America, Musings, Travel

A Hidden Bookstore Gem in NYC

Suzanne

I happily read Janis’s account of her recent road trip and discovering an extraordinary bookshop. It made me think about the bookshops Les, and I had stumbled across while strolling along city streets, especially one where somebody can find the real heart and soul of a city in iconic places that have defined cool since “cool” became a word.

Three Lives and Company – Greenwich, New York City

Les outside Three Lives and Company before we entered – 2016

In 2019, this bookshop was revamped with structural work after 40-odd years of it’s existence, and by all accounts, when its doors were closed, the locals went into mourning as they thought it was gone forever. Even during our short visit, you could feel the bohemian love this corner bookstore is endowed with, which apparently may have been stripped away with the structural work.

Inside the Three Lives and Company Bookstore

After further reading, I found that the little shop on the corner of Waverly Place and West 10th Street has remained more or less exactly as it was when we visited in 2016: the Platonic ideal of a friendly and wonderfully curated store with literate staff who liked books. The new owners, who purchased the bookstore from the original owners in 2001, served us.

 New York City West Village

The shop’s name refers to the three women who founded it. It’s not the Gertrude Stein novel, though there is a little picture of Stein on the wall. It was 1978 when Jill Dunbar, Jenny Feder and Helene Webb opened the shop on Seventh Avenue and 1983 when they moved the store to its current location. New York was in the doldrums, and Greenwich Village was still its old and shabby self. The neighbourhood had plenty of bookshops then, as did many other countries and people inhabited them the way they hang out in cafes now, except bookshops rarely sold coffee, food, or souvenirs. What they had were books, companionship, and ideas shared. I do not doubt that many relationships were established as plenty of people met in bookshops.

We remember leaving the store feeling welcomed, as if we had entered a local’s home. These are good memories, and every time I enter our local one, Books a Plenty just down the road, I recall a few others that had the same effect on me.

Thanks, Janis, for leading me down memory lane and motivating me to write this post. Check out Janis’s post below, which details a fantastic bookstore.

A Book Lover’s Wonderland

As a side note, which I will write more about later, a story of mine has had the privilege of being amongst the contributions of other excellent writers within a published book by a contributing editor Marsha – Story Chat Vol. II, which can be purchased via Kindle or in paper form from Amazon

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Published by Suzanne

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37 thoughts on “A Hidden Bookstore Gem in NYC”

    1. You’re right and those that survive have a very loyal following. I think that there will always be a place for independent shops. I dislike malls and much prefer to walk down a street and pop into shops that grab my attention.

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  3. Thanks, Suzanne, for keeping this story going. I’d love it if more bloggers wrote about special indie bookstores they’ve discovered. Three Lives & Company sounds wonderful. If I ever got back to NYC, I will check it out for sure.

    Thanks also for the link to my post. Independent bookstores – and their owners – need to be celebrated.

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    1. You are most welcome, Janis and yes independent bookstores do need to be celebrated. I will have to do a wee write up about our local one which is doing amazing considering the city centre is having a total makeover.

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  4. I love this, Suzanne. Your post sort of reminds me of the story and movie of a million years ago, “You’ve Got Mail.” Janis’ story reminded me of Powell Books in Portland, if you’ve ever been there. It’s huge—about a block square and like a maze inside. My brother and I go there almost every time I visit.

    Thanks for the mention of Story Chat. We’re working on being #1. I’ll look forward to your post on your blog and if you get a chance a review on Amazon. They are already starting to come in. 🙂 YAY!

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    1. Thanks Jo that’s very kind of you. Yes, I found out that I needed to have a few books before we headed over to Spain and Portugal. Though to be fair I wasn’t reading many books while we travelled as blogging and researching various places to housesit took most of my time. Oxfam shops are wonderful and purchased a few things when I needed more layers to keep warm.

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  8. The one in Alnwick that I have written about is special, and there is a quirky secondhand bookshop above a café in St Just, the most westerly town in mainland Britain. I can’t resist bookstores, especially secondhand ones, NT places often have one and you never know what you might find.

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    1. Oh yes, secondhand bookstores and their owners are so randomly wonderful. I have known previous local ones to know exactly where a book was placed in her numerous shelves. I used to take Mum there on a regular basis years ago. The UK bookstores in the old character filled buildings were fun and to be honest I think we preferred doing that than going through another church. Thanks for sharing the bookstore in Alnwick.

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  14. Bookstores are a rarity here in the United States, particularly independents. I think you would appreciate City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. Seventy-one years old, founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and frequented by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Norman Mailer. I try to visit whenever I take a drive into the City.

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    1. Yes, I would appreciate that bookstore. I’m very likely to visit though many other readers on here may be very tempted to head over that way. I might have to create another post with the bookstores that have been mentioned. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Yep, I certainly don’t need anymore either and now use a Kindle which is no where near as lovely as holding real book. Just more convenient at 3am to read without turning the light on 😉

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