| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Genre | focus on left-wing politics |
| Founded | Venice, California, United States (1970) |
| Defunct | June 2, 2004 [1] |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 1 |
Key people | Margie Ghiz, final owner [2] |
| Products | book retailer |
| Website | www.msbooks.com (defunct) |
The Midnight Special Bookstore was an independent bookstore in southern California. It catered to a leftist clientele. [3] [4] Its merchandise and events emphasized current events such as the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, [5] the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, [6] the Chinese democracy movement [7] and U.S. intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq. [8]
Founded in 1970 as a co-op in Venice, [3] the shop "was run predominantly by volunteers" until around 1985. [5]
In 1980 [5] it moved from Venice to 1350 Third Street [9] (also known as 1350 Santa Monica Mall [10] ) in Santa Monica, then in 1992 [5] moved again to 1318 Third Street Promenade. [11] [12] For more than ten years, the mall's landlord charged the shop less rent than other tenants were paying, [13] but with a change in management and success in attracting upscale tenants, the mall operator asked for an increase that would "more than double" [2] the rent. For this reason, the bookstore moved out of its Third Street location in March 2003. [4] Its stock was kept in storage for eight months. In November 2003, [8] [14] [15] the store reopened at 1450 Second Street [16] [17] [18] in Santa Monica, then finally closed around June 2, 2004. [1] Its owner cited weak sales and continuing financial difficulties as the reason for closing:
Unfortunately, the delay was too great and our debts grew with the delays. Only local outlets of major chains can afford the losses that come with opening stores; even though our sales were steadily growing, it was not fast enough to keep us going until we could sustain ourselves. [1]
Authors who appeared at the shop:
Among other people who made appearances at the shop were filmmakers Robert Greenwald [22] and Oliver Stone, [5] actor David Warshofsky, [22] Elaine Brown of the Black Panther Party, UCLA professor Khaled Abou El Fadl; and musicians Dave Marsh, Jello Biafra, Frank Zappa [5] and Ray Manzarek. [25]