What do you think of this photo of me? I ask my daughter Julia.

It’s fine. But where are you? Who is that man holding a peace sign by your head?

I’m in New York in a magazine shop. That’s Mo. Actually, no that’s Ali.

You are so weird, she says, and pads off in her pyjamas.

It’s 3pm so I think the pyjamas are doubling as day wear. Living with a teen is interesting. I can’t understand how she can slop around all day in her pj’s. And she can’t understand why  I prefer getting dressed, going outside and meeting strangers who hold peace signs by my head. But then again, she’s never been to Casa Magazines. If you love magazines – and who doesn’t – then time to get out of your pj’s and head to this shoebox sized gem in New York’s West Village.

You name it, Casa’s got it. With over 3,000 current magazines ranging from fashion, art and design to architecture, entertainment and sports, this packed to the gills ant-size establishment is guaranteed to please. The shop has  stacks of titles in every conceivable space, including the ceiling. Casa has won awards  for “Best Use of Limited Store Space”.  It has several glossies that I have not only never heard of, but can’t quite fathom what they’re about, like …

or others that are stunningly beautiful …

While  a lot of newsagents have closed as people read more and more on-line, Casa is going strong. The shop is so busy I have to time my questions to Ali – who is either tracking down titles or hi-fiving regulars – to whenever he has a spare moment. Magazines can cost anything from a few dollars to a hundred and climbing, like this one…

Or this one …

with its gorgeous images inside …

At the helm is Ali who knows where every magazine is without the aid of computers.

It’s all in my brain, he tells me.

When I ask him how long he has worked at Casa, he answers

Since before Columbus. Mo is my boss, (Mo below)

but I run the show (Mo wasn’t there when Ali made this assertion). I am his right-hand man.

The morning I visit several regulars drop in looking for a specific title or just to say hi. One woman comes in to get the latest copy of ‘Interview’ magazine.

My uncle’s house in Rome is on the cover, she explains proudly.

Another customer from Mexico City asks about an obscure magazine called ‘Vanity Teen’ He shows Ali a photo of it on his phone. Ali thinks for a second, darts over to a pile in the corner and produces it.

This is the best magazine shop in the city, the Mexican tells me.

A man walking his lab, pops in, grabs a magazine and tells Ali as he leaves that he’s left the money by the cash register. Two NYPD police officers are hanging out, sipping coffees, clearly regulars. When I ask Ali what are some of the more unusual requests he’s gotten. One of the officers pipes in.

There was that woman who came in, looked around and said, ‘Oh you won’t have it.” Then you said ‘Try me’, and you did have it. It was called something like O’Reilly. Maybe like the Irish spelling?

Like the star, adds another customer glancing at an architecture magazine.

Casa may be tiny, but that doesn’t stop those in the neighbourhood or further afield from dropping by to browse and chat and buy. If I lived in Manhattan, I know I’d be a regular too.

May, 2016

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Three Lives has been around for nearly forty years. It was originally started by three women, hence its name taken after American writer Gertrude Stein’s first published book.  (other blog: Tender Buttons on the Upper East Side is another NYC shop honouring Stein with its name)

When the women wanted to retire they sold Three Lives  to its current owner and friend of the shop Toby Cox in 2001. Originally from Marin County, Cox was doing marketing for Random House in Manhattan at the time. He  realised that his true passion was selling books to readers, not stores.  He is still very much behind the till, choosing and arranging books and serving customers.

(pic of  Toby Cox on right and staffer Troy Chatterton on left)

Cox attributes the shop’s longevity to three things:

The beautiful space these women created, the books on display and the people that work here.

He moves books around constantly,  every day to keep the space looking fresh and dynamic.

You move one book and it changes everything. I then have to change the whole look to the annoyance of everyone here. A book that was just on the front table has moved to the back of the shop.

A passion for reading is shared by all of the 8-strong staff plus Cox. Toby Chatterton explains:

We love reading and we get really excited about turning people onto books that we’re reading. I think we’re known for giving recommendations and we build relationships with customers.

Below are some of Chatterton’s top picks.

Carol Wald, one of two employees who has worked at Three Lives since before Cox took over,  reads a book a week and would work here for free.

I get to talk to smart people, interesting people all day long about books that I love and about culture and every two weeks I get paid. Seriously, I get my pay-check and I’m like ‘Oh!’ I would do this for free.

Three Lives isn’t big or flashy. It barely promotes itself, and it hasn’t changed much over the years despite the advent of chains, Amazon and e-readers. Instead Cox works hard to maintain the essence of this jewel box.

