Topos Bookstore
See and be seen
I’ve decided—and don’t quote me on this in case I give up—that I want to visit every independent bookstore in New York City as named by this list and write about the experience of being there. It could take weeks—it could take years! The fun is in the not-knowing.
Scott is in the process of moving his analog equipment—his cameras, his “circuit-benders”—from his old studio in Ridgewood to a new studio in Long Island City. So Saturday was a Ridgewood day.
A few notable things happened in Ridgewood. First of all, I drank way too much coffee. Second of all, Scott and I went into a paper lantern workshop and I was, to put it mildly, freaking the fuck out. I kept saying things like, “You MAKE THESE? HERE?!” and “This is a REALLY big lantern. I guess this is a kind of CHANDELIER ALTERNATIVE, huh?” When we emerged, I was dripping sweat and feeling grateful that I hadn’t been in there alone, as I would have undoubtedly emerged with many paper lamps.
The other notable occurrence was my pilgrimage to Topos, the used bookstore in Ridgewood. Scott went to the studio, so I trudged, hyper-alert and alone, to Topos to shamelessly eavesdrop.
Topos is less a bookstore and more a place to see and be seen. It has a strong vibe. That vibe is: jorts, slutty sunglasses, tattoos, mullets, hangovers, cigarettes. You get the picture.
Overheard in Topos:
“I got alcohol poisoning all over the sidewalk.”
“She’s literally just a jealous, transphobic bitch. It’s very small town.”
“An old man was schiz-ing out at me in a way where I was like, Oh my God, should I just kill myself now?”
“Didn’t you guys meet at the NYRA launch?”
“That’s the thing about Paris. The men are just so well-groomed.”
“I almost bought the Zizek but…yeah, no.”
Topos, as a bookstore, is great—good fiction selection, great poetry, fun zines— but that’s really not the point. The point is to look literary and shittalk people. I’ve been to Topos many times, and it always feels like I’m at a party alone, trying to appear unfazed by all the virtuosic socializing happening around me.
If you want to experience the ground zero of the performative-men-reading trend, you should definitely visit Topos. (A man sitting near me was writing in a notebook. Which is ridiculous–we all know men can’t write by hand.) If you want to eavesdrop on the guy who’s helping John Wilson open a movie theater in Ridgewood, you should 100% visit Topos. (He was greeted by a friend yelling over at him, “Nice pic in the New Yorker!”)