street now called Abbot Kinney Boulevard, the Midnight Special Bookstore grew out of the civil rights movement into a powerhouse that spent more than two decades on the Promenade. It moved to Second Street last winter after its longtime landlord decided he could no longer subsidize the bookstore’s rent. But foot traffic was light on Second Street, and Ghiz said it would have taken another year for sales to offset expenses.
Over the decades, millions of volunteer hours were spent in the store — painting, building shelves, helping move boxes of books, even providing professional services such as accounting and legal counsel. Profits, Ghiz said, were rare and always were reinvested back into the bookstore.
“The height of prosperity was, I think, the entire time — in terms of people, attendance at events, interest, our reach,” Ghiz said. “We have repeat customers from all over Europe, and Japan... That, to me, is the height. It never lessened. The money was up and down, but the money was always [there] because we were subsidized by the Marks family. I just put the money right back into it.
“Bookstores don’t make money, really.”
Asked what she planned to do next, once the store is emptied, Ghiz replied, “I don’t know. I’ve been so wrapped up in this store, I have to take some time of separation. I answer the phone, ‘Margie, Midnight Special’ — even when I’m home sometimes.”
Competing bookstores might be where some of Ghiz’s small group of dedicated workers land next. A few said they wanted to stay in the book business, and others said they didn’t. Though their wages weren’t high, all workers at the bookstore were given full health benefits.
“I’ve made my peace with it,” said Jason Haldemen, 33, who’s worked in the store for four years. “To me it’s an opportunity to move onto other things. It isn’t saddening, it’s frustrating.”
Haldemen said he plans to send his resume to a variety of production and post-production houses, collect unemployment checks and use any spare time he has to write.
But for workers such as general manager Ruben Perez, 28, a Santa Monica High School graduate, unemployment checks won’t be enough.
Ruben worked at Midnight Special nearly 12 years. He has two young daughters and a third on her way. Add to that the mortgage Ruben pays on a house he and his wife bought in Riverside just two months before Ghiz decided to close Midnight Special, and Ruben’s financial situation becomes clearer. His pregnant wife stays at home and cares for their two daughters.
“All my education that I got, it’s all here,”
“I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” — said Ruben, who also purchased the store’s Spanish titles
Ruben started working at the bookstore when he was a Samohi freshmen, and dropped out of SMC after two years to focus on work and make more money for his family.
Shortly after the doors closed Thursday afternoon, Ghiz hosted her fellow independent booksellers from around Los Angeles at a final Midnight Special event, over drinks. Then Ghiz opened up what was left of her collection and invited her colleagues to take the books they wanted.
“I’d rather have them have them, because they understand. They don’t just stick them on their shelves and forget,” said Ghiz, adding she planned to give any leftover books to charity.
Local leaders rallied behind the bookstore after it closed its Promenade store. They called it a community asset that needed to be preserved. Despite that backing, Ghiz, after renting the Second Street location, said she was hamstrung for months by delays in City Hall. While she was juggling City Hall, her contractor and her architect, Ghiz continued to pay $15,000 a month in rent.
Rob York, a consultant that has tracked businesses downtown for more than a dozen years, said the closing of Midnight Special is bad for the community and bad for business.
“I think it’s a huge disappointment,” York said Thursday. “It was an opportunity for Midnight Special to kind of go into this next phase, and also could have been a very positive thing for Second Street... There were just a lot of issues that came home to roost and, unfortunately, the book business is among the most difficult there is to be involved in.”
Despite the difficult odds, the Midnight Special managed to reach a diverse group of customers, many of whom were present during the store’s final moments.
The store was busier in its last two days than it had been since opening on Second Street. Lines stretched back from both front registers Thursday afternoon, and customers lingered inside long after the front door was closed and locked for good. The door was first closed just minutes after 3 p.m., but reopened for another 30 minutes so more supporters could filter in.
A couple of customers in the store snapped photos. Others walked between the bookshelves and looked through the remaining collection as they talked about the store’s demise.
“I’m not living in LA since 1996, but every time I come back, I come to this store,” said customer Wenqing Kang. Kang, 40, is a graduate student who lives in Santa Cruz.
“It’s very sad to me,” added Kang, who carried in a bag two Chinese history books he had bought minutes earlier. “It’s really sad. But I bought some books. These are the classics of my field. I bought them as a souvenir. I read them before.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 9, 2004. Read the original PDF.