When Hanya Yanagihara author of A Little Life – shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize  and a  National Book Award finalist – recently spoke at the shop, Three Lives softly advertised the event with a mention in its newsletter and a small poster in the window. Instead, the staff focuses its energy reading and recommending books to its loyal clientele, as well as newbies, like me. I did not leave empty-handed.

The shop has very little signage to encourage browsing and conversation. When I was there, a regular spent a good twenty minutes talking to Wald about books, hopping from one title to another in bookworm-ese. And when Wald recommended  “The Sellout” by Paul Beatty to me, a fellow customer chimed in.

It’s so so good. It’s really funny, and it gets into your gut at the same time. Beatty is saying things that are so important. I just finished it so I am very excited by it.

Chatterton manages the ‘Book of the Month Club’ where he meets with the person who is giving the gift or signing up for it. Chatterton  chats with them, sees what kind of reader they are, what they’re looking for and then sends them a book every month.

We send them a new book, and it’s always something that either we’re really excited about or that one of has read and loved.

Of course, like any thriving community focal point, the staff are just as happy to discuss the news or the weather, as what terrific book they’ve just finished.

April, 2016

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It’s my life. It’s odd to say that my life is devoted to a button, but there is so much to that little thing, so much history, said Safro.

Each button has a story to tell from Civil War buttons and buckles to early 20th c. Italian glass scarab fasteners made popular after the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb,

to inexpensive, chunky 1930’s Bakelite baubles during the Depression.

Safro and Epstein learned on the job, becoming  more and more passionate about buttons as they realised how much there was to learn.

What I love about buttons is that each one is like a tiny, evocative event. They celebrate historical incidents, serve as a microcosm of the culture from which they arise, and reflect the aesthetic sensibilities of their time, said Safro in a button-sized book called The Button Book written by Epstein twenty years ago.

The two traveled to a cave in Brussels, the top of a fjord in Finland, a souk in Cairo, a chateau in France amongst other exotic destinations, all in their quest to find the perfect button or a castle of them.

Over the years I’ve gotten to know every button producer everywhere…We source rare buttons.

The long, skinny shop  is lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with specially-made grey cardboard boxes, each box classified with a hand-written label, with captions like  “A Passage to India” or “Homage to Mondrian”. The boxes sit 90 across and 37 high, making for a lot of buttons, over a million in fact.

The shop celebrated its recent 50th anniversary with these buttons.

Fancy a horn button for your tweed blazer? Safro has got over twenty shades of brown for you. Glass, porcelain, pearl, ivory, jade, shell, horn and plastic, as well as gold, silver, brass and copper are available in this calm refuge, a  mecca for button collectors, fashionistas, historians, designers, art and craft enthusiasts, and regular Joes passing by. The buttons are red and blue, pink and yellow.

There are yellow and green pepper buttons.

There are Alice in Wonderland and  the Cheshire Cat buttons.

There are buttons to suit every fancy in this deceptively packed button-lover’s paradise. Even the Zen Master looking for a “button for levitation” and the woman seeking the ideal clasp for her dog’s coat left satisfied. Ditto the customer searching for Mother Goose nursery rhyme-themed buttons.  The  shop feels part museum, part retail with its polished wood, thin antique tables and lamps and studious clientele peering at these tiny relics of the past.

We’ve always seen the button as art. We treat something humble as art.

Safro says she always knows what’s going to be in vogue based on what the designers buy from her shop.

We follow fashion before it gets published… We see what they buy.

Grey, black and gold buttons are currently in vogue for women, says Safro. Scale – either very large or very small – is also on-trend.

People are becoming more creative with sizes and colours, she adds. They’re intentionally choosing one odd button as if it didn’t belong.

Tender Button’s list of famous customers is as eclectic as the shop itself; Greta Garbo, Bianca Jagger, Martha Stewart, Nora Ephron, Tom Wolfe, Ralph Lauren and the artist formerly known as Prince have all come looking for a button or two. Ditto Kermit the Frog and Batman’s Joker.

Tender Button has garnered a loyal clientele, whether to update an old look, distinguish a new purchase or just to replace a missing button.

There are people who first came as children with their parents and as they grew, they saw different shelves. At first they could only see the lower shelves and then the upper shelves. And now they’re bringing their children in. Everybody needs a sweater for their grandchildren.

Cute as a button may be, Tender Button’s Safro and Epstein have shown that the humble button is anything but.

March, 2016

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