Creative Writing: Historic Mansion Flats

I'm standing on the corner of F and 19th street in Downtown, Sacramento. Victorian Arts and Crafts homes line the streets, spilling onto the sidewalk as they jostle for your attention. Larger than life elm trees punctuate a plethora of parked cars, their leaves gently rustling in the breeze. Occasionally, the odd person buzzes hesitantly by. Time seems to creep slothly by in this sleepy part of town.

This is pretty much the border between the rapidly rejuvenating Historic Mansion Flats neighbourhood, and its more grandiose cousin, Boulevard Park. It's a far cry from the grit, razzledazzle, and hustle/bustle of a New York, Paris or even a San Francisco for that matter. Then a guy with a thunderous, blaring boombox rides by and I am suddenly

Nobody chose them for me,” Press says with pride. “Wow so its sort of hand curated…” I reply. He nods appreciatively — the way one can only act when you feel a deep sense of accomplishment — before adding, “So much of a bookshop is about the personality of the owner.” Sitting inside his shop, there’s no denying that Press has got a point here.

Over and above the fact that in most of the historic examples I can think of (i.e Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter Martin at City Lights in San Francisco or George Whitman at Shakespeare and Co. in Paris) the bookseller’s personality is usually painstakingly etched into the walls, so much of Press bookshop is about him. In fact, it’s probably the absolute embodiment of his life.

A Californian by birth, Press has a wide range of interests. He holds a BA in Political Science, an MA in Library Science (both from UC Berkeley), and a PhD in Middle Eastern Anthropology from Dropsie University in Philadelphia. So naturally there is a near constant aura of past importance and intellectual curiosity about him and you see all of this reflected in the books he collects, the furniture he displays, the artwork he hangs on the walls and you feel it in the overall atmosphere of the shop. Safe to say, entering the space is a real