Tales of Wild and Crazy Bookseller Behavior From the 1970s,<\/h1>\n
Some of it Actually True<\/strong><\/p>\n by Paul Hunt<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n Mark Sailor Lands a Job at Hollywood Book City<\/b><\/p>\n Mark Sailor landed at Hollywood Book City sometime in the mid 1970s. \u00a0At that time, Book City was in its growing years, expanding from one store to three storefronts on Hollywood Blvd. \u00a0The Store was started by Jerry Weinstein, of the famous Weinstein booksellers. \u00a0I knew them all except one of the sisters, and I can tell you they were bibliophiles through and through. \u00a0There’s been a few family book dynasties in Southern California, The Dawsons and the Duttons come to mind, but the Weinsteins outnumber any other contenders in all fields, they opened book shops around Southern California, often competing with one another, sometimes squabbling with each other,\u00a0sometimes partnering up, but usually a\u00a0fiercely independent group, helping each other only in the direst of circumstances.<\/p>\n Hollywood Book City<\/p><\/div>\n When Jerry started Hollywood Book City, he was already a veteran bookseller. \u00a0As I remember, he was first involved with Universal Books, which was down east of Vine Street. \u00a0Jerry was somewhat desperate to find a suitable partner for the Book City store, someone who could lend a hand but also pump in some desperately needed capital. The desperation was so bad that he even asked me, which was really a joke, I was driving a cab and barely had enough to eat much less that strange word “capital”. \u00a0 At the time, his sister lived in New York and was married to a man named Alan Siegel, who did have some money. \u00a0Jerry convinced them to come out West. \u00a0It was a good partnership for a while, but Jerry’s wife did not get along with Jerry’s sister, and that led to a breakup, with Alan running the Hollywood Store and Jerry heading out to the San Fernando Valley, where he started Valley Book City. \u00a0More on this Weinstein saga later (maybe), for now we are at the juncture of Mark Sailor drifting into Hollywood Book City and getting a job working with Jerry.<\/p>\n Hollywood was thriving in those days. \u00a0Book shops lined the street, and all retail was booming. \u00a0Most folks think that working in a book shop is a great life: \u00a0you could just sit around reading books all day, making an occasional sale. \u00a0How wrong, wrong, wrong you would be if you believe that nonsense, especially if you were talking about the weirdest place on earth, the center of the spinning vortex of strange behavior: \u00a0Hollywood<\/em>. \u00a0Let us never forget that Hollywood and the surrounding area was founded by some wonderful but far out religious cults and communes and their occult and secret marks are still on the land. \u00a0I have written about this before, and intend to expand on it in the future.<\/p>\n Whatever Mark Sailor knew about bookselling, he probably got a shock working at Book City. The street was full of weird people, who would often come into your shop and drive you nuts. \u00a0I worked at several bookshops in Hollywood, and there was never a dull moment. \u00a0Nutcakes were especially more obnoxious at night, stealing books, tearing out pages, pissing in a back isle, eating gooey food they had sneaked in, on and on. \u00a0Some were so smelly you had to eject them right away or they would run off your other customers. And then there were the robbers, often with guns and\/or knives, intent on getting a handful of cash from your register to buy enough drugs to make it through the night. All the above remarks apply only to the other booksellers on the street. \u00a0 The patrons were even worse.<\/p>\n How Mark Sailor Met Famous Actor Will Sampson<\/strong><\/p>\n Will Sampson<\/p><\/div>\n Mark Sailor was in the middle of this inferno, starting out as a clerk, putting brodarts on books, cleaning up, trying to remain positive. \u00a0He was tall and thin, with thick glasses, an infectious smile and so good natured that I thought he wasn’t 100% human- I never saw him in a bad mood. \u00a0One night Will Sampson, the Native American actor who was just starting his acting career, came into Book City. Mark said he was drunk. He was a big guy, 6’5\u201d and a tough former rodeo rider. He was in a rage about the white man and all the things they did to the American Indians. (We all agree with him on that issue). For some reason he grabbed Mark, taking him completely by surprise and got him in a headlock. He then marched him up and down Hollywood Boulevard, all the while ranting and screaming about the evil white man. \u00a0Mark thought he was going to die. \u00a0Sampson was so strong that Mark, thin and wispy, couldn’t break loose, and the big Indian dragged him around the Boulevard like he was a rag doll. \u00a0After a while, he calmed down, let Mark go, and staggered off. \u00a0 As far as we know,\u00a0even after Will sobered up, they\u00a0did not become fast friends. So much for the pleasant evenings working in a bookstore in Hollywood. \u00a0After that, Mark became wary of anyone entering the store and getting too close to him. \u00a0This story came via Cliff, who got it from Mark before he died.