By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Thursday July 02, 2009
Who could have foreseen, in 1959 when Moe and Barb Moskowitz founded
fabled, semi-eponymous Moe's Books, that the 50th anniversary would
be celebrated in the Telegraph Avenue store from 3 to 8 p. m.,
Saturday July 11, at full gale force, with hula dancing by Hui Hula o
na Pu'u i ka Noe, cake, balloons, door prizesand The Duke of Windsor as host?
Moe, if not in the Almanach de Gotha, was certainly used-book gentry,
elevated from yeoman shelver to the manor. (He also once played that
sublime, potty-mouth usurper, King Ubu, on the boards for the Living
Theare.) But his surprise would certainly be tempered by discovery of
The Duke's full titleprefixed by "DJ."
So there'll be helium and sweets, and dancing in the stacks. And for
the first 50 guests, a commemorative bag designed by Gregoire Vion,
featuring an image of Moe offering a toast.
"We have survived and even enjoyed the turbulence of these exciting
decades," remarked Doris Moskowitz, Moe and Barb's daughter. "We
protested in the '60s, relished hot new tunes from all genres in the
'70s and '80s, ate wonderful food from the Gourmet Ghetto in the
'90s, and shared our green consciousness with everyone."
Sadly, the celebration won't feature the namesake himself, the
fragrance of his cigar or his triumphant roar, equally of glee and
irritation. But Moe's presence pervades the store, on all its four
levels, with photos, placards, memorabiliaand the green
consciousness of "Moe Money," the tradeslips bearing a Lincolnor
Ahabesque rendering of the Founder on its face.
Moe, née Morris, hailed from Queens, via the East Village. A dropout
from his own Bar Mitzvah, he was affiliated with the Young Communist
League and various anarchist circles, protesting the Second World War
as a pacificist, enduring arrest several times.
Merchant Marine A. B., poolshark, housepainter, Good Humor man,
standee at the opera, frequenter of jazz clubs, closet violinist
(till a shipmate chucked it overboard), Moe brought his motley resumé
west in 1955, bound for Berkeley, where he married Barbara Stevens, a
founder of Walden School. The two opened The Paperback Bookshop on
Shattuck; Moe made picture frames in the back room.
In 1963, the storewhich has had five locationsrelocated to
Telegraph Avenue, just as the scene there went into full swing. In
the basement was a pool table, then used LP's. Just as several other
bookstores figured as predecessors or descendents of Moe's (though
mention of affiliation was not always welcome), so a few of the
best-known music stores, small presses and poster businesses came
through or out of the store on Telegraph. (One version of the tale,
told by various players, is featured as an issue of Cometbus, on sale
at the Moe's counter.)
Views of the store were featured in the 1967 Mike Nichols film, The
Graduate (a still of the Ave. and Moe's storefront, out the window of
Cafe Med past Dustin Hoffman's face, is behind the counter.) Moe was
busted for selling "dirty books"Zap and Snatch Comix, the Scum
Manifesto, Ron Cobb cartoonsin 1968; in the '70s he debated members
of GASP (Group Against Smokers Pollution) and went to court over his
right to smoke Macanudos and Upmanns in his own shop. (The judge
ruled he could smoke behind the counter.) David LanceGoines designed
a sign for the store: "Everything Not Prohibited Is Compulsory."
Moe died, appropriately enough for a devotee of Rabelais, April 1,
1997, at age 76, after a full shift at the store. April 21, a
"Moe-Morial" hosted by the store, was declared Moe Day in
proclamation by Mayor Shirley Dean: "Whereas, Moe probably would've
laughed at a proclamation like this ..." The Cal Jazz Band played,
Julia Vinograd read poetry ... and the store carried on.
"You have to understand, I'm a businessman by default," Moe once
said, " ... I could have been an employee, but I couldn't have gotten
along with an employer."
(A letter fromand reply tothe future anarchist bookseller, querying
an article in Politics, 1944, by Dwight Macdonald, may be found
online at moesbooks.com, along with more Moe info and photo archives.)
Maybe the best tribute came years before Moe trekked West, when
Judith Malina of the Living Theatre said, "Moe Moskowitz, the
anarchists' Isis, is our Ubu."
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