollywood, is now gone forever.<\/p>\n

Someday, if\u00a0 there is any interest, I’ll write down what I know about that colorful guy Larry Edmunds, and trace the history of his shop\u00a0 which is still operating today on Hollywood Blvd.,\u00a0 although it has gone through other owners and is now the only surviving book store left on Hollywood Blvd., specializing in the memorabilia of\u00a0 Hollywood..<\/p>\n

Stanley Rose was actually a great promoter of authors, and as told by the good LAist article, helped some of our home-grown authors get published.\u00a0 He was one\u00a0 of a\u00a0 kind, and despite the heavy\u00a0 boozing, ran a very unique book store which was a watering hole for many of our best authors. It was a good place to hang out.\u00a0 We have nothing like this today.\u00a0 Even in the heyday of Hollywood bookstores, 1970s-1980s, I can’t recall any place like it.\u00a0 In fact, many of the book stores discouraged people to just hang around..\u00a0 Even Barnes and Noble removed most of\u00a0 their chairs and couches after experimenting with the idea of creating a welcome\u00a0 space.\u00a0 Too many homeless folks would\u00a0 just park themselves in the store all day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"