<\/p>\n Mark’s Book Shop on North Lake near Washington, Pasadena<\/p><\/div>\n Mark went on to work at other bookshops, like Cliff’s in Pasadena. \u00a0Mark became a first-rate bookseller. \u00a0He opened his own stores at various times. \u00a0I think his first one was on North Lake Street. Alan Siegel, owner of Hollywood Book City very generously paid for the first months rent, last months rent and security deposit to help Mark get a start. It was a nice shop, but about a year or two after opening the landlord decided to have the building re-roofed, and as soon as the old roof was taken off, an unexpected rain storm came, ruining Mark’s entire stock of books. \u00a0The jerk roofer left town, never to be called into account, and Mark had a bad time getting any recompense from the landlord. As the saying goes, “life ain’t for sissy’s”<\/em><\/p>\n When Mark first got the shop opened, Alan sent Ivan Chertoff up to help Mark put plastic Brodarts on the dust jackets of his books. \u00a0This was a job that Ivan had at Hollywood Books City, where he had hung out for years, not really an “official employee”, but helped Alan around the shop for lunch money. \u00a0I met “Ivan” many times at Book City, and frankly always felt that he had more than a few screws loose. \u00a0His real name, by the way, was Aaron Sotland according to Cliff. \u00a0I have no idea why he donned the moniker of “Ivan”, but other customers at Book City called him the crazy Russian. \u00a0When the moon was full, look out, he could fly off the handle. \u00a0Mark worked at Book City during this time, and certainly knew Ivan, so some kind of deal was made for Ivan to lend a hand to Mark in his new shop. \u00a0Alan probably needed a breather, another good reason aside from the obvious charitable one, to “loan” his ace Brodarter<\/em> to Mark.<\/p>\n “Ivan” died a few years ago of cancer. \u00a0Mark went to the hospital to see him, but Ivan refused to talk to him, angrily and loudly proclaiming that Mark owed him money, possibly from the days of disaster at the Book Company. \u00a0Ivan died the next day. \u00a0My only thought is that if you are on death’s door why worry about a few bucks that someone owes you? \u00a0You aren’t going to take it to wherever you might be headed. \u00a0Somewhere I have a photo of Ivan getting an award from the City of L.A. or some Library Group, I’ll post it when I find it.<\/p>\n Another interesting thing that Cliff told me recently is that when he was younger he dated Mark’s mother Marilyn. \u00a0Small world, eh? I will update this post in the future, with some photos of Mark, as soon as I find them. \u00a0I also need to check with Cliff to get more information on his death. \u00a0I know he went into the Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, he wasn’t feeling well. \u00a0He was put into an induced coma, which he never came out of.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (updated with more information 11-17-2016) Tales of Wild and Crazy Bookseller Behavior From the 1970s, Some of it Actually True by Paul Hunt ***** Mark Sailor Lands a Job at Hollywood Book City Mark Sailor landed at Hollywood Book City … Continue reading ![\"Hollywood](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bookstorememories.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/388508-R1-007-2-e1461110104240-1024x691.jpg?resize=584%2C394\")
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<\/p>\n![\"IMG_3896\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bookstorememories.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_3896-e1461111321758-768x1024.jpg?resize=584%2C779\")
Later, he had another shop called The Owl Bookshop. \u00a0I was never there, but found an old business card that I’m reproducing here. \u00a0Mark helped out Cliff with bookselling and bookkeeping until his death a few years back. \u00a0He was a sweet guy, always polite and seemed to keep his cool, even under some of the difficult circumstances in his life.<\/p>\n